Frankfurt City Guide - Getting Around

Public transport within Frankfurt is run by the Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt-am-Main - VGF, Kundenzentrum, Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse 10 (tel: (069) 19449; website: www.vgf-ffm.de). VGF is run by the larger organisation, the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund - RMV (tel: 01805 768 4636; website: www.rmv.de), which also provides excellent public transport information.

VGF consists of seven underground (U-Bahn), nine tram (Strassenbahn) and over 40 bus lines, including a weekend night bus service. These are supplemented by an extensive network of city trains (S-Bahn) operated by Deutsche Bahn (tel: tel: 11861, in Germany only or 01805 996 633; website: www.bahn.de).

There is a VGF information pavilion at the Hauptbahnhof, which is open Monday to Friday 0800-1600.

The entire VGF network is divided into zones (one to seven), which determine the price of tickets. Various passes, such as the one-day pass (Tageskarte), allowing unlimited travel within zones one to three during a 24-hour period, are available. Single, short-journey, group and day tickets can all be bought from automated RMV ticket machines (card-o-maten), which have instructions in English. There are also ticket machines for weekly, monthly and yearly passes, although these can also be purchased from VGF and DB sales points. The Congress Ticket must be purchased in advance from Frankfurt Tourist+Congress Board (tel: (069) 2123 8703 or 0396) and entitles the holder to one full day's travel throughout Frankfurt, including the airport. It is only available for those attending a conference or similar event.

Taxis are usually beige Mercedes and they can safely be hailed on the street. They can also be ordered from the central issuing agency Taxi Frankfurt (tel: (069) 230 001 or 250 001; website: www.taxi-frankfurt.de). A tip of 5 to10% or rounding up of the fare is normally expected. A Germany-wide taxi booking service is available on mobile phones by calling 22456.

Driving in the centre of Frankfurt can be stressful, as it requires a good knowledge of the one way system. It can be heavily congested, especially during rush hours (0800-0900 and 1700-1800), when it can be even more confusing. Furthermore, German drivers are not known for their patience. The Strassenverkehrsamt, Mainzer Landstrasse 323 (tel: (069) 2124 4734; website: www.svb.frankfurt.de), provides up-to-date information on the traffic situation in the city.

Drivers should note that trams always have priority in the city, although driving on their tracks is permissible and usually unavoidable. Buses also have priority when leaving stops.

Parking on the street is rarely available and being towed away can be very expensive. Street parking is by meter and is quite pricey, as are car parks, which also get congested very quickly. There are numerous covered car parks in Frankfurt. A number of hotels offer on-site parking, and there is a park and ride system operated by RMV, with a choice of four parking locations on the city outskirts - at Neu-Isenburg tram station, Kruppstrasse, and the U-Bahn stations of Preungesheim and Kalbach.

Regulations vary depending on the company but drivers generally must be at least 19 years old and have held a full driving licence for at least one year (an International Driving Permit is needed if the national licence is not in roman script). Providers include Avis, Schmidtstrasse 39 (tel: (069) 730 111; website: www.avis.de), Budget, Schmidtstrasse 12 (tel: (069) 9073 6970; website: www.budget.de), Hertz, Hauptbahnhof (tel: (069) 230 484; website: www.hertz.de) and Sixt, Hauptbahnhof (tel: 01805 252 525; website: www.e-sixt.de).

Bicycles can be hired from Call A Bike (tel: 0700 0522 5522; website: www.callabike.de). Customers telephone, give their credit card details and receive an electronic code, which unlocks a bike from one of the depots situated at major crossroads throughout the city. Rebicycle, Töngesgasse 23-25 (tel: (069) 4080 7436) also offers bicycles for hire. A range of bicycles, including trekking bikes and mountain bikes, are available; a deposit is required. See also Bicycle Tours in Tours of the City.