New season on the Rhine Bonn passenger ships begin operating on Friday
Bonn · Passenger ships will start running again on the Rhine beginning on Good Friday. Repairs are made in the winter season but come April, the regular schedule goes in to effect.
“What I know is that it was like that in my grandfather’s time,” says Bernd Münz, a supervisory official for passenger ship traffic in the Siebengebirge (PSS). The Bonn passenger service (BPS), however doesn’t begin with the complete schedule in April. From Mondays through Thursdays, a passenger ship travels between the “alten Zoll” in Bonn and Linz. From Friday through Sunday, there are two passenger ships operating on the route.
Repairs were carried out on all four ships of the Bonn fleet during the down time this winter. This is also the case with the Cologne-Düsseldorf (KD) vessels, with routine inspections, new paint, new carpet and the landing bridges being made ready for the new season. Some of the passenger vessels, however, were put into use during the winter for special occasions - carnival, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Ticket prices remain steady
The KD and the PSS are working together again for the 20th year. The advantage for visitors: If one buys a ticket on one line, it can be used on the other. Ticket prices have remained largely steady, with just a few moderate increases. For example, a ticket for the Bonn-Königswinter route has gone up 40 cents (current price for full payers: 10.60 euros, children / students: six euros). The prices on the BPS have remained the same. There is now also the opportunity to buy tickets online and print them out at home.
The Rhine flooding at the beginning of the year has had no impact on scheduled services. "In times of high water, it sometimes happens that a tree is driven into a railing on the shore. But nothing dramatic happened," said Münz.
For more information about Bonn passenger ship traffic, there is an English version of the website: https://www.bonnschiff.de/en
Orig. text: Max Müller. Translation: ck
