"Lead City": Here’s what’s new in public transport in the region

"Lead City" Here’s what’s new in public transport in the region

Bonn and the Region · In Bonn and the region, a new timetable for buses and trains will apply from 28 August. In addition, new regional bus lines will be set up to relieve school traffic, among other things. An overview of the changes.

28.08.2019 , 11:27 Uhr

When the local public transport project "Lead City" is mentioned, the only ticket spoken of is the 365-Euro ticket, which is, however, only valid in Bonn and can only be purchased by people who did not previously have a subscription for local public transport (ÖPNV). Both are often criticised. And because it is limited to the city area of Bonn, the cheap ticket is not suitable for commuters who come to Bonn daily by bus or train from the Rhein-Sieg district.

According to André Berbuir, the federal government's funding for the "Lead City" projects is not sufficient to offer a 356 Euro ticket to the residents of the Rhein-Sieg district. Berbuir is Head of Department in the Department of Economic Development and Strategic Circle Development. "We are the junior partner of the City of Bonn for 'Lead City'," he says. And this junior partner also benefits from the federal programme. Berbuir points out, for example, that on Wednesday, 28 August, things will change for buses and trains. This will partly be made possible by funds from the "Lead City" programme, and partly by expansions and connection improvements that the Rhein-Sieg district had already planned. Here’s an overview of all changes that will apply from 28 August

New bus and train frequencies

Trains 61, 62, 63 and 66 run every ten or 20 minutes on Saturdays from around 09.30 to 20.30, and every 15 or 30 minutes on Sundays and public holidays.
The light rail line 16 runs every ten minutes during peak hours from 7.30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.. There is also a 30-minute interval on Sundays and public holidays in the morning and during the week until closing time. The hourly night traffic between Cologne and Wesseling will be extended to Bonn main station.
Bus lines 600 to 614 now run at 10/20-minute intervals instead of the 15/30-minute intervals on Saturdays. On Sundays and public holidays, the 15/30 minute cycle begins at 9.30 a.m..

Changes in Bad Godesberg

The bus line 610 will be operated from the bus stop "Bad Godesberg Bahnhof/Rheinallee" on the former line 613 via Rüngsdorf to the bus stop "Giselherstraße". Line 613, on the other hand, will be extended along the former route of line 610 from "Bad Godesberg Bahnhof/Rheinallee" to Heiderhof. The route in the direction of Giselherstraße leads via Rheinallee and Ubierstraße to connect the Otto-Kühne-Schule. The stop "Erlöserkirche" is cancelled.
Articulated buses will be used on bus line 614 in future. The conversion will take place step by step.
Bus line 615 will be discontinued.
Alt-Muffendorf and Marienforster Siedlung will in future be connected via the new 637 minibus ring line.
The Schweinheim district will in future be served by lines 638 and 639. The new line 639 starts at the stop "Stadtwald/Ev. Krankenhaus" and ends at the stop "Bad Godesberg Bahnhof/Löbestraße".

Change of route and new lines

Line 632 can now travel on Kölnstraße in both directions. From the Kennedy Bridge in the direction of the University Hospital, the line now goes directly from the Kennedy Bridge to Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz and then right into Kölnstraße. The Römerstraße and the tram stop of the LVR-Klinik will no longer be part of the 632 line path.
The new line 540 takes over the section of line 517 from Sankt Augustin Zentrum to Menden and Meindorf. The starting point is Bonn Central Station. The bus runs every 20 minutes from Monday to Saturday. During school hours there are additional journeys between Meindorf, Menden and the Niederpleis school centre.
The line 550 will lead from Niederkassel over the Nordbrücke, Innenministerium, Chlodwigplatz, Kölnstraße, Stiftsplatz to Bonn main station and over Bornheimer Straße, Kaiser-Karl-Ring again in the direction of Niederkassel.
From Troisdorf, line 551 will take you via Beuel to Bonn main station.
In order to relieve the work and school traffic, the new line 552 will start in Troisdorf and drive over the Nordbrücke and past the Heinrich-Hertz-Europakolleg to the Josephinum. It runs as a direct connection from Troisdorf to the Nordstadt in Bonn. The buses arrive Mondays to Fridays between 7 am and 9 am and 1 pm and 6 pm every 30 minutes. In the direction of Bonn, a ten-minute cycle is set up on school days.

The SB55 will run from Bonn main station to the Cologne-Wahn S-Bahn station, stopping in Niederkassel and from Lülsdorf in Cologne-Porz-Langel and Zündorf. The stop Lülsdorf Stahlenstraße will be dropped. Instead, it will continue from Lülsdorf church to Zündorf and Wahn instead of line 501.
Line 501 is now diverted through Siegburg, Troisdorf and Lülsdorf with the terminus Lülsdorf Stahlenstraße. The continuing section via Zündorf to Köln-Wahn is covered by the SB55 line.
In order to create a new cross connection between Bornheim and the north of Bonn and thus connection to the light rail lines 16 and 18 as well as the RB26 and RB48, line 817 is now routed from Roisdorf station to Tannenbusch instead of Hersel.
The line 856 will drive a faster way in the centre of Bad Godesberg. In Berkum the bus stop Schulzentrum will be served.
On line 857 there will be additional journeys via Züllighoven and Berkum Schulzentrum during the school start and end times. In the evening and on weekends, all journeys are on the normal route.
Line 517 will run through Sankt Augustin Zentrum, Niederpleis and Hangelar.
Two school trips of line 562 towards Bad Honnef will now also lead via Hövel in the morning.
The morning trip of the line 577 starts already from Much instead of the stop Kreuzkapelle.
Line 598 will take over the morning school trip of line 521 via Hasenboseroth.
The line 566 will be redirected through the district Selhof as a test.

Further changes for buses in the Rhein-Sieg district

The SB55 is occasionally compressed to a ten-minute cycle and on Sundays, evenings and weekdays to a 30-minute cycle. On weekends an hourly night service is set up.
On Saturdays from 09.30 to 20.30, line 537 runs every half hour.
On weekdays, line 817 runs every half hour from Tannenbusch via Bornheim to Brenig. On Saturdays, the current timetable will remain the same. On Sundays, the TaxiBus service will be extended to hourly intervals on the entire route. On Fridays and Saturdays, hourly late departures between Rheinbach and Heimerzheim will also be provided. These also operate as TaxiBus and are linked to the S23 and 845 lines from Bonn. This means that smaller towns in Swisttal can also be reached by public transport.
Between Merten, Waldorf, Bornheim and Hersel, line 818 will run every half hour from Monday to Friday. Additional services will also be provided at school start and end times. The TaxiBus services will be converted to bus services early Saturday evening. On Sundays the TaxiBus will remain, but can now be ordered every 60 minutes.

The journeys of line 845 from Bonn main station via Buschhoven to Heimerzheim will be doubled. The line runs every half hour from Monday to Saturday and every full hour on Sundays. In the direction of Bonn, the morning intervals are also increased to every 15 minutes. At the weekend, the last bus leaves Bonn one hour later than before. In the morning the service starts one hour earlier, on Sundays two hours.
From Monday to Saturday, line 855 from Bad Godesberg to Meckenheim will run every half hour until around 8.30 p.m. and every hour on Sundays. In the evening, the existing 60-minute cycle remains. Additional trips will be set up during school hours, which will also serve Villip-Bruch and Holzem.
The 856 line from Bad Godesberg via Ließem and Berkum to Oedingen will run at 30-minute intervals from Monday to Saturday, and at 60-minute intervals on Sundays and evenings. The last trip from Bad Godesberg starts on Sundays to Thursdays at 23:30, Fridays and Saturdays at 01:30.
From Bad Godesberg via Niederbachem and Berkum to Meckenheim, the journeys of line 857 will be doubled. They run at least every half hour from Monday to Saturday and every full hour on Sundays. The section close to the city between Bad Godesberg, Niederbachem and Berkum will also be compacted to a 15-minute interval every Monday to Friday morning and afternoon. In the direction of Bad Godesberg, a five-minute interval is set between about 7 and 7.30 a.m.. In the evening, the last bus from Bad Godesberg leaves one hour later every day.

The TaxiBus line 747 can now be booked every hour on Sundays and public holidays.
By appointment, the new TaxiBus line 880 runs hourly from Monday to Saturday from Berkum to Züllighoven and the Rheinhöhenfriedhof. The call-collect taxi rides in Meckenheim, which were previously offered under line number 880, are no longer necessary due to a lack of demand.
Line 881 will be converted from taxi-bus to bus service between Berkum Einkaufszentrum, Holzem, Villip, Villiprott and Pech. A barrier-free minibus runs every hour from Monday to Saturday. In addition, further journeys for school transport will be set up with normal buses from and to Berkum School Centre. Holzem and the higher parts of Pech thus receive a regular bus service.
The industrial park Bonn West and Dransdorf will in future be connected to the two railway stations Roisdorf and Bonn-Endenich Nord by the new TaxiBus line 883. From Monday to Friday, a half-hourly and otherwise hourly service will be provided during peak traffic hours on advance booking. In Alfter, the call-collective taxi rides previously offered under line number 883 will be cancelled due to a lack of demand.

The previous school bus services in the municipality of Wachtberg and the city of Bornheim are no longer available on lines 817, 818, 855, 856, 857 and 881 due to the improved service. In order to also support school transport in Bornheim, the new line 753 will be offered at the beginning and end of lessons in the local schools.
During school hours, another bus will run between Sieglar and Troisdorf-Altenforst on line 501 in the morning and afternoon.
The departure times of lines 503, 508, 521 and 562 will be adapted to the timetables of lines 501, 551 and 66 respectively.
On Saturdays and Sundays, hourly journeys between Spich, Uckendorf, Niederkassel and Lülsdorf will be provided on line 504. This will replace the TaxiBus, which only runs after advance reservation. In addition, the 20-minute interval will be extended to a longer period on weekdays.
On school days, the 593 noon line will provide additional travel options between Seelscheid and Neunkirchen.
Line 577 runs between Siegburg, Birk and Neunkirchen Antoniusplatz every 30 minutes from Monday to Friday until around 9 pm.
On line 520, buses will run every 20 minutes on Saturdays and every 30 minutes on Sundays and weekdays evenings.
The 30-minute interval of line 532 will be extended to around 6 p.m. on school days.
Line 537 is compressed to a 30-minute interval on Saturdays until around 8.30 pm.
Line 550's frequency will be changed to every 20 minutes on Saturdays until around 8.30 p.m. and to every 30 minutes on Sundays and evenings.

From Monday to Saturday, line 551 runs every 20 minutes until around 8.30 p.m., and every 30 minutes on Sundays and weekdays in the evening. The last trip on the weekend is at 3.30 am.The changes in Wachtberg and Bornheim have partly to do with the fact that the two municipalities have abolished the separate school buses and the pupils are to use the regular bus lines. They are therefore partly independent of "Lead City".

But what will happen when the federal funding expires at the end of 2020? Will the additional bus and train services then be reduced again? The changes will be evaluated, explains Christoph Groneck, traffic planner at Rhein-Sieg-Kreis. Berbuir adds that one has to see how the offer is accepted. However, he is sure that the changes will remain after the end of "Lead City". But then the district with the affected municipalities and the city of Bonn would have to pay.

There is further information on the Internet sides of Leadcity Bonn, the public utilities Bonn, the RVK as well as the RSVG. SWB Bus und Bahn has revised its homepage for the upcoming timetable change.

(Original text: Christoph Meurer, Translation: Mareike Graepel)