Transport

You can use one of the ticket machines or go to the ticket office and buy the ticket from there.



HOW TO ! Buying train ticket from the machine in Germany

In addition, you can buy an online ticket after downloading the VVS app.
All three methods are fairly simple and self-explanatory. The most difficult part is figuring out how much to pay (this goes by how many tariff zones your trip traverses) - the best way is to type start and destination in and let the system figure it out for you!

Like mentioned above one can get all sorts of tickets from the machines including one-ride, multiple ride, day’s tickets etc. Such tickets are usable on trains and buses. The machines pictured above are from the Deutsche Bahn and are what one sees in long distance train stations and at S-Bahn stations. At U-Bahn stations there are orange colored machines from VVS/SSB that sell local and regional tickets. One can buy a monthly ticket from such machines for the Stuttgart region but you need a VVS photo-pass known as a Verbundpass to go with it. Same with a yearly ticket that is available from the VVS offices where one gets the pass. A year’s pass cost the same as buying 10 monthly tickets.

I am setting a link below to the VVS site where one can find all relevant information. Unfortunately the website is not very well designed in my opinion. The problem is that there are so many details and sometimes difficult to find specific information especially when one doesn’t know what to look for. On the other hand, one can even get a custom schedule from point A to point B for specific times and days including cost and any changes. 

The actual page I am linking to is a pdf document showing the addresses of the offices where you can get the VVS pass and/or tickets. Be warned that one can wait for up to an hour at these offices at the end or beginning of the month when many people go to get a new monthly ticket. Monthly passes are a savings for people who use them on a daily basis but might not be the best if one only rides public transportation on occasion.

One should get advice from the office so that one gets just the monthly/yearly ticket they need because the cost vary greatly depending on how many and which zones and what type of ticket you get. For example, there are tickets good all of the time, others that are only valid in the morning after 9 am. Such a ticket is cheaper but rather useless for one needing to go to work every day at 7 am. Another option for a year’s ticket is something called a TicketPlus which is transferable rather than limited to one person. It cost a bit more than a normal ticket usable by just the pass owner but then one can share it say with a spouse or other family member. There are also some other perks with the TicketPlus especially that 2 adults  and a few kids and can use it together on Sat. and Sun. and holidays and use the whole VVS network – without zone limits.

One of the best deals in Stuttgart is a short ride ticket (Kurzstrecke) it only cost € 1,40 at the moment and is usable to go 1 stop on the S-Bahn or 3 stops on the U-Bahn or bus. Bicycles are now allowed free on both U-Bahn and S-Bahns but not buses and not at peak rush hours.

http://www.vvs.de/download/vvz.pdf