Punctuality standards for transportation have been slipping for a few years, but 2023 figures have revealed that Berlin’s public transport is still the most reliable and efficient in Germany.
In 2023, 96,6 percent of S-Bahn trains in Berlin were pünktlich. With some generous leeway in its definition of “pünktlich”, an S-Bahn train in Berlin is considered on time if it arrives no more than five minutes and 59 seconds after the scheduled arrival time.
Back in 2020, 98,5 percent of trains met these criteria, and even though standards have slipped since then, the capital still has the most punctual S-Bahn trains in the country - the national average in 2023 was a 92,5 percent punctuality rate.
In 2023, S-Bahn trains in Hamburg were similarly prompt as in Berlin, but those in Munich only made it to their destination on time 89,5 percent of the time, and in Cologne, just 87,9 percent of the time.
While the punctuality and reliability of BVG Bus, Bahn or Tram services have been slipping in recent years - figures for 2023 have revealed that the trend is continuing - as with S-Bahns in Berlin, the network is still pretty reliable.
Last year, 88,6 percent of BVG-run bus services were punctual in the German city, compared to 90,3 percent in 2022 and 91,3 percent in 2021. The situation was much the same for tram services, 87,1 percent of which ran punctually last year, compared to 88,3 percent in 2021 and 90,8 percent in 2021.
Standards also slipped slightly below ground. With a near-perfect punctuality rate of 99 percent as recently as 2021, Berlin’s U-Bahn services are becoming slightly less reliable. In 2022, 98,6 percent of the BVG’s trains were on time and in 2023, 98,4 percent. The BVG considers one of its services as on time when it arrives at a stop either 90 seconds before or a generous three and a half minutes after the scheduled time.
The figures are a little less forgiving when it comes to the journeys that didn’t take place at all. In 2023, 5,4 million kilometres that BVG services were supposed to cover, were not covered. When it comes to buses alone, cancelled services increased by almost a third compared to 2022.
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