A little VRS basics

The VRS tariff area is divided into individual tariff areas. A tariff area corresponds to one city or municipality in each case. For journeys within a city or municipality, you need a ticket of price level 1a (or price level 1b for journeys within the cities of Cologne or Bonn). The more cities and towns you pass through on your journey, the higher the price level required.

In addition to these municipality-based price levels, there is also the short-distance fare for short trips. This allows you to travel up to four stops by bus and train. 
(Exception: RE, RB and S-Bahn trains as well as express buses may not be used with the short-distance fare!)

You can find out which price level is required for your trip.

• either via the VRS timetable information:
  To do this, simply enter the start and destination in the online timetable information and see possible connections. In addition to the various travel options, you will also receive information about which ticket price level you can use to reach your destination.
• Alternatively, you can use the VRS ticket advisor to display the cheapest ticket offers for your desired start/destination connection. 

At the VRS transport companies, all tickets from the ticket machines – with the exception of 4-ticket tickets – have already been validated and are intended for immediate use. You can purchase unvalidated tickets in advance at the sales offices of the transport companies.

However, you can always tell by an imprint on the tickets whether they have already been validated and can be used for immediate travel. Or whether you may have to validate the tickets at the validator devices at stops or in the vehicle itself. 

You can only use single and 4-trip tickets for a limited time after validation. The validity period depends on the price level.

This is how long single and 4-trip tickets are valid from validation:

Single and 4-trip tickets for the short distance: 20 minutes
Single and 4-trip tickets of price level 1a/1b: 90 minutes
Single and 4-trip tickets of price level 2a/2b: 120 minutes
Single and 4-trip tickets of price level 3 and 4: 180 minutes
Single and 4-trip tickets of price level 5: 360 minutes
Within these times, you can interrupt the journey and – if necessary – change your means of transport. However, detours, round trips or return trips are not permitted. 

Single tickets, 4-trip tickets, 24-hour tickets and connecting tickets in advance are only valid until the next price adjustment of the corresponding ticket. If the price of the ticket changes, old tickets lose their validity after a transitional period of three months. During this transitional period, you can of course still use your old tickets – as long as they have not yet been validated.

If you have not used the tickets by then, you can exchange them for another three years at the transport company from which you bought the tickets. You then only have to pay the respective difference to the then current price.

You can find the contact addresses of the transport companies here:

Transport companies in the VRS

You can buy many tickets online in the VRS ticket store. You can also buy the Deutschlandticket as an online ticket and seasonal offers such as the KarnevalsTicket or the CSD-Ticket.

You will receive your personal ticket when you complete your online order as a download and also by e-mail. Depending on which e-mail account you use, you should be able to retrieve your ticket by e-mail within 5 minutes at the latest.

Please note that online tickets are not transferable and are only valid in conjunction with a valid ID document (e.g. ID card, passport, etc.).

You can find more information here:  

VRS-Ticketshop

The VRS ticket store is operated by Rhein-Sieg Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH (RSVG) on behalf of all transport companies in the VRS. If you have problems with the purchase or dispatch of online tickets, please contact RSVG directly.

You can reach the RSVG by e-mail at: onlineticket(at)rsvg.de or by telephone at: Tel. 02241 4990

Further information can be found here: 

VRS-Ticketshop 

You can buy one-way tickets, 24-hour tickets, weekly tickets, monthly tickets and Formula 9 tickets as well as supplements for using the 1st carriage class, express buses and for taking bicycles with you and the flat-rate VRS connection ticket cashless for immediate travel by cell phone.

The HandyTickets are discounted by around 3% compared to the normal paper tickets in the VRS ticket range.

In addition, seasonal ticket offers such as the AbsolventenTicket, the KarnevalsTicket and the CSD ticket can be purchased as HandyTickets.

Before purchasing your first HandyTicket, you must register once as a HandyTicket customer on the HandyTicket portal of Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG and download the app to your cell phone.

You can find information on this at: 

HandyTickets

If you would like to use the SWB system ("easy.GO"), please contact Stadtwerke Bonn on 0228 711-1 

If you have any questions about your HandyTicket, please contact Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG (KVB) directly by e-mail: handyticket(at)kvb.koeln

If you have any questions about the EasyGo app from Stadtwerke Bonn, please call: 0228 7111