Carriage and services

Children up to the age of 5 travel free of charge on buses and trains. Children who do not yet attend school also always travel free of charge, even if they are already 6 years old.

Children between the ages of 6 and 14 travel with discounted single and 4-person tickets at the children's rate.

There are also numerous discounted ticket offers aimed specifically at children, schoolchildren, trainees and students.

More information at:

our Ticketassortment

Children up to the age of 5 travel free of charge on buses and trains. Children who do not yet attend school also always travel free of charge, even if they are already 6 years old.

With VRS season tickets, there are various options for taking children with you free of charge:

With a MonatsTicket, Formel9Ticket, Aktiv60Ticket or JobTicket, you can take up to 3 children (aged 6 to 14) for free from 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on public holidays (until 3 a.m. the following day). 
If you have a season ticket, you can also take one person over the age of 14 with you during these times and you can take children with you from 3 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays.

All kindergarten children (and all other children under the age of 7 who do not yet attend school!) generally travel free of charge on the VRS.

Some transport companies offer the possibility of making special trips with the whole kindergarten group. However, these special trips must be registered with the local transport company at least three working days in advance and confirmed by them.

Dogs can travel free of charge on the VRS.

However, the following must be observed when taking dogs with you: The safety and order of the service must not be jeopardized and other passengers must not be inconvenienced. Dogs must be kept on a short lead and must not take up any seats.

Dogs may not be taken along on so-called on-demand transport services (e.g. AST - Anruf-Sammel-Taxi), as cabs are generally used for these services and dogs cannot be taken along for reasons of space and out of consideration for other passengers. Guide dogs for the blind that accompany a blind person are an exception; these are always permitted for transportation due to necessity.

To take bicycles with you on the VRS, a separate bicycle ticket must be purchased in addition to your own ticket. These are marked with a bicycle symbol on the ticket machines.

Exception: Folding bicycles are transported free of charge if they are folded up!

Please note that the following rules apply to bicycle transportation: In the VRS, bicycles are generally transported at all times if suitable parking facilities are available in the vehicle or if the space situation permits:

a) On buses, bicycles may only be parked in the space marked for baby carriages.
b) On trains and streetcars, bicycles may only be transported in the storage spaces marked with a bicycle symbol and in the boarding area.
If the designated bicycle parking spaces in a vehicle are occupied, additional passengers with bicycles may not board.

Passengers with baby carriages and wheelchair users always have priority over cyclists.

Depending on the region, there may be restrictions on the times of use; the exact times can be found in the information or notices of the local transport companies.

You can find more information about taking bicycles with you at: Bicycle transport in the VRS

E-scooters may no longer be taken on buses and trains in the VRS for safety reasons (fire hazard batteries)!

In addition to "classic" bicycles, passengers can also take pedelecs and e-bikes as well as electric wheelchairs and four-wheeled electric vehicles on buses and trains.

Pedelecs, electric wheelchairs and four-wheeled electric scooters may be taken on buses and trains despite their electric drive, as their batteries meet higher safety requirements than e-scooters, for example.

You can get timetable information for your desired connection here: 
 

timetable

When you're out and about, it's best to use the VRS app for timetable information and ticket purchases.

You can download the VRS app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

You can get timetable information by phone anywhere in the country by calling: 0 800 6 50 40 30 (free of charge from all German networks). Alternatively, you can also use the free "talking timetable" on 0800 350 40 30. 

The transport companies make every effort to keep to the timetable and get you safely to your destination.

However, if your desired means of transport leaves more than 20 minutes late and you have no alternative bus or train, you can take advantage of the NRW-wide mobility guarantee.

As part of the mobility guarantee, you can use a cab or a long-distance train subject to a supplement as an alternative. The costs incurred for this will be reimbursed up to a certain amount by the transport company responsible for the cancellation or delay.

All you have to do is fill out a reimbursement form and send it to the responsible transport company together with the relevant receipts for your expenses. As a rule, your expenses will be refunded to your account within approx. 2 to 3 weeks.

However, you cannot use the mobility guarantee in the event of strikes, bad weather, forces of nature or bomb threats.

You can find more information and refund applications here: 

Mobility guarantee 

With VRS tickets, you can use all regional public transport that runs on the VRS network. This includes buses, subway trains, streetcars and local trains (S-Bahn, RegionalExpress trains and regional trains).

You can also recognize local transport vehicles by the VRS logo on the vehicle.

the VRS network 

You can buy the entire range of VRS tickets from the transport companies in the VRS area.

Tickets are available from stationary or mobile ticket machines at stops or in vehicles as well as from many local ticket agencies.

In addition to the customer centers of the transport companies, many private sales outlets (e.g. kiosks, lottery outlets, etc.) also sell VRS tickets. Private sales outlets that sell VRS tickets usually have a VRS logo or a logo of the local transport company clearly visible at the entrance.

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

VRS transport companies