Public Transportation to MTV and PHV

Tickets

·         A single streetcar or bus ride costs €2.20

·         Ticket 24 is valid for 24 hours for 1 person and costs €5.20

·         Ticket 24 Plus is valid for 24 hours for up to 5 people and costs €9.00

Ticket 24 and 24 Plus can be used

·         Weekdays from 9:00 a.m. until the last bus/streetcar that day

·          Weekends from the first streetcar/bus on Saturday morning until the last one on Sunday night.

These are for rides within the greater Heidelberg city zone and adjacent zones.  MTV and PHV fall within this zone from anywhere in Heidelberg. 

(Note that there are other special tickets (group, individual, weekend) if you are staying longer and plan to use bus, streetcar and trains for travelling around Heidelberg, the region and/or Germany). 

Tickets can be purchased from the bus driver, from machines located at many stops and from various newspaper/tobacco shops.  There are also ticket offices at the Hauptbahnhof and on Bismarckplatz at a newspaper stand.  You cannot buy tickets in the streetcars or from streetcar drivers!  Make sure you have a ticket before you get on a streetcar.  If you buy a ticket from a machine, you must validate (stamp) it on the bus/streetcar.  If you buy it from a bus driver it is already validated.

To MTV:

From the Bismarckplatz (downtown) take streetcar 23 direction Rohrbach Süd/Leimen. 

It is a 9 minute ride to the stop Bethanien Krankenhaus. Walk back a few steps to Feuerbachstrasse.  Walk down Feuerbachstrasse, cross the main road (Römerstrasse), keep going and you will run into an Installation Access Point. 

It is a 10 minute ride to the stop Rheinstrasse.  Walk down Rheinstrasse, cross Römerstrasse, keep going and you will run into an Installation Access Point.

From the Hauptbahnhof, take streetcar 24 direction Rohrbach Süd.  Get off at the stops mentioned above and the same directions apply.

Both streetcars run M-F all day long in 10 minute intervals until around 8:00 p.m.  After that it is every 30 minutes until approximately midnight.  The weekend schedule is almost the same.

Note:  check back to the reunion website before you depart for Heidelberg to see which one of the Installation Access Points will be the recommended one to use.

To PHV

Take bus 717 direction Schwetzingen/Speyer.  Catch the bus near the Crown Plaza Hotel at the Bauhaus, a large hardware store (5 minute walk from Bismarkplatz).  This stop is the Kurfürstenanlage.  The bus leaves M-F at 5 and 35 after the hour.  It is a 13 minute ride to the stop Grasweg.  The stop Grasweg is out on Speyerer Strasse, otherwise known as the “mini-autobahn.”  From the stop you must walk about 12-13 minutes to get to the entrance of PHV.  (Grasweg is the road that leads to PHV from the “mini-autobahn.” You will run into the Installation Access Point, the so called “Burger King Gate” (which is very different from what you may have seen in 2006 or earlier!!).  The return from Grasweg is also at 5 and 35 past the hour until 8:35 p.m., then at 9:23 and 10:34. (The weekend schedule is only once an hour in both directions).

(There is also an entrance on the other side of PHV, the so called “Commissary Gate.”  This is in the direction of Schwetzingen.  The so called “Colonels’ Quarters Gate” can no longer be used).

View www.vrn.de, the public transportation site for the region.  Limited English info.

Taxi

From downtown Heidelberg to MTV is approximately €15.00.  The easiest landmark to tell the taxi driver is the chapel.

From downtown Heidelberg to PHV is approximately €20.00.  Tell the driver “PHV, Burger King Gate.”  Except for just a couple of taxis, they cannot drive onto PHV.  The taxi will let you off at the bridge that goes over the autobahn.  Walk a couple of minutes and you are at the Installation Access Point (by Burger King, hence the name). 

If you call for a taxi to leave PHV, call it to “PHV, Burger King Gate” and walk over the bridge.  The taxi is usually there in about 10 minutes.

The taxi phone number is 06221-302030.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

If you have a rental car, be prepared to be searched at the Installation Access Points.  Follow the directions of the security guards.  If you walk in, you may be asked to open your backpack, purse, etc.  DO NOT make any comments or jokes about what you may or may not have in your car, backpack, purse, etc!

Some of the prices and some of the public transportation (Streetcar 24) may change by the time the reunion takes place.  Check the reunion website before you depart to make sure you have the latest information. 

If you need more detailed information about public transportation, email Christian Praesent at praesentc@yahoo.com.  Please title your email “Reunion Information Request.”