Getting around: Frankfurt

Frankfurt is one of the major cities in Europe. The fifth-largest city in Germany with over 700,000 residents is at the heart of the Rhine-Main-Metropolis with over 5.5 million residents. It is no wonder that the roads are extremely congested in the busy inner-city areas. The metropolitan region also boasts a well-developed public transport network. This is handy as cycling is quite dangerous with few segregated cycle lanes and a rather haphazard cycle planning regime within Greater-Frankfurt. The Frankfurt Metro (U-Bahn) has nine lines and over 100 stations and halts. There is also a tram network of 9 lines extending to the city limits. S-Bahn light rail provides connections to neighbouring towns and villages and is used by commuters.

Frankfurt is well-known as the city of the European Central Bank. This Iconic Euro statue on the Willy-Brandt=Platz in front of the many banking towers is often used in the media. Between the banks that are all located around a park and the city theatre trams come and go as this is an important interchange with the U-Bahn. Signs, lights and lights warn pedestrians for the trams (right).

The metro is in part above ground, with underground trains in the city centre. The U-Bahn was started in 1968. The design is functional and sturdy, except for some recent stations that look a bit over-designed. The rains are like most such metro trains. Off-peak the journey is pleasant enough. Frankfurt still has a ticket system and no electronic ticketing or chip cards. Once you resurface it is easy to get to where you need to be on foot or change for bus or tram.

The tram halts all have the same basic design. Some halts also serve as bus stops. The trams have a design similar to the U-Bahn carriages, with the same blue and yellow combination. The trams -like the busses- are generally turquoise in colour. Here the tram is coming round on a turning circle at the edge of the city near Neu-Isenburg. This makes the trams also suitable for commuting as there are large parking facilities near these end-of-line halts.