Carriage rules and services

Childrenup 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 range of tickets

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 the 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 on weekends and 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 until they start school*.

* Note: In NRW, the school year always starts on August 1st, even if the summer vacation lasts longer!

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.

A separate bicycle ticket must be purchased in addition to your own VRS ticket to take bicycles with you. 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 are only transported in the storage spaces marked for this purpose with a bicycle symbol and in the boarding area.
If the designated bicycle parking spaces on a vehicle are occupied, additional passengers with bicycles may no longer 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

The decision as to whether or not e-scooters are permitted on buses and trains is the sole responsibility of the individual transport companies in the VRS. They each decide for their own line operation.

In addition to "classic" bicycles, passengers can also take pedelecs and e-bikes as well as electric wheelchairs and four-wheeled electric scooters 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 obtain timetable information for your desired connection here:

Timetable information

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

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

You can obtaintimetable information by telephone throughout 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 departs 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, severe weather, forces of nature or bomb threats.

You can find more information and applications for reimbursement 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 obtain 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:

Transport companies in the VRS

You can either purchase a VRS season ticket in person at one of the VRS transport companies' customer centers or order it by post using an order form.

VRS season tickets are issued as electronic tickets (eTickets). You should submit your application by the 10th of the previous month so that you receive it in time for the 1st of the respective starting month. The eTicket will then be sent to you by post.

You can find the transport companies' order forms here:

Order forms

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

Transport companies in the VRS

Your travelcard contract partner is always the transport company with which you have taken out your travelcard. You can see which company this is on your ticket. This is because the logo of the respective contract transport company is displayed there (e.g. KVB, DB, RSVG, etc.). Although the VRS logo is also shown on the ticket, the VRS, as the umbrella organization, does not generally issue tickets.

In the event that the logo of your contractual transport company is missing on your ticket, you can also check the debits from your account to see which transport company is your contractual partner. The subscription amount will be debited from your account monthly by your contracted transport company.

Incidentally, the VRS has no way of knowing which transport company you have taken out your season ticket with. This is because the transport companies' customer data is subject to data protection. As an umbrella organization, the VRS has no access to this personal customer data.

You can take out ticket subscriptions with the transport companies using the following forms:

Subscriptions

The SchülerTicket is not available for free sale. The SchülerTicket is only available to pupils whose school has decided to introduce the SchülerTicket. The ordering of SchülerTickets is coordinated centrally by the school for all pupils.

Therefore, please contact the secretary's office at your school directly.

You can find more information about the SchülerTicket here:

SchülerTicket

The JobTicket is not available for sale and can only be purchased through your company - if your employer has a JobTicket contract. Your employer (HR department) is also your direct contact for questions about changing and canceling the JobTicket.

You can find more information about the JobTicket here:

JobTicket

If you have lost your chip card with your VRS travelcard, please contact the transport company with which you have taken out your travelcard directly.

You can find out who your contract transport company is in your contract documents. You can also see which transport company is your contractual partner in the monthly debits from your account. The subscription amount will be debited from your account each month by your contracted transport company.

Incidentally, the VRS has no way of knowing which transport company you have taken out your season ticket with. This is because the transport companies' customer data is subject to data protection. As an umbrella organization, the VRS has no access to this personal customer data.

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

Transport companies in the VRS