Karlsruhe Transportation Tips by Nemorino Top 5 Page for this destination

Call a Bike

Karlsruhe was only the sixth German city to get CallBikes -- the others being Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Cologne and Stuttgart. (But Hamburg is coming soon as number seven.)

Before going to Karlsruhe for the big VT meeting from May 30th to June 1st, 2008, I had never used the CallBikes before -- for the simple reason that I never had a cell phone aka mobile phone. So now I have acquired one (aargh!), but don't try to call me or leave me a message on it because so far I am only using it to rent bicycles.

You know a bike is free if there is a blinking green light on it (blinking red means it's occupied). To rent it, you whip out your trusty cell phone and dial the number on the bike, including the four digit bike number at the end. Then a pleasant computer voice says if you want to rent bike number so-and-so, press 1. Then it tells you a four digit unlocking code for that particular bike. You hear the unlocking code twice, but if you miss it for some reason (like your stupid cell phone is acting up again) you can press 0 and a real person will come on the line and tell you again. Then you type the unlocking code into a little computer by the back wheel, pull out the lock and away you go.

When you are finished riding you lock the bike again and tell the little computer by the back wheel that you want to return the bike (by pressing "ja/yes"). Then it gives you another four digit code and reminds you to make another call on your cell phone. This time you have to type the four-digit returning code into the cell phone, and then you're done.

This might all sound a bit complicated, but it's really quite straightforward when you get the hang of it. Personally I had more problems with my "new" cell phone (new for me, but in fact not a very new model) than I did with the CallBike procedure.

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There are two systems for CallBikes in Germany:

Karlsruhe and four other cities are on the "flex" system, meaning you can rent a bike wherever you find one that is free, and leave it at any intersection within the city center when you are done with it.

Stuttgart, on the other hand, uses the "fix" system, meaning that you can rent or return a bike only at one of the fifty fixed pick-up points scattered throughout the city.

One crucial advantage of the "fix" system is that the first half hour is free, as in Paris and Lyon.

With the "flex" system you start paying from the first minute, in fact from the moment you dial the number of the bike you want to rent, before you even press 1 to confirm.

The cost for these bikes is six cents per minute if you have a rail card (as I do) or eight cents per minute without. My seven rides in Karlsruhe cost me EUR 9.78 which I think is roughly what I would have paid for the same journeys by tram or bus.

But in Stuttgart six of my seven rides would have been free, since they were under 30 minutes. Altogether I would have paid EUR 0.12 in Stuttgart, because one of my rides lasted 32 minutes, so I would have paid for the last two minutes at six cents each.

Either way, I can highly recommend the CallBikes for short rides around the city center. Whatever the cost, it's much more fun (and healthier) to ride around town on a bicycle -- much the best way to see a city!

Second photo: CallBike number 0133.

Third photo: A row of CallBikes in front of the main railroad station in Karlsruhe.

Fourth photo: Another CallBike near the station. Maybe I was just lucky, but I never had any trouble finding a bike when I needed one.

Mode: AROUND

Phone: 07000 5225522

Type: Bicycle

Website: http://www.callabike.de/

Getting to and from Karlsruhe

Getting TO Karlsruhe is no problem. The ICE train (InterCity Express) from Frankfurt takes just over an hour if it’s a through train, and hardly longer if you have to change in Mannheim because your new train will be on the other side of the same platform.

Getting back home FROM Karlsruhe after the opera is a bit tricky, though, because the last through ICE train leaves at 22:00 (10 pm), which is much too early for opera goers. All the connections after that are very slow or very late, or both.

Of course you could always get a hotel room in Karlsruhe, but that’s more of a bother and can easily double the cost of the excursion.

Occasionally they put on afternoon opera performances at 15:00 on Saturdays or Sundays, so the best solution is to go to one of those if there is one.

Second photo: A first class coach in the ICE train to Karlsruhe.

Third photo: You can tell that this is one of the original ICE 1 trains that have been in service since about 1991, because the dining car has an attractive high roof with skylights. Attractive, yes, but aerodynamically disadvantageous, so to reduce wind resistance and save energy these bulges were eliminated from the more recent ICE 2 and 3 trains.

Fourth photo: A second class coach in the ICE train to Karlsruhe.

Fifth photo: The BordBistro in the ICE train to Karlsruhe.

Mode: TO

Type: Train

Getting to the theater in Karlsruhe

If you don’t feel like walking through the zoo you could also walk past and over it. From the front of the main station, just walk straight ahead along the Bahnhofstr. and turn right onto the footbridge that goes over the zoo. From this footbridge you might even get a free glimpse of an elephant or a llama, since their cages are nearby. At the end of the footbridge turn left onto Ettlinger Str. and you will soon reach the theater.

You could also do this by bicycle, which has recently gotten a lot easier now that numerous CallBikes are available for spontaneous short-term rentals right at the station and all over the city center.

You could also go for a ride on Karlsruhe’s exemplary public transport system. Just get on one of the streetcars at platform A or B outside the main station. The S1, S4 S11 and S14 all go to the theater, as does the number 2. It’s only the fourth stop on any of these lines.

The tram lines starting with an S run as streetcars in the city, but then switch to traditional railroad tracks and go far out into the countryside. On the S6, for example, you could go all the way to Bad Wildbad for the Belcanto Opera Festival.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Train

Cycling in Karlsruhe

Photos:
1. New red cycling lane on Ettlinger Straße
2. More cyclists on the new red lane
3. A somewhat older red cycling lane (already a bit faded)
4. Crossing safely on a red lane
5. Pedestrians and cyclists crossing the street and tracks

Like a lot of other cities, Karlsruhe has been making considerable progress lately in improving its cycling infrastructure. This is the 21st century, after all, and even the most obtuse city officials are starting to realize that they can't go on stuffing huge numbers of automobiles into a limited amount of public space.

In particular, they have started painting red cycling lanes at intersections where cyclists are in danger of being run over by right-turning motor vehicles. Now motorists have to cross the cycling lane before they get to the right turn lane, so they have a much better chance of actually seeing the cyclists. And the markings make clear (to any drivers who happen to know the traffic laws) that the cyclists have the right of way here, and the cars have to wait until they go by.

GPS 49° 0'12.88" North; 8°24'12.68" East (first two photos)

Mode: AROUND

Type: Bicycle

All-day or all-week bicycle rentals

Now that CallBikes are available in Karlsruhe, there is no shortage of bicycles for spontaneous short-term rentals.

But unlike many other German cities, Karlsruhe has no bicycle station at the main railway station, so you can't just get off the train and rent a bicycle for the whole day.

The nearest bicycle shop is the Bike Lager, which is about three blocks from the station at Ettlinger Str. 43 (Tel. 0721-3841557, http://www.bikelager.de/). They say that "in principle" they rent bicycles, but usually have no more than two or three rental bikes on hand at any one time. So it's obviously not a big chunk of their business.

I must say, though, that in the few minutes I spent loitering around their shop I was favorably impressed with the service and advice that they were giving their customers.

Second photo: If you start asking around about bicycle rentals in Karlsruhe, you will most likely be referred to Mike's Bikes in the Sophienstraße 180 (Tel. 0721-855494, http://www.mikes-bike.de/). This is nowhere near the station, but it is quite close to the Adult Education Center if that is any help. When I took this photo they were closed for vacation -- in June! I've never heard of a bicycle shop closing in June before (except maybe in Australia or New Zealand), but they did it. As far as I know this Mike's Bikes in Karlsruhe is no relation to the more famous shops of the same name in Munich and Amsterdam.

Third, fourth and fifth photos: Apart from longer-term rentals, however, the bicycle infrastructure in Karlsruhe is actually quite good, and you see lots of nice people on bikes. Here are three of them.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Bicycle