It's my first trip to Germany! I want to buy tickets at the Marienplatz station to go to the zoo. Short trip, yes, but we all have to start somewhere.
My question is - will I be able to buy tickets from a person? I don't have time to get a pin for my chip card.
How many hundreds of people in your group. It's all in the inner zone (Innenraum). A ticket for one person cost only 2,70€ each way. Hardly worth putting on a card.
For 6,40€, you can buy a single Tageskarte (day pass), which will give you unlimited travel by S-/U-
Bahn, trams, and buses all day in the Innenraum. I don't think there is a manned ticket counter in Marienplatz, but you can buy one at a ticket automat. They take cash. I believe they also take magnetic strip cards.
You can set the ticket automats to English. They take small bills or coins, and give change. There is a learning curve but it is not overwhelming. As Lee said the best bargain is the inner zone day ticket. Once you get one, the whole inner city is readily available to you.
In train stations (Ost, Hbf, Pasing, etc) and in S-Bahn stations, such as Marienplatz, there should be Bahn automats and they should take strip cards. The guided tour of the automat (page 3, Bezahlen mit Karte) on the Bahn website specifically says (in German) to pay attention to the position (right, under) of the magnetic strip when inserting the card.
We just returned from Munich yesterday. We're not "nativist" public transportation people (never lived where there was any public transportation), so it's always a big learning curve for us as well, as figuring out a train system is already a challenge, much less in another country! Our Chip/signature cards worked fine in the Marienplatz ticket machines and yes, you can set the instructions in English.
Also, don't forget about the little blue boxes to "stamp" your ticket! They're generally located by the escalators or elevators going to the platforms.
One thing about Germany - their subway system makes perfect sense. If you like thinking logically, it's not hard at all! I also love that at the big stations like Marienplatz, there are a ton of exits and they list (A - G, etc) where you'll "pop out" above ground.
It doesn't matter that the Deutsche Bahn shares a ticket machine with local transportation company.
If you are buying a ticket for local trams, trains, and buses, it won't accept a credit card. Use cash, small bills and coins. Credit cards are ok for the long distance trains run by the DB or regional trains, just not for local transportation.
Credit cards are ok for the long distance trains run by the DB or
regional trains, just not for local transportation.
I wonder if that is because the fares for local trains are too low. I know a hardware store near me won't take credit cards for purchases less than a certain amount.
According to this MVV webpage, touch-screen automats in U-Bahn stations. which are run by MVV, ** take ***credit cards, touch screen automats in S-Bahn stations, which are run by the Bahn, don't. The same page says that automats in the S-Bahn stations take *debit cards** with PINs, but the German language version of the same page seems to imply that they only take a specific brand of debit card (Girocard, maybe Geldkarte) issued in Germany.
Since you will be taking the U6 to Thalkirchen, you'll be using the U-Bahn station at Marienplatz, not the S-Bahn station, so the automat in that station, according to the MVV, should take credit cards. Still, the ticket is such a small amount, I'd pay cash.
Ironically, a few years ago I arrived at a station for a short local trip before the ticket counter was open. I wanted to pay cash and had plenty, but the only ticket machine in the station was a Bahn automat. At the time, Bahn automats only took credit cards, not cash. I had to charge $3 on my credit card.
"My question is - will I be able to buy tickets from a person? "
You can. The MVV center is in the basement of Munich main station just opposite the escalators down to the S-Bahn. From the main hall follow the "S" -sign (starting at the starcaise / escalator on the north side). Opening hours are Mon - Fri 7 - 20, weekends 9 - 18.
Download the info brochure here: http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/homepage/index.html
