Questions about busses and trains from Fussen to Pfronten

I traveled that exact route, Füssen to Pfronten, with my luggage, in October of 2013. I've also traveled with luggage on lots of regional buses (over 40 times) including of the RVO (Regionalverkehr Oberbayern) and the RVA (Regionalverkehr Allgäu). I've never put any luggage in the compartment under the bus. I've always brought my one regulation, carryon piece with me on board. The bus was never half full, so I could put it on an empty seat, but mine is small enough to sit on my lap, if necessary.

These are the exact same buses that are used for SEV (Schienenersatzverkehr), to transport rail passenger around sections of track that are closed for maintenance, and a lot of rail passengers have more luggage than they can put on their laps, so there must be provisions for storage, like in a compartment under the bus.

If you have luggage then just bring it on. Public transportation in Europe is much more advanced and easy to use than most of the USA. Luggage is not a big deal or out of the ordinary.

Thank you. Do you remember approximately how much the bus fare was?

These are the exact same buses that are used for SEV (Schienenersatzverkehr), to transport rail passenger around sections of track that are closed for maintenance, and a lot of rail passengers have more luggage than they can put on their laps, so there must be provisions for storage, like in a compartment under the bus.

Had to take one of these between Pegnitz and Nuremberg last summer and there was a luggage compartment under the bus.

and, did you pay the fare on the bus or is there a ticket machine at the fussen bahnhof?

If Sam was on an SEV, he didn't have to pay a fare. The substitute bus is included in your train ticket.

You pay the fare to the bus driver (and German buses give change - imagine that). I've always done Füssen to Pfronten (or reverse) as part of an all-day pass, so I don't know what the fare for that leg is, but I imagine it's pretty nominal.

Unfortunately, neither the Bahn or RVO websites give point-point fares, but RVO does give a fare chart based on distance (I would imagine RVA is the same or similar). Via Michelin gives the distance from Füssen to Pfronten as 15 km, so from the chart, I would guess that the fare is around 4,50€ for an adult, plus/minus depending on how they figure the distance.

You say Füssen to Pfronten is one leg of your travel that day. What are the other legs? If you are doing more travel that day and can use a Bayern-Ticket, the B-T is valid on all RVO and RVA buses (except those part of routes outside Germany, like to Reutte). If you want a Bayern-Ticket, you can purchase it from the driver (at least I did in 2009) or from an automat in the Füssen Bhf.

Thank you so much. I was using the Deutsche Bahn website to plan an itinerary from Fussen to St Goar. The first leg of the itinerary required the 56 Bus from Fussen to the Pfronten Weissbach Bahnhof (to catch our train up to St Goar). The DB timetable listed the fare as partial fare without the bus trip included.

I was just trying to get a feel if these were typical of US city buses or Greyhound type buses. You have all answered my concerns plus more. Being of German descent, I have more than enough faith in the punctuality of the buses. Thank you again

Pfronten is a very nice little town. I've stayed there twice, and I wouldn't discourage anyone from going there, but I think a faster, better route to St. Goar would be to go directly from the station in Füssen to Augsburg and connect to a major train to Mannheim or Frankfurt. I do see, however, that there is a direct IC from Kempten to Bingen, and the SparPreis fare, probably because you're not using an ICE, is only 29€, 10€ less than the fare through Augsburg. So is that why you wanted to know the bus fare?

By the way, the "station" at Pfronten Weißbach is little more than a bus stop. If the bus is on time, it won't be difficult to connect to the train. You get off at the Bushaltestelle labeled 1 and walk to the platform on the same side of the street.

Are you saying the bus is usually running late? I assume traffic isn't too heavy at 9am

"Are you saying the bus is usually running late?"

Not in my experience, but it is always a possibility. I don't know if the bus driver would radio ahead and they would hold the train for a few minutes if it were. That happened to me on a bus to Bad Tölz a few years ago. We got delayed 10-15 minutes because some woman couldn't find her bus pass in her purse. The driver did radio ahead and they held the train for us.

By the way, in the rare event that the bus is delayed, and you miss that train (and you have 11 minutes), you might want to stay on the bus two more stops to Pfronten-Ried Bahnhof. That's the previous stop on the line to Kempten and the main station for Pfronten, but I don't think it has a ticket counter. There is a Biergarten on the far side. The next train to Kempten will come along in an hour. It just might be nicer to wait at Ried than at Weißbach.

You will have a SparPreis (advance purchase, discounted) ticket, right? By rule, only the IC from Kempten to Mainz is train specific. Your ticket will be valid on any regional train that day from Pfronten to Kempten, so you can take the next train. Also, by rule, if you miss the specified train because of the fault of the Bahn (and the Bahn runs those buses), they will accommodate whatever change to your ticket is needed to get you to your destination. So go into the Reiseburo in the Kempten station. They'll take care of the change; they might even put you on a regional train to Ulm and an ICE from there to Mainz.

While I can't answer your specific question, I can recommend this website: http://www.seat61.com/
The website contains lots of information and tips about train travel in Europe.