Fussen to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

RVO (Regional Verkehr Oberbayern) runs buses from Füssen to GaP via Oberammergau. You can find them using the Bahn website.

Thanks. However, I can only book part of the trip. The 100 bus can't be booked on that website, and I can't find anywhere to book it.

If you can’t book it in advance, no worries. Just show up and go.

It's just a local bus. It's not made for being prebooked, that would be like trying to book a ticket with city bus or tram. The bus is operated by VVT, you can read more at www.vvt.at and tickets can be bought in their app. But you can also just buy a ticket from the driver. It costs a couple of euro.

[EV] stands for Ersatz Verkehr (substitute transport). There is normally rail transport between Reutte and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but for some reason, probably track maintenance, the rail line is closed, and they are busing passenger from Reutte to GaP. The train that normally runs that route is a regional one, with no reserved tickets, so there are no reserved tickets for the bus.

BTW, that rail line, which runs from Kempten, in Germany, through the Tirol to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, is known as the Außerfernbahn and nowhere connects to Austrian rail. It is run by German Rail (the Bahn). You can see the entire schedule, bus 100 and the [EV] bus connection (or, when the construction work is finished, S7), on the German Rail website.

It would be possible (although unnecessary) to purchase tickets for the Pflach to GaP portion of that trip from the Bahn.

I appreciate all the help. I suspected that was the case with the 100 bus, but just wanted some confirmation.

Americans don't seem to grasp the concept that traveling in Europe is not the same as traveling in the US. Here, a lot of travel is by planes, which have limited capacity which usually sells out, so advance purchased tickets are necessary. The same with trains (Amtrak). There might be a little more flexibility with buses (Greyhound, ?), but advance purchasing of tickets is often a good idea.

It's not the same in Europe. In over 170 days in Europe, using transportation almost daily (venue change using rail, day trips by rail or bus), I've advance purchased tickets only 6 times and bought walk-up tickets for trains ( long distance) with advance purchase possibility 4 times. Mostly I've traveled by regional trains and buses or urban transit, where you just buy tickets as you go. Using public transportation in Europe is more like using city buses in the US.

But somehow American's are paranoid about having all their tickets in hand before they get to Europe. It just is not necessary.

I was able to book tickets for two for the EV bus, so that must be something different than the train.

I was able to book tickets for two for the EV bus, so that must be
something different than the train.

What you did was book tickets "for the train" from Pflach to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. However, at this time they are busing passengers due to work on the track. You'll probably find the bus parked in front of the train station, marked [EV] or [SEV].

In 2009 I went "by rail" from Mittenwald to Pfronten-Steinach. At Garmisch-Partenkirchen, they put us on buses to Reutte, and from there we finished our travel by train.