"bring yourself to the other side: the day card"
One of the most fascinating representation of culture I have experienced is on cities transportation system. How much a government facilitates the easy transport of people across its sovereign land (or doesn't) says a lot of a country's approach to mobility, sustainability, equality and markets. Peoples approach to public transportation is also an expression of culture: whether they use it or not, which transportation method they prefer, payment methods, and obviously whether people pay or not.
For instance, in Santiago (the city I grew up in) transportation has changed significantly over the years. During the government of Ricardo Lagos the public transportation system underwent a deep reform that changed the entire transportation system the city had until that point (mind you, there are already private investors in the transportation sector from the dictatorship of Pinochet and the government of Patricio Aylwin though Lagos finished the privatization of public transport). As part of the notorious changes the system suffered, the change from direct payment to the driver in the buses, to an electronic card (Bip! card) created a lot of changes in the approach of people towards paying for the bus. Since you no longer had to show money, there wasn't any way of monitoring peoples payments, and the bus driver was not trapped behind a thick transparent plastic door (keeping them safe) a lot of Chileans started to just getting into the bus without paying, reaching a fee evasion rate that believed to be around 40%. To solve this, Transantiago made the following video:
That was a long explanation to show you a depiction of culture in public transport. A different one, is for instance the case of the train pushers in Japan:
Anyways, this post is supposed to be about Berlin's public transportation system, and since we are focusing in the culture I will do my best to stick to that theme. Both the public and private sector are doing a brilliant job to bring about sustainable mobility in Berlin. You have the buses, the u-bahn (subway), the s-bahn (train), and the trams all connected by a single ticket (2.80 EUR for a single ticket) and managed by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe Gesellschaft (BVG). You also have ride sharing options, you can rent electric cars, scooters, bicycles, über, lime, Aldi-bikes, and many other options are available.
As far as public Transportation goes, in Berlin you do not actually have to put a ticket into a machine to get to the platform. You have to live with the expectation that somebody at any random point will come and check on your ticket. If you have it, you'll be fine, but if you don't you'll be fined. A 60 EUR fine is usually the price for being found without a ticket.
For this reason, virtually anyone, doing anything, at any moment can jump into the u-bahn.
The BVG has the most incredible youtube channel and they put up all sorts of videos. This is one of my favorites because I think it depicts the Berliner u-bahn culture. It's titled "Is mir egal" which translates to: I don't care.
The video depicts a BVG driver going through all the crazy things that you see in the buses and trains just singing: I don't care...But dare you not have a ticket. Then they do care. Take a look!
Don't believe me? Think this is too staged? Check this other article out with good photos of crazy BVG spottings:
So, the BVG is fine with culture being displayed in its vehicles, and whenever you go into it, it's always a show of culture where many cultures of the world come together in heterogeneity (not as in the US where the concept reigning continues to be the melting pot) and you can see, observe, and appreciate people's uniqueness.
The first time I lived in Berlin back in 2015, I lived in Hellersdorf. East Berlin. Communist Berlin. Nazi Berlin. Call it what you want, I had a very pleasant stay there. But one day, coming back home from ok I had a very interesting conversation with the leader of the youth nazi party of Romania.
Similar articles!
Definitely check this medium article about the BVG!
And this one!