City planning officer Helmut Wiesner: "Our goal, set by the city council back in 2019, is for 75 percent of journeys in Bonn to be made on foot, by bike or by bus and train by 2030. To this end, we are now working on several local transport projects in parallel - the planning of the Westbahn, the construction of the new central bus station and the cable car to the Venusberg. The city has not worked on so many plans to improve local transport for decades. The last time this happened was in the 1970s when the subway was being planned, when Bonn was still the capital."

In the following, the city administration provides an overview of important local transport infrastructure projects and various plans to expand and strengthen buses and trains with the time horizon "2035+".

• Cable car: The preparatory work for the planning of the cable car is on schedule. The cable car is to run from the University Hospital via the Bundesviertel and the Rhine to Ramersdorf. It will be linked to several train stops and serve many important workplaces in Bonn. This will not only significantly improve mobility on the Venusberg, but will also be the fastest, most pleasant and most environmentally friendly way to reach many destinations between Venusberg and Siebengebirge.
• Redesign of the central bus station (ZOB) at the main railway station: The current state of the ZOB is no longer up to date or adequate: neither in terms of appearance, equipment nor capacity. The city is therefore planning a new ZOB and the adjacent areas as a matter of priority. As the ZOB area is a central area in the city center, various requirements and usage demands compete with each other. These must be reconciled in the planning process. The focus here is on efficient, flexible and barrier-free local transportation. Safe and convenient pedestrian and cycle connections are also an important planning aspect. In addition to a modern SWB Bus und Bahn service building, a bicycle parking garage is also planned in the basement. A café or snack bar and public toilet facilities round off the plans. In order to take into account the ideas and visions of local residents and to provide general information about the new planning process, a public consultation is expected to take place in the 4th quarter of 2023.
• Westbahn: In future, the Westbahn will run on a double-track, above-ground streetcar line up to the Hardtberg district. The so-called standardized assessment with a benefit-cost analysis is expected to be available at the end of 2023 in order to initiate the next planning steps.
• Reconstruction of Am Hauptbahnhof street: The city of Bonn will completely rebuild Am Hauptbahnhof street. The existing space will be used to move the streetcar tracks further towards the city and to make the stops barrier-free. The city is also building safe cycle paths on both sides of the street outside the streetcar tracks. The planning approval procedure is currently still pending from the Cologne district government. The conversion can then begin.
• Extension of light rail line 63 to Buschdorf: Light rail line 63 in the north of Bonn is to be extended. In future, it will run from Tannenbusch via Buschdorf to Nordfriedhof. The administration will complete the preliminary planning and the results of the standardized evaluation in the short term and bring them to the political consultation in autumn 2023. A possible extension of the light rail line to Auerberg and/or the streetcar line 61, which currently ends at the corner of Pariser/Kopenhagener Straße in the direction of Buschdorf, will only be pursued as an option afterwards.
• Comfortable, air-conditioned streetcars: From summer 2024, 28 new streetcars will gradually be put on the rails in the federal city. They will replace the current streetcars from 1994 on lines 61, 62 and 65 after almost 30 years of operation. Stadtwerke Bonn is investing more than 100 million euros in the low-floor streetcars.
• New and modern light rail vehicles: SWB Bus und Bahn is driving forward the mobility transition and is procuring 32 new light rail vehicles together with the electric railroads of the city of Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district (SSB). The new light rail vehicles can be accepted in the course of 2026. After successful commissioning and successive delivery, they will run on lines 16, 18, 63, 66, 67 and 68.
• Increased frequency in the light rail network: In future, light rail lines 66 and 67 will connect Bonn and Siegburg every five minutes. To create the necessary capacity, the city is separating rail and road traffic on the B56 at the Combahn district and purchasing new light rail vehicles. The city is currently acquiring the necessary land for the expansion. In addition to the Bonn - Siegburg line, a city-wide 5-minute frequency for all light rail lines is planned for 2026 at peak times.
• Expansion of light rail line 18: Line 18 currently runs every 20 minutes between Brühl and Bonn. In future, it will run twice as frequently: every 10 minutes. To achieve this, the line must first be upgraded. In many places, it consists of only one track. The increased frequency is necessary as line 18 has reached its capacity limit at peak times. At the same time, light rail transport should help to relieve the road network and thus contribute to climate protection. Further planning is being carried out by "Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG" (HGK) as the responsible railroad infrastructure company.
• Bus acceleration: The municipal utilities and the city administration are jointly examining each bus route and how it can be accelerated. The aim is to get buses to their destinations faster and more punctually. Measures have already been decided and partially implemented for nine routes, most recently route 603. Acceleration includes, for example, priority regulations, measures against parking offenders and the expansion of bus stops.
• Barrier-free stops: All people have a legal right to barrier-free mobility on local transport. According to the law, all stops should be barrier-free by the end of 2022. There are around 500 bus stops in the Bonn city area with around 1,000 stops, of which around 43% are barrier-free. However, barrier-free boarding and alighting is possible at all bus stops thanks to the folding ramps and kneeling function (lowering of the boarding side) in the low-floor buses. Of the 72 streetcar and light rail stops, 79 percent are already barrier-free. Compared to other cities, the federal city is making rapid progress with the expansion, as the city administration is upgrading several stops every year. By the end of the year, for example, the barrier-free expansion in Ramersdorf will begin and elevators to the subway will be built on Thomas-Mann-Straße.
• Regional mobility staff unit: A regional mobility staff unit has been set up in the city planning office to link Bonn's transport planning with the mobility offers in the surrounding municipalities of the Rhein-Sieg district. Among other things, a concept is being developed here for the construction of further Park&Ride sites to accommodate commuter traffic at the city limits. The aim is to increase the number of options for transferring to public transport and to reduce the volume of inner-city motorized traffic in the long term. Established inter-municipal exchange and cooperation formats such as the :rak (Regionaler Arbeitskreis Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahrweiler) can be used in the discourse with neighboring municipalities.
• New Bonn - Niederkassel - Cologne light rail system: Niederkassel is still not accessible by rail from Bonn or Cologne. For this reason, a new light rail line 17 is planned between Cologne and Bonn on the right bank of the Rhine, modeled on lines 16 and 18 (Rheinuferbahn and Vorgebirgsbahn) on the left bank of the Rhine. It will run from Bonn-Beuel via Niederkassel to Cologne and cross the Rhine at Langel. Planning is currently being carried out under the leadership of the Rhein-Sieg district - including a preliminary feasibility study for the necessary Rhine crossing. The overall project is being coordinated by the Rhein-Sieg district.
• Extension of the S13 to Oberkassel: Bonn-Beuel will get an S-Bahn line via the airport to Cologne. In future, the S13 will run as far as Bonn-Oberkassel, for which, however, the railroad line must first be extended to four or even three tracks. This is because the line is overloaded, with freight, local and long-distance traffic sharing only two tracks. The extension will link the light rail and commuter rail lines: The Bonn-Vilich stop will be relocated to the east directly above the railroad tracks. An S-Bahn station will be built underneath so that passengers can quickly switch between rail and light rail. Another S-Bahn station is being built on Schießbergweg, which will also be linked to the planned cable car.
• Expansion of the Voreifelbahn: The S23 will run electrically between Bonn and Euskirchen on two tracks throughout. To this end, the line will be upgraded in the coming years. After the expansion, the S23 will run at least every 20 minutes, and even every 10 minutes between Bonn and Rheinbach during rush hour. Thanks to the electrification, the train will also travel faster. The Eifel line to Trier and the Erfttalbahn to Bad Münstereifel will also be electrified. According to current plans, the S23 will run through to Bad Münstereifel every hour.
• New local transport plan: The tender for the redevelopment of the local transport plan is scheduled for 2024. The aim is to fundamentally redesign and update the city of Bonn's outdated local transport plan. As this redrafting will take some time, a tender for the new planning of bus routes in the city center will be issued independently of this, which is necessary, among other things, in the course of the redesign of the Rathausgasse/Am Hof/Wesselstraße street (master plan project "Uni meets City").

As part of the annual updates to the local transport plan, potential service improvements and measures, including in the bus network, are continuously reviewed and implemented in coordination with SWB Bus und Bahn. This involves, for example, making adjustments to routes and increasing frequency based on demand.

The extensive service improvements from the "Lead City" program will be continued even after the end of federal funding.

The city administration has published extensive information on the subject of mobility and the transport transition on the Internet:  www.bonn.de/mobilitaet (opens in a new tab)