Mein Carsharing

In this post I told you about the Call a Bike program that Deutsche Bahn has here in Munich.  Well, look what I saw on street today:

Looks like Deutsche Bahn has gotten into the 4 wheel, motorized variety of vehicle sharing too!  Emblazoned with their Flinkster logo, the car I saw was compact and new.  Here is a pdf  of the info that DB has put together.  If you already have a Bahncard, it appears as if you get a better deal up front on the one time fee and a 25 euro voucher to boot. I also noticed that they have targeted the Uni students, have a refer-a-friend compensation and also have an Android app.....pretty smart, DB!

Carsharing had started to become more common in the US before we moved to Germany.  I lived in Atlanta, where having the availability to a car was important.  The carsharing concept was one that always made sense to me...and in Atlanta, you could rent a convertible Mini for the day!

Although this one is a Skoda, it still is pretty cute...and I do find it interesting when an English word makes it's way into the German vernacular..."mein Carsharing"...nice marriage of the two languages.  Although we won't need to do any carsharing, as a part of our ex-pat life here includes a car, I do know a lot of others that have no availability to a one.  I can see a trip to Ikea or a quick day trip out of town made much easier with the availability of a car short term!

 **UPDATE**
A day or two after I posted, I was walking in my neighborhood and saw this....

A Flinkster Fiat c500!!!  Swoon........

Tickets to Ride

Did I mention that our Ubahn station got new ticket machines?  Yup, 2 of the 3 ticket machines have been switched over to the newer, fancier touchscreen variety.  I love, though, that they are easing us into the process by leaving one of the old machines there....wouldn't want to shock anyone into having to use the new machines.  I was in the station the other day and watched which machine the customers would buy their tickets from...and out of the ten people I saw approach and buy from the machines, 8 used the old trusty one.  People took a precursory glance and poked at the new machines' screens, but tickets were bought from the one they knew and trusted.  I get it. 

Change is good, but hard.  I am not so good at change...although I guess picking up and moving to a foreign country where I didn't know the language and leaving friends and family and my career behind might suggest otherwise.  But I am firmly in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" camp. The difference, I think is that our move was an adventure...the familiarity with the ticket purchasing process is a comfortable convenience.  One that helps you get on your train on time.  Good news for me:  the machine that dispenses the monthly tickets that I buy is still the same.  I'll keep you posted.....

On the Tram

 

First, sorry about the picture quality for this post, but I had to take it on the sly...I was on the tram the other day and found myself across from this couple.  They looked like puzzle pieces to me.  They just fit.  And I love that they are all bundled and dressed up.  Where were they off to?  To visit family maybe?  To a doctor's appointment?  How long have they been together, I wondered.  Long enough that the man is asleep on the tram and the woman doesn't seem to mind or notice!  He was so comfortable in the knowledge that she was there to make sure that they found their right stop that he took a little cat-nap.  

She did, by the way, alert him to the approach of their stop and they linked arms and made their way off together.  Adorable.  This is my Valentine to all of you.  Hopefully the Hub and I will be making our way in the world together when we are their ages, and you and yours will too.

Fahrschule

 

Yesterday I was waiting for the tram at Karlsplatz and this one came by, going the other way.  I have seen Fahrschule signs on cars before-it's Driving School!  It's good to know that even the tram drivers go to school and get practice on the tracks before they start picking up passengers.  The tram was empty except the driver/student and a few instructors.