Following the sudden 39 hour U-Bahn, bus and tram strike last Friday and Saturday, little progress has been made in negotiations between the public transport workers' union Verdi and public transport operator BVG. Verdi has however announced that no strikes or other industrial action will take place before Monday, February 11th.

The strike last week was haevily criticised by public transport users due to the short notice given - many commuters were caught out on Friday morning and had to make alternative travel arrangements. It looks like further strikes will not be quite as disruptive; Monday, February 11 and Tuesday, February 12 are likely dates for the next round of industrial action.

Note that services run by Deutsche Bahn - particularly the S-Bahn network and regional trains are not affected by this round of industrial action, although in the event of any strikes they will be more crowded than usual.

On Friday and Saturday a bus shuttle service was in operation between Tegel Airport and Alexanderplatz via Berlin-Hauptbahnhof replacing the TXL airport bus. It's likely this service will be operated during any future strikes, providing a reliable public transport connection to Tegel.

Schönefeld Airport| is mainly served by the S-Bahn and Regionalbahn|regional trains, meaning access from there to the centre of Berlin will not be disrupted by any BVG strikes.

Posted at 9:56 AM in