ADAC Analysis: Punctuality in Public Transport - Often a Reason for Driving, Sometimes Lacking Transparency

The ADAC has conducted an analysis of the punctuality of public transportation in Germany and has come to mixed results. Often, the lack of punctuality in public transport is a reason to get into a car, according to the automobile club. Punctuality is also a matter of perspective, as shown by a recent analysis by ADAC. Deutsche Bahn (DB) sets its punctuality threshold at six minutes, which means that a delay of up to 5:59 minutes is still classified as punctual – also in public transport. Failures are not taken into account. As a result, extremely high punctuality rates are sometimes achieved.

To achieve more transparency for customers, ADAC has used stricter criteria. The mobility club has included failures in its calculation of punctuality and also set stricter threshold values. Light and shadow become visible in this way – and the S-Bahn punctuality rates communicated by DB from 85 to almost 100 percent are often significantly reduced.

Leader Hamburg: Few Failures

Leading in reliability due to very few failures is Hamburg with its transport association HVV: 99 percent of the planned S- and U-Bahn trains actually run in the test month of September 2024. Hamburg also excels in punctuality, as 93 percent of the U-Bahn trains and well over three-quarters of the S-Bahn trains have less than a minute of delay.

Only just over half of the U-Bahn trains in Berlin and Frankfurt achieve this. For the S-Bahn, in Berlin, just over half meet the strict threshold of less than a minute delay, in Frankfurt, every third, and in Cologne, only just over every fourth S-Bahn – with each city having its infrastructural peculiarities. U-Bahn trains are usually more punctual because they have their own network that is protected from external influences.

Lack of Punctuality Drives People to Cars

According to ADAC, the many delays are one reason why consumers resort to cars instead of using public transport. This also contributes to the slow progress of the mobility transition. According to the club, not only are targeted investments in the infrastructure of public transport necessary, but also transparency in dealing with real-time data – hence ADAC supports the planned mobility data law.

Consumer-friendly public transportation dashboards for punctuality and reliability are just as essential as uniform and low punctuality threshold values of a maximum of three minutes. Cancellations should be integrated into the punctuality rate and considered as delays. From a consumer perspective, the currently common practice of not considering cancellations makes no sense.

Lack of Transparency: MVV/DB Deny Data

Transparency regarding punctuality and reliability is not prioritized everywhere – this is also shown by the ADAC investigation. Both the Munich Transport Association (MVV) and Deutsche Bahn did not grant the ADAC permission to use their data interfaces for analysis. The Cologne Special Purpose Association go.Rheinland at least provided the ADAC with an evaluation that, due to its own calculation method, could only partially be included in the analysis. The associations VBB in Berlin, RMV in Frankfurt, and HVV in Hamburg were more transparent and made their data interfaces available to the ADAC.