Tariff zones, regions & fare categories
Tariff zones, cells and short journeys form the basis for calculating prices in the network area. A tariff zone generally comprises a city or several small towns / districts and is constituted of one of more cells. Each connection within the VRR area is allocated a price category. In addition to short journeys there are the price categories A, B, C and D. Children under the age of seven generally travel for free. Discounted ticket prices are available for children from the ages of seven to 14.
Documents about the tariff and tickets
The interconnected space
Here you can find an overview of the price levels
Get informed now!
With a short-distance ticket, you can usually travel three stops or 1.5 kilometres from your boarding stop. It is valid for 20 minutes from the time of validation, exclusively for direct journeys. You can only use short-distance tickets on buses, trams and underground trains, but not on regional express trains, regional trains or suburban trains.
Price level A usually applies to journeys within a city.
- A1 in smaller towns and cities
- A2 in eleven larger cities or towns with a well-developed public transport network: Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Herne, Krefeld, Mönchengladbach, Mülheim, Neuss/Kaarst, Oberhausen, Remscheid, Solingen
- A3 in five major cities with very dense and particularly high-quality local transport services: Bochum, Dortmund, Essen, Düsseldorf and Wuppertal
In fare stage B, you choose a central tariff zone from which you can then travel to the directly adjacent tariff zones. Keep in mind that the central tariff zone does not have to be the tariff zone where you live.
With price level C, you cover the medium travel distances. You can choose between 19 different regions in the interconnected area.
With tickets at price level D, you can travel throughout the entire network area.
Beyond the VRR borders
For journeys that go beyond the VRR, regulations that deviate from the VRR tariff apply. Here, VRR has set up transitional arrangements with neighbouring partners in the form of Kragentarifs:
- Aachen Transport Association (AVV)
- Rhine-Sieg Transport Association (VRS)
- WestfalenTarif
The Kragentarifs do not generally cover the entire interconnected areas, but are tailored according to relevant traffic flows. Some principles apply to all Kragentarifs:
- For journeys that remain within a tariff zone, only the tariff of the corresponding association or transport community applies.
- In both adjacent tariff zones, tickets are sold through the existing distribution channels.
With the EinfachWeiterTicket NRW you can travel simply and easily throughout NRW (VRR, AVV, VRS, WT), provided you have a season ticket or a network-wide KombiTicket from VRR, AVV, VRS or WT or a season ticket from the NRW tariff. You can find more information on the EinfachWeiterTicket NRW here.
Trips to the Netherlands
As the most populous transport association in Europe, the VRR borders on the Netherlands and also maintains local transport connections to the neighbouring country. This means that the lines between our transport area and Venlo, Nijmegen and Arnhem can be used with the network fare.
Tariff principles
However, the VRR fare cannot be used within the Dutch areas, but always for the transition between the VRR and the neighbouring Dutch cities.
In principle, you can travel to the Dutch fare zones as long as they are included in your specified area of validity. With the DeutschlandTicket, a season or monthly ticket with the network-wide price level D or a VRR SemesterTicket, you can also travel to the Dutch areas. If your monthly ticket at price level A, B or C does not extend as far as there, you can travel to the Netherlands with an additional ticket per journey.
In the case of bar tariff tickets, one purchase of the required price level from start to destination is sufficient. It is also possible to use flat-rate NRW tariff tickets in the transition.
Information on tickets and prices can be found here: Ticket overview
Holders of a disabled person's pass can only use it to travel within the Federal Republic of Germany - and therefore only to the last stop within the VRR. A VRR ticket of the required price level (e.g. price level A from Nettetal Kaldenkirchen) can then be used as a connecting ticket.
Passengers can find further information on fares within the Netherlands on the website www.9292.nl (also available in English).
Information on travelling to and from the Netherlands
Destination: Netherlands
- Usable line: RE 19 (Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Oberhausen - Dinslaken - Wesel - Arnhem)
- There are green VRR ticket machines and ticket validators in Arnhem Centraal and Zevenaar
- Arnhem is included in the regional VRR semester ticket for the "North" region
- With a semester ticket for the South region, you need an additional ticket
- Holders of a VRR semester ticket with a NRW semester ticket do not require an additional ticket
- There are platform barriers in Arnhem. Customers travelling from Germany who have a valid ticket but no barcode or chip card to open the barriers in Arnhem will receive a so-called KeyCard from the train attendant during the journey. The KeyCard can be used eight more times within three months after the first use.
- Usable lines: RE 13 (Hamm - Unna - Hagen - Wuppertal - Düsseldorf - Mönchengladbach - Viersen - Venlo), Bus 29 (Neukirchen-Vl. Vluyner Südring - Straelen-Herongen - Venlo) and SB 42 (Aldekerk - Straelen - Venlo)
- There are two green VRR ticket machines with VRR tickets and a validator for existing tickets in the bar tariff at Venlo station
- Regional VRR Semestertickets from the North and South regions are also valid for the journey to Venlo (but not the NRW Semesterticket or the DeutschlandTicket Semesterticket Upgrade)
- With the tickets of the VRR tariff, with the exception of the DeutschlandTicket products, customers can also travel on the Arriva buses in Venlo in the tariff zones 6900, 6911 and 6915. For journeys that are exclusively within Venlo or that go beyond the fare zones listed above, the Dutch fare applies.
- Usable line: Bus 91 (Emmerich - 's-Heerenberg)
- Usable line: Bus 60 (Kleve - Millingen aan de Rijn)
- The bus serves numerous stops in the villages between Kleve and Millingen aan de Rijn.
- Usable line: SB58 (Emmerich - Kleve - Kranenburg - Nijmegen Centraal Station - Nijmegen, HAN)
- Tickets can be purchased directly from the bus driver
- Nijmegen is included in the regional VRR semester ticket for the "North" region
- With a semester ticket for the South region you need an additional ticket
- Holders of a VRR semester ticket with a NRW semester ticket do not require an additional ticket
Destination: Germany
- Usable line: RE 19 (Arnhem - Zevenaar - Emmerich - Wesel - Oberhausen - Duisburg - Düsseldorf Airport - Düsseldorf)
- A direct and transfer-free connection from the Netherlands to Düsseldorf Airport
- Attractive journey times between Arnhem and cities in North Rhine-Westphalia:
Arnhem - Düsseldorf: 1:48 hours without changing trains
Arnhem - Oberhausen: 1:22 hours without changing trains
Arnhem - Emmerich: 0:21 hours without changing trains - Use the convenient VRR app to buy your ticket cashless via your smartphone before you start your journey or buy your ticket from a ticket machine with the VRR logo at Arnhem Centraal or Zevenaar stations
- The OV-Chipkaart is also recognised on this line from Arnhem via Zevenaar to Emmerich (all stops in Emmerich)
- Usable lines: RE 13 (Venlo - Viersen - Mönchengladbach - Neuss - Düsseldorf - Wuppertal - Hagen - Hamm), Bus 29 (Venlo - Straelen-Herongen - Neukirchen-Vluyn) and SB 42 (Venlo - Straelen - Aldekerk)
- At the (H) Südring in Neukirchen-Vluyn there is a connection to bus 929 to Duisburg (Südring, Neukirchen-Vluyn - Moers - Duisburg)
- Attractive journey times between Venlo and cities in Germany:
Venlo - Wuppertal: 1:26 hours without changing trains
Venlo - Düsseldorf: 1:04 hours without changing trains
Venlo - Mönchengladbach: 0:31 hours without changing trains - Use the convenient VRR app to buy your ticket cashless via your smartphone before you start your journey or buy your ticket from a ticket machine with the VRR logo at Venlo station
- Usable line: Bus 91 ('s-Heerenberg - Emmerich)
- Usable line: Bus 60 (Millingen aan de Rijn - Kleve)
- The bus serves numerous stops in the villages between Millingen aan de Rijn and Kleve.
- Usable line: express bus line SB58 (Nijmegen - Kranenburg - Kleve - Emmerich)
- The OV-Chipkaart is fully recognised on this line
City, route and network map
You can find the valid timetable for your line(s) to us in the network area under: City, route & network maps. You can use the lines listed there as well as the bus, road, city and underground lines in the cities of the network area with VRR fare tickets. You can find the timetable information here.
Would you like to travel to Venlo or Arnhem with a VRR ticket? No problem!
In a short video, we explain which ticket you need to travel from Gelsenkirchen to Venlo, for example, and why a trip to the Dutch city on the Meuse is worthwhile.
Did you know that you can travel all the way to Arnhem with a VRR ticket? In a short video, we explain which ticket you need to travel from Gelsenkirchen to Arnhem Centraal, for example, and how the onward journey to the famous Burger's Zoo works.