There are many popular bus routes in Berlin. There is the 100, which covers so many highlights that you have the feeling of driving through a Baedeker. There is her more humble sister, the M29. She drove us through many rainy Sundays when the children were little, for ice cream to the Kudamm and back. The entry at Hermannplatz increases the chance of getting a place at the top in the front. This is how you become a premium passenger for a few euros. The M41, the “bus that drives in a pack”, as it is called in the song that “The waiting passengers” released as a single in 2014, has achieved tragic-comic fame. Nobody comes for a long time, then three. The TXL is out of the ordinary because of its numberless name and for decades it had the noble task of bringing people to an airport that was neither connected to the S-Bahn nor to the U-Bahn network.
What begins with music can only turn out to be good
A friend and I don’t have these lines in mind when we meet to drive the bus. She likes to be chauffeured through the city by the nerve-racking drivers just as much as I do. Nowhere do you feel more like a guest, which shouldn’t detract from the services of the other public. But the mere opportunity to say “hello” when you get started gives you a feeling of privacy. A bit like driving a taxi, only in community with others. Of which you don’t know in which unknown corners of Berlin your trip ends. We want to get to know them, the stations in the outskirts and small veins in the city center. The friend calls the former “peripheral experience”, “niche exploration” is what I call the alternative.
We’ll start with a proud number. Overwhelmed by the possibilities, the friend suggested choosing a starting point between our apartments. Line 300 from the Philharmonie to Warschauer Strasse resulted from their calculations. Why not? What begins with music can only turn out to be good. The periphery does not run away from us. Should she try, we will follow her by bus. We are prepared for this, because in order to bridge the time until the first trip, we sent each other video snippets of new routes over the course of months. A minute of trees, facades, bus shelter. Since then, I’ve always carried a piece of busy Berlin with me. Sections of the 100 and the M29 are also included. The M41 is missing. Presumably she didn’t come.
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