Munich reaches 1,000th step-free bus stop platform at Hofbrunnstraße

Munich's Department of Construction (Baureferat) has converted the city's 1,000th bus stop platform for step-free access, at the Hofbrunnstraße stop on Aidenbachstraße. Head of the department Dr.-Ing. Jeanne-Marie Ehbauer marked the milestone on site today alongside Sabine Effner, city director and deputy head of the Mobility Department, Christopher Utz, head of bus operations at the Munich transport company MVG, Dr. Ludwig Weidinger, chair of the Thalkirchen-Obersendling-Forstenried-Fürstenried-Solln district committee, and Bernhard Claus, chair of the mobility working group of the Disability Advisory Council.

The new platform is 23 metres long with a special 18-centimetre kerb, and can take both 23-metre bus-and-trailer combinations and 18-metre articulated buses. The kerb allows buses to pull in straight and almost without a gap, reducing the step and space between vehicle and platform. This makes boarding and alighting considerably easier for wheelchair and rollator users, people with pushchairs and travellers with suitcases. Tactile paving helps blind and partially sighted people find their way, with a white guidance strip leading to the front door by the driver. Crossings at the neighbouring junction have also been made step-free, with adjusted kerb heights, tactile paving and devices that let blind and partially sighted people request acoustic signals.

The platform has been built out to the edge of the carriageway, so buses can stop and pull away directly without having to rejoin traffic. According to the department, this saves time, makes services more reliable and reduces the risk of passengers falling. The waiting area has been enlarged and is now up to four metres wide towards the junction, and the cycle path runs behind it so waiting passengers and cyclists cross paths less often. Obstructive edges have been removed from the cycle route at the junction, and a new glazed, roofed and lit shelter has been installed. Once work is complete, the grass verge will be finished and three new trees planted.

"With the bus stop platform programme, we are creating the conditions for as many people as possible to travel by bus independently, safely and happily – thanks to this programme, at a thousand more places than before," said Ehbauer. Bernhard Claus said step-free stops enable many people to use buses, particularly people with disabilities and older people, calling the work at Hofbrunnstraße an important step towards greater participation in everyday life.

The department counts individual platforms rather than stops, as a stop can have several; major interchanges such as Harras or Pasing station have up to six or seven. The programme continues, with stops including Ehrengutstraße, Kunreuthstraße and Osterwaldstraße due before the end of the year. In 2027, Pündterplatz, Bismarckstraße, Goldlackplatz, Gundermannstraße, Korbinian-Beer-Straße, Moosacher Straße and Helene-Mayer-Ring are scheduled to follow.