Leipzig Tram - Ticket Purchase Onboard?

[Foxhunter]

I've got a day in Leipzig next month, arriving by hire car, but planning to park it at the hotel in the suburbs and travel into the city by tram. I've downloaded the LeipzigMOVE app to my phone but it only seems to accept payment by PayPal, which I don't have, or put it on my phone bill, which I have low confidence will work with my UK roaming mobile.

Can anyone confirm that there will be ticket machine on the tram? If so, what payment methods are accepted? And do I have validate my ticket after I've bought it from the machine?

I appreciate these are basic questions, but I think any encounter I have with a plain-clothes ticket inspector is only going to end one way if I don't get this right.

 

[DanielB]

According to the Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe website there are ticket machines on the trams, but also on several tram stops: https://www.l.de/en/verkehrsbetriebe/customer-service/buying-your-ticket/

The German version of that page also has a map of stops with ticket machines

 

[30907]

According to the Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe website there are ticket machines on the trams, but also on several tram stops: https://www.l.de/en/verkehrsbetriebe/customer-service/buying-your-ticket/

The German version of that page also has a map of stops with ticket machines

According to that, the trams accept notes up to EUR50 "depending on ticket price" - from general experience of German ticket machines, I wouldn't rely on using anything above a 10, perhaps a 20 - change will come in coins probably.



BTW I'm not sure you need a PayPal account to use PayPal?

 

[johncrossley]

I've got a day in Leipzig next month, arriving by hire car, but planning to park it at the hotel in the suburbs and travel into the city by tram. I've downloaded the LeipzigMOVE app to my phone but it only seems to accept payment by PayPal, which I don't have, or put it on my phone bill, which I have low confidence will work with my UK roaming mobile.

Have you tried the DB app? That sells local tickets in most areas of Germany and accept normal credit and debit cards.

 

[valedave]

There are ticket machines on most trams, usually towards the middle. There are also ticket machines at quite a lot of tram stops, so you'll be fine there.

When I lived there the only card payment accepted was Geldkarte, a weird function on your bank card (EC-Karte/Girokarte) that you had to top up at a cash point. That was over ten years ago now, so things might have changed. Covid turbo-charged Germans' acceptance of card payments on even tiny purchases – one of the nicer side-effects.

Tickets purchased on board already include the date and time of purchase and are valid for immediate travel, so no, you don't have to stamp them.

 

[zuriblue]

Looking at the Leipzig website you can buy tickets on board and the machines take cash - coins or notes up to 50 euros depending on the price of the ticket.

You can also buy them at service points and there’s a list on the website.

Buying your Ticket

www.l.de

You can also buy tickets on the DB app, select Transport Associations then Mitteldeutschland. Put your journey in and you get the full range of tickets.

 

[Foxhunter]

Returning just in case anyone needs this in future. And also to thank those that contributed.

To stress, I was only faced with an issue to manage because I arrived by car in the suburbs and wanted to use public transport into town.

What I found was that my ticket purchasing possibilities were limited after I had opted not to use PayPal, or test the theory that I could put the bill on my UK mobile. So far as I could see, the DB app would only sell me a local area ticket as an add-on to a train journey ticket (but my evaluation wasn't exhaustive, it may be possible).

The tram service is currently suspended at the locality I stayed, so the desired journey was bus initially, changing to tram. The hotel receptionist advised that the bus driver should sell tickets, but guests had reported them 'declining' to do this. They pointed me to a corner shop that sold tickets, which was a bit hidden away, I would never have found it without directions. But very successful; for once the conversation went like it was written down in a language teaching book and I emerged both chuffed and in possession of a ticket.

So far as I could see the trams do have machines on board, and this is indicated on the outside of the vehicle. However, take care, the trailer vehicle I travelled in did not. Down town there were machines by some tram stops.

Other observations. The nice weather may have helped, but I found the residents to Leipzig particularly helpful and welcoming; it was a pleasant novelty to spend a week using cash, but it won't convert me back; the Harz Mountain Railway was just as good as the first time I went, it really is a unique little gem.