Transportation in America often is viewed as having three parts: cars on land, planes in the sky, and boats in the water. This leaves out a lot of other sources, particularly on land. Bikes, busses, trains, and other wheeled devices don’t make the list. But they do in Germany. In the land of Mercedes, BMW, and Volkswagen, why wouldn’t cars be the only way to go?

Bikes in America are a source of transportation for a select group of people—those unable to drive or those who willingly leaving the car at home. And there are normally reasons: economic, legal, health-related, environmental, etc. In Germany, the bike is an option just as practical as the car. It is only one more option for moving from point A to point B besides busses, trains, mopeds, or roller blades.

For Americans wishing to bike to work for a change, finding the bike lane or avoiding the aggressive city traffic can be a difficult or dangerous task. In Germany, if you're walking, you'd better look both ways before crossing the sidewalk and keep off the red lane. Here, bikes are not simply integrated into the transportation system; they have a role seemingly more important than pedestrians.

I would imagine one of the biggest reasons for biking is the high cost related to driving. Much of the bike traffic is easily explained by the licensing, tests, driving schools, high gas prices (about $4 a gallon), insurance, and other costs associated with driving. Much of Tübingen can be easily navigated with a bike, so why bother spending the money for a car when you don't need to? The city does have a number of hills that could make any beginner cyclist's brow bead with fearful sweat. Solution: hop on the bus with your bike and avoid the most difficult parts. Or you can bike around the city center and then ride the bus home with your two-wheeled companion at your side.

Busses are also a mode of transportation that I employed while staying in Germany. I was placed with the four other students whose names are at the end of the alphabet in the farther dorm building on Hartmeyerstrasse. The other two buildings located on Fichtenweg are a 15-minute bus ride or 20-minute walk away. The bus schedule became a well-used reference as only three busses stopped nearby, and only one, the five, maintained a frequent, daily route. I suppose I could have remained at Hartmeyerstrasse, secluding myself from the other 20 students, but I needed to be around other people, especially ones that spoke my language.

The busses are rarely more than two or three minutes late. On the occasions that the bus proved less than reliable, one took to foot. Some busses do not run on weekends or after 8 pm on weekdays, but this is common with most public transit systems. The bus system in my opinion is very good. The one bus, the beloved #5, frequented each stop every 10 minutes on weekdays and every 15 on weekends. On weekends and holidays (Thursday being considered a weekend day) the night busses, or Nachtbuse, run from 12:30 am to 3 am, roughly. My American friends and I discovered this convenience after leaving the regular Thursday night party at the university-run Clubhaus. What should we behold at 2:45 am but a large Mercedes bus stopped just outside stuffed full of our drunken dancing companions. We hopped on to the standing-room-only bus and were delivered to warm beds in no time. Just like magic.

When we first arrived in Tübingen, we were given bus passes that not only covered all bus travel in the designated region (about three cities), but also all train travel. We could ride the trains to Reutlingen to go to clubs, Metzlingen to go to the outlet stores, or Sigmaringen to see a fantastic castle. We took advantage of this often. The trains are not what trains are in the US. The train system in Germany, and much of Europe (as I experienced in France, England, Holland, etc), is similar to a subway system in New York. Living in Oregon, I experienced that trains were just as expensive as flying, slower than driving, and less convenient than either. German rail travel is fairly cheap, fast, reliable, and comfortable. I prefer trains to planes any day. Some trains are more direct and therefore faster than others, so depending on the train, trip length will vary. The few drawbacks I could see were fairly insignificant in the scope of things.

In Germany, trains, busses, and bikes seem to be more highly used than cars. However, cars are not absent from the street scene. The cars, on average, are smaller than what most Americans are used to and many are made by Mercedes-Benz (including the busses, garbage trucks, and other public vehicles). The Smart is a car that represents the role of cars in Germany. The Smart was designed to be a small city car, perfect for zipping through narrow European streets and still getting good gas mileage. What you see is a nearly cubic vehicle. Compared to Cadillacs, 1957 Chevys, Buicks, or the super-cab-extra-long-bed pickup trucks I grew up with, the Smart's size is cute and comical. I believe that if a person were hit by a Smart, said person would not die from an impact with it. Perhaps he or she would fly up over the Smart only to be slain by the next vehicle, but not by the Smart itself.However, in all reality, the Smart is a city car suited for the creators' intentions. It is short and takes up less parking space in the densely populated German cities. It uses less fuel (Smarts boast 60.1 miles per gallon, on average), which is desirable since it costs about 1_ per liter (about $4 a gallon). You can now better understand the appeal of bike or bus travel.

There is one other transportation option. Most of us were equipped with them from birth; look down, that's right, your feet. The sidewalks are shared by cyclists and pedestrians (and occasionally a vehicle, I'm not sure why). There is a distinct hierarchy to the roads and sidewalks. Cars are expected to stop for red lights and marked, yet non-light- controlled crosswalks, but not so readily for the stray, jaywalking pedestrian. Many walkers prefer to wait for the lights to tell them when it's safe to walk, and others take it upon themselves to decide when it's safe.

Public transportation in Germany seems to be used more than what I experienced living in Portland, Oregon. At least half the population of Tübingen is credited to the university, so perhaps the number of students without the funds or necessity of a car is part of the crowd on the busses. I assume a good deal of the public transportation use is due to the economical and environmental needs of the country. Not everyone can afford to own a car. At the same time the high population density requires everyone to reduce his or her pollution and spare resources. The scale of recycling done here is surprising. To find a single, unmarked garbage bin is rare. Usually clumps of four—packaging, glass, paper, and "other." This country has limits to what it can withstand, and the actions and habits of the people here reflect it accurately.