Traveling Beyond Cologne: The New Rheinlandtarif Zones Explained
If your KVB ticket knowledge is more than a few months old, it's outdated: since 1 June 2026, the Rheinlandtarif replaced the old separate VRS and AVV tariff systems with a simplified structure of just three price levels instead of seven. Preisstufe 1a (2.90 EUR single ticket) covers most VRS municipalities, but Cologne, Bonn, and Aachen get their own Preisstufe 1b (3.50 EUR) because of their denser transit networks. Preisstufe 2 (4.00 EUR) covers trips that reach past your starting municipality and its immediate neighbor into an adjacent one, useful for a day trip to somewhere like Bonn or Leverkusen, and Preisstufe 3 (5.50 EUR) covers travel anywhere across the entire Rheinland network, former VRS and AVV territory combined, including Bonn, Leverkusen, Monheim, and five surrounding Kreise. Day tickets run 8.40 EUR (1b), 9.60 EUR (2), and 13.20 EUR (3). None of this touches your Deutschlandticket, which stays at 63 EUR a month for unlimited nationwide travel regardless of these zone changes.
The Official Rule
If the last time you looked into KVB or regional transit pricing was before mid-2026, treat everything you remember as potentially outdated. Since 1 June 2026, the Rheinlandtarif replaced the previous separate VRS and AVV tariff systems, cutting what used to be up to seven price levels down to just three: 1a/1b, 2, and 3.
The New Price Levels
| Level | Coverage | Single ticket | 24hTicket | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | All VRS municipalities except Cologne, Bonn, Aachen | 2.90 EUR | n/a, check current site | 90 min |
| 1b | Cologne, Bonn, Aachen (denser transit networks) | 3.50 EUR | 8.40 EUR | 90 min |
| 2 | Starting municipality plus neighbor plus one adjacent municipality | 4.00 EUR | 9.60 EUR | 180 min |
| 3 | Entire Rheinland network, former VRS and AVV combined | 5.50 EUR | 13.20 EUR | 360 min |
Preisstufe 1b exists specifically for Cologne, Bonn, and Aachen, because these three cities run considerably denser transit networks than the rest of the VRS area, more lines, more frequent service, and more stops within the same short trip, which justifies the higher fare over Preisstufe 1a.
Photo by Jan van der Wolf on Pexels
How Far VRS Actually Reaches
VRS covers a lot more than Cologne itself. The association spans the cities of Cologne, Bonn, Leverkusen, and Monheim, plus five surrounding Kreise: Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, Oberbergischer Kreis, and Kreis Euskirchen, together covering roughly 5,111 square kilometers and around 3.5 million residents. Since the Rheinlandtarif reform, Preisstufe 3 extends usable coverage even further, spanning the former VRS territory and the neighboring AVV area (Aachen and its region) as one combined network.
Working Out What You Need
- Staying inside one municipality? Preisstufe 1a (2.90 EUR) covers most VRS towns, or 1b (3.50 EUR) if you're specifically in Cologne, Bonn, or Aachen.
- Crossing into a neighboring or adjacent municipality? That's Preisstufe 2 (4.00 EUR), with 180 minutes of validity to complete your journey including transfers.
- Traveling further across the wider Rheinland network? Preisstufe 3 (5.50 EUR) covers you anywhere in the combined former VRS and AVV area, valid for 360 minutes.
- Making several trips in one day? Compare the 24hTicket price for your zone, 8.40, 9.60, or 13.20 EUR, against buying single tickets for each leg.
- Already holding a Deutschlandticket? None of this applies to you, it remains a flat 63 EUR monthly pass covering unlimited nationwide regional and local transit.
Step by Step
- Identify your starting municipality and your destination before buying anything, the zone structure is based on how many municipalities your trip crosses, not raw distance.
- Check whether your destination is inside VRS at all, or if you鈥檙e heading toward the former AVV area (Aachen and surroundings), since that changes whether Preisstufe 2 or 3 applies.
- Compare single ticket vs. 24hTicket pricing if you鈥檙e making more than two or three trips in the zone that day.
- Remember Deutschlandticket holders skip all of this, the Rheinlandtarif only matters for single and day ticket purchases.
- Double-check current fares before a longer trip, since this reform is recent and price levels can still be adjusted as the system settles in.
Compliance Note
This page explains general practice around Rheinlandtarif zones and regional transit beyond Cologne, but it is not official transit guidance, and specific prices and zone boundaries can change, especially given how recently this reform took effect. For your specific journey, confirm current fares directly through KVB or VRS.
FAQ & Common Pitfalls
What actually changed with the Rheinlandtarif on 1 June 2026?
The old system ran two separate tariff associations, VRS (covering Cologne, Bonn, and the surrounding region) and AVV (covering Aachen and its area), each with their own multi-level pricing, up to seven price levels combined. The Rheinlandtarif merged both into one unified structure with just three price levels, 1a/1b, 2, and 3, making it considerably simpler to figure out what a given trip costs, especially if you're crossing from what used to be VRS territory into AVV territory or vice versa.
Why do Cologne, Bonn, and Aachen have a different price level than everywhere else?
Preisstufe 1b exists specifically because Cologne, Bonn, and Aachen run denser, more extensive public transit networks than smaller VRS municipalities, more lines, more frequent service, more stops packed into the same short-distance trip. A single ticket in these three cities costs 3.50 EUR versus 2.90 EUR for Preisstufe 1a everywhere else, both valid for 90 minutes with transfers included.
I want to take a day trip from Cologne to Bonn. Which price level do I need?
That depends on exactly where in Bonn you're going and whether it counts as a neighboring or adjacent municipality relative to Cologne under the new zone map, but a trip that reaches beyond your starting municipality and its immediate neighbor typically falls under Preisstufe 2, at 4.00 EUR with 180 minutes of validity. If your journey crosses further into what was previously AVV territory or another part of the wider Rheinland network, you'd need Preisstufe 3 instead, at 5.50 EUR with 360 minutes of validity, valid across the entire combined network.
Does VRS cover more than just Cologne itself?
Yes, considerably more. VRS spans Cologne, Bonn, Leverkusen, and Monheim as cities, plus five surrounding Kreise, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, Oberbergischer Kreis, and Kreis Euskirchen, an area of roughly 5,111 square kilometers with around 3.5 million residents. The Rheinlandtarif reform then extends usable ticket coverage even further, since Preisstufe 3 spans the former VRS and AVV areas combined into one network.
What about day tickets, are those simpler now too?
Yes, the 24hTicket follows the same three-tier structure as single tickets: 8.40 EUR for Preisstufe 1b, 9.60 EUR for Preisstufe 2, and 13.20 EUR for Preisstufe 3, letting you ride as much as you want within your chosen zone for a full day rather than buying a fresh single ticket for every leg of a day out. Worth doing the math against your planned number of trips before assuming a day ticket is automatically cheaper.
Does my Deutschlandticket still work the same way?
Yes, completely unaffected. The Deutschlandticket remains a flat 63 EUR a month for unlimited regional and local transit travel across all of Germany, it isn't tied to VRS, AVV, or the new Rheinlandtarif zone system at all. If you already hold one, none of this reform changes what you're covered for or what you pay, the Rheinlandtarif only matters if you're buying single or day tickets instead.