The invention relates to a method for detecting the position of a bus subscriber (2, 2a, 2b, 2n) of a bus system, in which a control device (1) and several bus subscribers (2, 2a, 2b, 2n) are provided. The bus subscribers (2, 2a, 2b, 2n) are respectively in a position (P1, P2, Pn) to be detected and are connected to the control device (1) via at least one line, the line to the respective bus subscriber (2, 2a, 2b, 2n) having a definable line length (L1, L2, Ln), and the position of a bus subscriber (2, 2a, 2b, 2n) is then detected in that the control device (1) sends a signal via the line to the respective bus subscriber (2, 2a, 2b, 2n) within a measurement cycle and the bus subscriber (2, 2a, 2b, 2n) responds. The measurement cycle duration is determined and a ratio of measurement cycle duration and line length (L1, L2, Ln) is used to detect the position.