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The integrated timetable of Switzerland

jokteur.com

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Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#31

Post by pera »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #23
immmmmm wrote: post #2

Swiss here. Amazing system, using it everyday. Brutally expensive tickets tho.

Another Swiss here. Brutally expensive? Sure, when you look at full fare tickets. Since every Swiss, who uses public transport owns a half fare card those prices are (mostly) halfed, though. When it comes to commuter travel prices become outright reasonable. The best deal, if you use the train for a regular commute intercity is the Generalabonnement[0]. ca. $4000 (6500 for first class) for a year of unrestricted trav…

Is there any alternative to this? Because that's about 4 times the price of the normal monthly local bus pass in the US and the UK. Most people don't need to travel around the country, they just need to commute to their jobs.

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#32

Post by cinntaile »

kuon wrote: post #21

In the area where I live (near Aigle on the east of Leman) the main problem is that there are only two tracks (one each direction) going to Geneva. Which makes it hard to have frequent stops. I live at 100m from the tracks, but I have to do 8km to take the train at Aigle. I lived in Tokyo for some time, and you have stops everywhere, mainly possible because there is so many tracks running. But in Switzerland, many pl…

Not having too many stops makes travelling a lot faster (good for when alternatives exist) and less delay prone, but it sure sucks when the nearest stop is quite far away.

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#33

Post by a4a4a4a4 »

herbst wrote: post #17
p1anecrazy wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

S/he wrote 340 a month, not a year

City tickets in Switzerland also are around 300-500/year. (sure our cities are nowhere near Berlin in size) the 340/m option does allow you to use nearly any transport (boats, trains, buses, some cable cars) in the whole country including price reductions (up to 50%) for most non-included transport methods (like private mountain trains or tourist hot spot cable cars).

> City tickets in Switzerland also are around 300-500/year

Zurich zone 110 (city center) is 782chf/year ($816) for the non-transferable one. Bern is 790chf/year. I'm not sure where you're getting "300-500/year".

https://www.zvv.ch/zvv/de/abos-und-tickets/abos/netzpass.htm... https://www.mylibero.ch/de/libero-abo/jahresabo

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#34

Post by Vinnl »

michaelscott wrote: post #22
belter wrote: post #12

No doubt Swiss train network is excellent. If we are to trust to published statistics form other countries for 2018, and using for the Swiss system, the 2021 data mentioned in the article: "about 92% of passenger trains were on-time" this would make it for punctuality, somewhat middle of the league. Behind Poland, Greece and Bulgaria for example. This is assuming being on time is: "a delay of five minutes or less". F…

The point is that Switzerland maintains this level of punctuality in addition to connecting the entire country, down to the village. That "down to the village" bit is the part that very few other public transport systems in the world have managed to get right, including those alternatives in your list. Of course, as you say this is about trusting the published statistics from the country itself. In the case of Switze…

I think GP's point was also that the Swiss look middle-of-the-league only when comparing their strict definition (>3m is counted as a delay) with the looser definition used by other countries (>5m is counted as a delay). Presumably, if trains with a 4- or 5-minute delay were not counted as delayed, more than 92% of Swiss trains would be on time.

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#35

Post by bigDinosaur »

belter wrote: post #12

No doubt Swiss train network is excellent. If we are to trust to published statistics form other countries for 2018, and using for the Swiss system, the 2021 data mentioned in the article: "about 92% of passenger trains were on-time" this would make it for punctuality, somewhat middle of the league. Behind Poland, Greece and Bulgaria for example. This is assuming being on time is: "a delay of five minutes or less". F…

Hopefully European countries aren't prone to manipulating the statistics. An example that used to happen in my (Australian) city: if a train was running late, they'd skip stations: magically, it now arrived at its destination on time!

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#36

Post by CaptainZapp »

pera wrote: post #31
CaptainZapp wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another Swiss here. Brutally expensive? Sure, when you look at full fare tickets. Since every Swiss, who uses public transport owns a half fare card those prices are (mostly) halfed, though. When it comes to commuter travel prices become outright reasonable. The best deal, if you use the train for a regular commute intercity is the Generalabonnement[0]. ca. $4000 (6500 for first class) for a year of unrestricted trav…

Is there any alternative to this? Because that's about 4 times the price of the normal monthly local bus pass in the US and the UK. Most people don't need to travel around the country, they just need to commute to their jobs.

Yes, there are.

Mostly, but not necessarily, within regional transportation networks.

As a for example: I pay roughly $1200 for one year of travel within the city of Zurich and the adjacent zone including the airport.

This includes any mode of transportation, except taxis.

A Generalabonnement makes more sense, though, commuting from, say, Zurich to Basel, which is not uncommon.

Edited to add: Regional commuter passes also allow for use of intercity trains, provided that they stop within your zone of validity.

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#37

Post by archerx »

jokteur wrote: post #30
archerx wrote: post #28

My train to and from work has been late almost every day since last year. I feel like I don't live in Switzerland. So where are the punctual trains that this article is talking about and I am paying so much for?

This is what you get with averages: you may have lots of problems on one particular line, but compared to the sheer numbers of daily trains in Switzerland that are on time, it doesn't change the average so much.

The same train almost everyday for over a year? I'm sorry but the CFF loves smelling their own farts talking about how great they are but let's be honest here the Romandie part gets treated like a second class citizen. The trains are dirty, I remember seeing the same goop and grime on an inside train wall for over a month (I'm very consistent with my train timing so I ended up mostly taking the same train). The trains are late all the time, even yesterday for a simple trip from Vevey to Lausanne the train was late and I saw a lot of +5 min and more delays for other trains at the stations.

I know things are better in Swiss German parts but my experience has been so I have considered maybe getting a car or anything to avoid the trains.

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#38

Post by martinald »

vladharbuz wrote: post #13
tragomaskhalos wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a bad trade-off to be fair. In the UK tickets (at least inter-city) are also brutally expensive but the system is, to put it kindly, often flakey.

As someone who has lived long-term in both countries, I think that while the Swiss system is absolutely better than the UK system, people in the UK are a bit _too_ self-deprecating about the UK rail system, which is, all things considered, relatively good. Honestly, the biggest pain point in my eyes is that, because of privatisation, it's not all integrated into a single booking/refund/information system, which unfor…

It will be as of next year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_British_Railways.

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#39

Post by soco »

pera wrote: post #31
CaptainZapp wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another Swiss here. Brutally expensive? Sure, when you look at full fare tickets. Since every Swiss, who uses public transport owns a half fare card those prices are (mostly) halfed, though. When it comes to commuter travel prices become outright reasonable. The best deal, if you use the train for a regular commute intercity is the Generalabonnement[0]. ca. $4000 (6500 for first class) for a year of unrestricted trav…

Is there any alternative to this? Because that's about 4 times the price of the normal monthly local bus pass in the US and the UK. Most people don't need to travel around the country, they just need to commute to their jobs.

Apparently half a million Swiss did the math and decided 4 times that local bus pass price is worth their money. It's not like you have to get a GA. I don't and I'm happy with the half-fare abo, my daughter has a local pass and a half-fare abo (which doesn't help to the local pass reductions), but if you go in the mountains or skiing enough weekends (and many do) you will save lots with the GA - as the mountains are often not in your local bus network.

Re: The integrated timetable of Switzerland

#40

Post by CHsurfer »

bigDinosaur wrote: post #35
belter wrote: post #12

No doubt Swiss train network is excellent. If we are to trust to published statistics form other countries for 2018, and using for the Swiss system, the 2021 data mentioned in the article: "about 92% of passenger trains were on-time" this would make it for punctuality, somewhat middle of the league. Behind Poland, Greece and Bulgaria for example. This is assuming being on time is: "a delay of five minutes or less". F…

Hopefully European countries aren't prone to manipulating the statistics. An example that used to happen in my (Australian) city: if a train was running late, they'd skip stations: magically, it now arrived at its destination on time!

Was on a Swiss train that did exactly this yesterday. To be fair, the delay originated in Italy (20 minutes late)and there was a minimal impact for people wanting to get to or leave from that city (Bern) as passenger on the affected train could get off one stop early and then catch another train to finish their leg and passengers trying to board the train in Bern just had to catch another train to the subsequent stop (Olten) to get on the late train there.

Finally, this was the first time in over 20 years of light rail use in Switzerland that I experienced this.

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