UBC July 2024 - Public Transportation

Photo by Andreas Stutz on Unsplash

Welcome back to July's UBC. This month I'm going to be talking about cultural differences between Switzerland and the USA.

Today's topic is public transportation, something that Americans living in Switzerland love about my country. Here's why:

You can pretty much get from and to everywhere by bus, tram, train, ferry or boat. Or funicular, or cable car, or gondola ;-)

They are all well maintained, super clean and operated according to a defined schedule that is being kept accurately. So much so that people who are new to my country are amused by the following situation:

Monday morning in a suburb of Zurich. People are waiting on the platform for the train to arrive. A loudspeaker announcement explains that the express train to Zurich main station is unfortunately two minutes late. 

Yes, we're nothing if not eager to be punctual ;-)

So let's say you arrive at Zurich Airport, and you want to go see the Matterhorn. This is your itinerary:

Your 157 miles trip includes changing trains twice, and the total duration is 3.5 hours. Most parts of the ride will be scenic, too! Once you arrive, this is what'll expect you! Zermatt is one of the few mountain resorts that are completely car-free. Your means of transportation from now is an electro mobile taxi, a horse-drawn carriage, or you walk.

Photo by Daniel Cox on Unsplash

Now the downside to public transportation is of course the price. This trip from Zurich Airport to Zermatt will cost CHF 130 (one way, in a second class wagon). If you're considering a trip to Switzerland, you should invest in some kind of discount card, such as "half fare" which allows you to pay only half of the price. There are other offers, specifically tailored for tourists. 

Of course, the US also has trains, subways, busses etc. At least in many parts of the country. A friend of mine who spent six months in San Diego, CA, and needed to save money, survived without a car. Here's how she did it:

She walked twenty  minutes from her house to the bus station, from where the bus took her to UTC Transit Center within six minutes. An eight minute walk would take her to a connecting bus. This ride would take 15 minutes and drop her in front of her school. All in all a 50 minutes' trip that could have been a ten minutes' car ride. 

She had a heart-warming experience one night when she came home from a night out in downtown. She was the only passenger for the last few stops, and the driver asked where she lived. She told him. He was like "that's quite far from the bus station, is somebody picking you up?" Nope, I'll walk, she said. "Not tonight, you won't" the friendly bus driver said. "I can take you to the junction of so-and-so, unfortunately I can't go any further because there's no way for my vehicle to make the narrow curves after this."

Wow. That was five minutes from her home! She was touched. And so was I when she told me. 

That would never have happened in Switzerland. 

I had a similar experience on my first day I was on my own. Friends had picked me up at the airport and taken me to my temporary home the night before. I had to get to the car rental place by public transportation. My roommate dropped me at UTC shopping mall on her way to school. Of course the shops were still closed this early in the morning, except Starbucks, which was where I had breakfast. 

Then I went to the bus stop to find out when my bus would leave. Not for a while, so I went back and checked out the stores I was sure I was gonna visit later on.

Back at the bus stop my ride had arrived. "That'll be 2.50" the driver said. I gave him one of my 50 Dollar bills I had gotten at my Swiss bank back home. "I can't accept bills that large" he said "don't you have anything smaller?" 

What? That was a first to me. In Switzerland it is not uncommon to pay for small purchases using even a hundred Franc bill. Later I would come to notice that many businesses even had signs out telling customers that for safety reasons, sales clerks were not allowed to accept any bills higher than twenty. 

I didn't have any smaller bills. I had a one dollar note and some small change from my Starbucks visit. Small as in maybe 12 cents or so. 

Too bad! Now I had to wait until the stores opened and I could make some smaller change and then catch the bus in an hour or so. Ugh!

"What coins you got?" the driver asked. I showed him. He motioned me to take a seat.

I couldn't believe what was just happening. I could not even pay for half of my fare, and he let me ride? That would never have happened in Switzerland. 

"Will you be stopping anywhere long enough so I can hop out and make some more change? I really wanna pay..." I stuttered.

"Nah, it's OK, sit down and relax!"

This happened in 1997, and to this day I am still amazed and grateful. 

Of course these interactions with bus drivers have more to do with common kindness than with the public transportations system. Be it what may. It was super nice and unforgettable!

Tell me about your experience with public transportation - at home or abroad!

PS: Over the course of this month I want to do an experiment using  public transportation in a special way. I'll tell you about it later.