Transport Talk

The Frau can accomplish a lot from a car in America.

Today, for instance, she returned books to two libraries and visited an ATM—without ever leaving her car—or NPR News.

Yodelers, The Frau has gotten lazy. It only took six months after 8+ years without a car to not think twice about getting behind the wheel. Even for short, walkable trips.

Sigh.

Is The Frau assimilating?

Yes and no.

Yes because she does drive to Toddler M’s school and her local library—at least when the weather is bad and she is in a rush—even though they are both walkable.

But no, because she will never consider going to the Starbucks drive-through. At least, she hopes she will never stoop so low.  Also, for now, her family has only one car, something quite rare in American families, where the average household has more vehicles than drivers.

In another interesting bit of transport trivia, statistics from Metra, Chicago’s commuter train system, make it (get this!) more punctual (95%) than the SBB (87.7%). Granted the SBB runs across an entire country and considers much more than just trains in its stats (and probably also considers "on-time" in a much less forgiving way), but still. The Frau was very surprised.

What to do when it rains in Switzerland

As some yodelers may or may not have realized by now, Zurich gets more rain than London. So what should you do in Switzerland when it rains and pours? Don’t be like The Frau and get stuck at a Swiss museum the size of a closet with an admission price as big as an American mall. Instead, go to the following places that suck less than rain. Ten free tickets to one of them will encourage you to get out, so keep reading for how to win.

Designer Outlet in Landquart

Feel like shopping for deals in a country that doesn’t usually have any? Then you should head straight to the Designer Outlet in Landquart for bargains on designers from Desigual to Tommy Hilfiger. Warning: This designer outlet mall almost feels American. Key word, almost.

Tinguely Museum in Basel

Can sculptures talk to you? Visit the Tinguely Museum in Basel and find out. Because the machine sculptures of Jean Tinguely aren’t just something to look at—they are something to interact with. Walk in front of one and let it surprise you.

Bad Zurzach Spa

Since the Thermalbad in Baden has been closed for the last few years, The Frau has been forced to bathe in the healing waters elsewhere. But that’s ok because Bad Zurzach has four outdoor pools of various temperatures–one with a lazy river­–plus a great indoor area for babies and small children. To get the best deal via public transport to Bad Zurzach, take advantage of the SBB RailAway offer, which gives you 10% off the spa entry and 20% off the train ride there. (And if you’re cheap like The Frau and pay in REKA, you’ll save another 20%).

Zurich Opera House

The Transport Museum is home to the
largest movie screen in Switzerland.

270 performances at the Zurich Opera House. 209 rainy days per year in Switzerland. Coincidence?

Transport Museum in Lucerne

In a beautiful location on Lake Lucerne, the Swiss Museum of Transport makes a great day trip rain or shine. One of Switzerland’s largest museums, it’s perfect for any age and will transport you from steam engines to modern jets with a scooter ride in between. If that isn’t enough, the museum is also home to the largest movie screen in Switzerland and they have kindly given The Frau ten free tickets to give to her readers for the Penguin Migration movie. To win, just leave a comment within this post and include how many tickets you would like (maximum three per winner). Enter by Tuesday, April 29. Make sure The Frau can find you via your link or other winners will be chosen.

Mob Scene

Anyone that rides a Swiss train at rush hour (or on Sunday) can relate to this, oder?

In fact, the crowding on Swiss trains has gotten so crazy that the SBB is considering raising the price of tickets for people who commute during the rush hour. But the real problem, in my opinion, is that people getting on the train aren't letting the people that want to get off, off. What do you think?

Is Swiss Transportation too good?

photo by Brian Opyd

The Swiss train will bring you to the bus that brings you to the cable car that brings you to that beautiful meadow in the middle of nowhere. Amazing. And all connections will have minimal waiting time. But is this minimal connection time really ideal?

Of course, if you've just got yourself to worry about, five minutes to go from track 54 to track 18 is no big deal. But add a few pieces of luggage, a stroller the size of an SUV, or a group of clueless visitors trailing behind you, and you're just setting yourself up for a world of pain.

The Swiss senior citizens, though, are the champions at tight connection times-probably because they have hiking poles to push through the crowds with. We should all get some of those. They seem effective. In fact, my mother-in-law actually stopped a Swiss train dead in its tracks with a hiking pole. Talk about power.

What do you think about Swiss public transport? On one hand, it's wonderful. On the other hand, I'm out of breath.

Read more at "Swiss Transportation: Almost too good?" on glimpse.org.

Drunk Guy Roams Swiss Public Transport

To read my latest on the Raclette Rant, please visit glimpse.org

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Swiss Transport. Catch it if you can.

As most people know, the Swiss transportation network is very efficient. But it wasn’t until my father-in-law visited a few weeks ago that I realized sometimes, it’s almost too efficient.

For example, trains, buses, boats, and some cable cars are scheduled so that you hardly have to wait to connect from one to the next. This is fine for healthy people with no luggage. But add some luggage, a health problem, a baby, or all three, and you have problems.

For example, coming back from Rigiklum to Baden involved a train, a cable car, a boat, and two more trains. From the cable car to the boat, it was marked as a 10 minute walk. Well yes, without luggage and a health problem, it is a brisk 10 minute walk. But for some of our guests, it was a 15 minute walk. And so we missed our connecting boat.

Luckily there was another boat in an hour, it was a nice day, and there was a café nearby. So it was an enjoyable wait. But for example, this could have been the last boat of the day or we could have been in a rush, and then we really would have been in trouble.

The thing is, the way the transport system is built, it allows for no imperfections, transport or human. And realistically this is flawed because in the scheme of things, something is bound to break down, be it mechanical or in an older American’s situation, physical.

But if you look at most older Swiss people, they are really in shape. They climb mountains, eat 10 pounds of cheese without putting on weight, and beat young Americans in races (but then again, it’s no wonder—they’ve been running after Swiss trains since they were toddlers). Perhaps a friend put it best (a 38-year-old American tri-athlete), “I beat a 60-year old Swiss guy in the last 10k, it was a real accomplishment.”

For those who aspire to lesser goals, just keeping up with the Swiss transportation connections will usually involve enough athleticism for the day. Especially with anything other than yourself and an optimal level of fitness.