Recently spent 10 days in various parts of Switzerland and it amazed me just how good their public transport networks are.
A few examples.
My view of the UK network was probably soured by yet more engineering works on the Sunday we arrived home, meaning the delights of Central Line from Stratford to Newbury Park, then buses to Ingatestone. So getting back to Colchester from London City took nearly 3 hours, not the usual 90 minutes.
A few examples.
- Half price travelcard. For around £106 you can buy a card which gets half price travel on virtually all public transport for 30 days - trains, buses and even the paddle steamers on Lac Leman. No time restrictions like UK railcards. Swiss residents can get a longer validity one for not much more.
- Free travel with hotel accommodation. When staying in many hotels in towns and cities, you receive a pass for free use of the local public transport. Have had this in Geneva, Montreux, Lausanne and Bern over the last few years.
- SBB route planner will use local buses as well as trains and even includes walking times to hotels, etc.
- Clear info on the route planner and station info screens about the train layout, so you know exactly where the different classes are on each train. The website even shows you how busy each carriage normally is.
- Cost - it's so much cheaper than travel here. For example, the journey from Bern to Geneva is 2 hours, similar to Norwich to London Liverpool Street. But to travel at 8am on a weekday there costs undiscounted is 51CHF (about £44), compared to £76 on Greater Anglia. Or the cheapest options (prebooked specific journeys with railcards) are 21.40CHF (£18.50) vs £36 here at that time.
- Station design seems far more sensible. Pretty much every station has both steps and ramps to each platform, so easy for anyone of reduced mobility or dragging a suitcase full of cheese to get around. Even a tiny station serving less than 50 houses was more accessible than Colchester, which has no lift at the exit.
My view of the UK network was probably soured by yet more engineering works on the Sunday we arrived home, meaning the delights of Central Line from Stratford to Newbury Park, then buses to Ingatestone. So getting back to Colchester from London City took nearly 3 hours, not the usual 90 minutes.