[Culturechat] CH Factoid

[VCR]

  Hal is correct. Each year the car sales in CH go up. We have one too. 
It is a convenience, not a necessity, and at times a car can be a 
hindrance. In most any town/city, parking is a hassle and expensive. We 
use our car if we want to go elsewhere in CH or to the grocery store to 
bring back bundles (we eat well). We ride the trains otherwise.

The SBB (federal rail system in CH) has always lost money, and what Hal 
says about the public support is true. However, the federal government 
is always loosing money too. They have decided that the rails must get 
better at saving money. That equates to cost savings programs. There are 
hundreds of trains per day that run near empty at off peak hours. Since 
there are still a lot of people in CH that depend on public transport, 
and the elderly are a large number of these folks, the matter becomes a 
need not a luxury. The elderly tend to vote while the young do not.

Fortunately here in Sachseln, we are spared the traffic jams because of 
our tunnel bypass. Other towns are doing the same between here and 
Bruenig. The train service is being curtailed with more late night 
service being by bus. I think that if Sachseln were not such a 
pilgrimage site, our two trains an hour from Luzern would be gone. As it 
is, by the Spring of 2004, all stations along the Luzern-Interlaken 
route except Hergiswil, Sarnen, and Meiringen will be unmanned. Bruenig 
is already closed. The new video terminals are very adequate, and we 
already use them. If one wants a ticket to some place out of the 
country, then one must go to a manned station, call on the phone, or use 
the we site to order such.

We will miss our station and the young folks who have become friends, 
but that is preferable to higher ticket prices.

The PTT (Swiss postal system) is also on a similar track. Some of the 
smaller and remote villages are having their post offices closed and 
automated.

The efficiency of both postal and transport services remains the world 
standard, even though the methods are changing.


Vance Roy
 gigli.saw@dplanet.ch
 http://homepage.mac.com/fredch
 Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. ---General George 
Patton