We have arrived at Geneva Airport, passed through all sorts of controls and are in the process of collecting our baggage when we espy the public transport offer.
We can travel for 80 minutes entirely free of charge on the fully integrated Unireso network.
fbb presumes that the 80 minutes applies until your board your "last" bus and get a timestamp. Is that right?
When you stay in a hotel, a youth hostel or a campsite in the canton, you will receive a "Geneva Transport Card" free of charge. With this card, public transport in Geneva is free for the full duration of your stay.
When you stay in a hotel, a youth hostel or a campsite in the canton, you will receive a "Geneva Transport Card" free of charge. With this card, public transport in Geneva is free for the full duration of your stay.
This personal and non-transferable card will be given to you when you arrive at your accommodation. It permits unlimited travel on Geneva's public transport network (UNIRESO: bus (TPG), train (CFF) and boat (Mouettes Genevoises) for the full duration of your stay.
FREE SHUTTLE BUSES TO SWISS HOTELS
Free shuttle buses outside the Arrival level for the following hotels:
Best Western Chavannes-de-Bogis on demand +41 22 960 81 81, 07:00 to 22:45, 7/7
Crowne Plaza Genève every 20 min. from 06:00 to 00:00, 7/7
Holiday Inn Express Geneva Airport every 20 min. from 05:50 to 12:30 and from 18:30 to 23:30, 7/7
Ibis Genève Aéroport every 20 min. from 05:10 to 23:30, 7/7
Mövenpick Hotel & Casino Geneva every 20 min. from 05:40 to 11:40 and 17:40 23:40, 7/7
Nash Airport Hotel every 10 min. from 04:35 to 05:25 and every 20 min. from 05:40 to 00:00, 7/7
NH Geneva Airport Hotel every 20 min. from 06:00 to 23:40, 7/7
Starling Geneva Hotel & Conference Center every 15 min. from 05:10 to 23:45, 7/7
This is VERY different from an arrival in the UK where you will pay premium prices for any public transport to or from any airport unless you are very canny and understand how to avoid the "dedicated" services.
Before arriving, we may have had a closer look at the Airport's web site and found it very helpful.
These maps did not agree in detail with Google Streetview as far as stop locations are concerned, but fbb guesses that signs in the terminal will direct you to what your might desire. There are always road works and new building at airports!
We can also download ...
... a selection of stuff. Second in the above panel is a detailed departure list for the trains.
And, of course, your seven minute train ride is FREE.
Eight bus services are on offer ...
... but which is right for the city centre. Here a bit of local knowledge and/or research can help. You need to know that the main station is called Cornavin ...
... although the building doesn't seem to show that title - neither do the platform signs!
Cornavin is, however, the name of a district in Geneva.
The on-line station plan shows that service 5 drops you off at the front door ...
... whereas route 10 lurks under a gloomy bridge some distance from station entrance.
... whereas service 10 is a rather splendid three-segment trolleybus!
... but you have a choice of four less frequent buses from terminal to the Blandonnet tram station.
From here a 14 or 18 posh tram ...
... will take you to a station right outside Cornavin. The tram above is photographed at its terminus, Cern; which, as we know, is the home to the Large Hadron Collider. (click on the aerial view to enlarge it)
Cern itself is upper right next to the word "Atlas" and although Cern is in Switzerland, most of the huge circular tunnel (in which sub atomic particles are accelerated to huge speeds ans then smashed into one another - like marbles) is in France. You can also sp[opt the lomng grey strip that is the airport's runway.
Spookily, the path of the marble-run is shown on the Geneva tram map ...
... with the Meyrin-Gravière tram terminus sitting plumb on top of this fearful tunnel!
Let's hope the marbles don't escape!
But there it is, and so different from Heathrow. With your free 80 minute ticket you have a choice of train (7 minutes but boring), bus, trolleybus and (with a change) tram.
What a wonderful welcome to Geneva - and then a FREE ticket from your hotel (etc) for the length of your stay.
This is the sort of policy, expensive at first glance, that will encourage the use of public transport and, most likely, save money in the long term. But such a plan would be inconcievable under our present and very flawed "commercial" system.
But not everything is quite so straightforward web-site-wise in Geneva. fbb had some problems.
But not everything is quite so straightforward web-site-wise in Geneva. fbb had some problems.
Next Geneva blog : Thursday 20th September
When making comparisons, you have to consider whether you are comparing like for like.
ReplyDeleteGeneva (canton) is a similar size to Bristol or Liverpool (unitary auth.) At the last census 40% of Geneva's pop. was foreigners.
Geneva airport handled 17.4m passengers compared to Heathrow's 78m in 2017.
In London TfL already covers less than half its costs through fares. 2017/18 Fares £4.8bn Costs £10.2bn. Nowhere else in Britain contemplates that level of subsidy but of course wants the service.
Meanwhile, back in the UK the DfT seems convinced that if every bus operator, large and small, splurges great dollops of information into a cloud under the Bus Open Data policy that hundreds of app builders will do wonderful things with it, passenger numbers will sky-rocket, and everyone will live happily every after (and best of all, not a penny spent by DfT!).
ReplyDeleteOf course information is important to existing and potential customers, and yes, that means information in all formats, from traditional to whizzy, and from all operators, but as long as DfT continues to think that being seen to do something is the same as actually doing something any progress will be patchy at best.
Ah yes, comparing the UK to a European country and complaining how crap it is. Like many people, I too have travelled extensively in Europe and marvelled at the fantastic levels of public transport but remember..... someone, somehow is paying for this.
ReplyDeleteIt's very seductive that it's because of the commercial framework and that fat cats are sat in leather office chairs, awarding themselves bonuses on the basis of making huge profit margins. However, we all know that ISN'T the case - First are well below 10% on their commercial bus services and Stagecoach are heading much the same way - remember that in the regulated world whether it be London or anywhere else, profit margins exist. Point is that it is public expenditure that permits better service provision.
However, are we really going to make the hard decisions and sacrifices? Are we going to raise taxation to pay for these fantastic levels of public transport? Are we going to do that whilst trying to limit the role of the private car? Whilst also trying to fund the NHS etc?
If not increasing taxation, perhaps we could remove the triple lock from state pensions? Surely pensioners (who gain from free passes and make up nearly 50% of bus passengers) could help fund the services that they use?
Is Anonymous (at 10.23) suggesting that pensioners don't help fund the services they use? If so he or she is in for a shock when they reach pensionable age and find that taxation of incomes (and spending) doesn't actually stop.
DeleteIt is all too easy to be selective, as I am about to prove.
ReplyDeleteCommercial buses are great! In 1983 no routes went to my local railway station today all do at peak and all but one do all day.
The main route to the west was hourly in '83, now its every 20 minutes.
The main route east was hourly, now its every 20 minutes.
The main route south was hourly, now every 30 (and there's a 2-hourly train service which wasn't there in '83).
All achieved commercially and in two cases by a de-regulation new-comer who saw off a big group ex NBC operator.
The route north was, and still is, supported, but has gone from 7 journeys a day (but via 2 routes) to hourly on the main road (and 2 hourly on what used to be the alternative route).
Could the old regime have achieved that? Who knows. Could a well funded system achieve more, almost certainly. And it is, of course, fair to say that not all rural shires are in the same boat as we are here, but selectivity in reporting can work both ways.
Of course people are paying for it. Life in Switzerland is expensive, taxes are higher than in the UK and there are (there always will be) inefficiencies.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK, a commercial service is good if the operator works at it (Bristol) and grim if the operator (the same operator!) doesn't try at all (Sheffield).
Anonymous' above experience (why not tell us where this glorious well-bussed place is) is far from typical.
The lemming like desire to have a commercially viable bus service was a politically motivated decision, not one designed to benefit consumers.
And in general, nationally, it hasn't.
But even highly regulated London is a poor deal compared with any "typical" European city. In London we do not have integrated services or fares. We have three independent systems glued together with an over-complicated (and expensive to run) travelcard and Oyster system.
There must be a better way.
I'm not sure, but the example given above could be Chippenham.
DeleteWest was BOC 231/232 now Faresaver X31
East was C&GOC (split off from BOC) X55 now Stagecoach Gold 55
South was BOC 234/237 now Faresaver X34 with TransWilts Rail Swindon - Westbury overlaid
North was various 92/91 now Coachstyle 92/Faresaver 91
If it is Chippenham, perhaps it's worth adding that not too far away the Swindon - Trowbridge 49 which now is mostly commercial Stagecoach with the Devizes - Trowbridge section running hourly Mon-Sat where nothing (that is really possible to summarise) existed in 1983.
Chippenham/Wiltshire isn't perfect, years of duplicating competition got us where we are today, and indeed there is still competitive duplication Bath - Melksham where in 1983 it was every 2 hours (roughly!) it is now half-hourly (First D3) and twice an hour, but not equally spread (Faresaver X72).
Sadly you won't find Council produced publicity, apart from when tendered services change, but Faresaver and Stagecoach vehicles usually have the relevant leaflets in the racks on board. There are also many more (council and operator provided)roadside timetable displays (usually departure lists) than the NBC provided back in 1983.
I might be wrong, it might be somewhere else, but on the info given Chippenham seems to fit the description.
Even in Geneva, this transport benefit is not 'free'. It is one of the things paid for by the 'taxe de séjour', a tax on guests of between CHF1.65 and 4.75 per night (and across the whole canton, not just the city).
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether UK laws give the power to levy a visitor tax in this way, but there's nothing to stop an integrated ticket being offered: that's the legal basis for PlusBus.
I believe it's 80 minutes to completion of journey, by the way - Swiss city buses are generally open boarding with random checks.
ReplyDeleteFrance is somewhere else that likes to charge a premium for Airport services, Nice has a day ticket valid everywhere in the Greater Nice area (including to Monaco) *except* the Airport for €5 - want to go to the airport? That's €6 single. Lyon's expensive Rhone Express tram also comes to mind!
ReplyDeleteGeneva Airport Transportation
ReplyDeleteAirport transportation, available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. We provide Geneva airport transfer service for reasonable prices and flexible options.
to get more - https://fairtransfert.ch/