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by sschueller 1070 days ago
In Switzerland we have no turn styles and no gates. You can hop on and off at any point. Rich or poor everyone uses it.

However public transport isn't even close to being free. I fact it is quite expensive in addition to being heavily tax supported.

This is the only way to offer the high quality of service we have from over 92.5% on time trains and 98.7% connections made [1]. It also allows to offer service at infrequent stops out nowhere.

You having a ticket is based on trust. There are random checks on short trip and more regular check on longer trips. It is estimated that around 10% don't have a valid ticket from wrong ticket to people who didn't get one on purpose. To get the percentage lower would cost more than what is lost in revenue and 100% is not something anyone can achieve.

[1] https://news.sbb.ch/medien/artikel/115696/gute-puenktlichkei...
2 comments
nerdbert 1070 days ago
> This is the only way to offer the high quality of service we have

The other way would be to make drivers pay for the advantages that public transportation provides them: Significantly less traffic congestion, etc. Per-km, per-kg charges for cars could be calibrated to completely cover the cost of transit, since many people are too snobbish to ever ride it no matter what the financial situation.

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sschueller 1070 days ago
If we want to keep cars those driver taxes are already being collected and are in use for highway maintenance etc.
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karmakurtisaani 1070 days ago
> However public transport isn't even close to being free. I fact it is quite expensive in addition to being heavily tax supported.

Oh boy is it expensive, in particular to the poor foreigners visiting without the half-price card. And for some reason if you're in the know, you can buy all-day whole country covering travel passes for 50 something chf. Something that the foreigners can never get without insider help.

There's absolutely no way it's ever going to be cheaper, the best one can hope is that the prices don't go up very fast. Still, it's cheaper than having a car somehow.

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sschueller 1070 days ago
The prices can not go up too fast as their are price controls on how much it can go up (Preisüberwachung). However that doesn't protect against outside inflation which does make it even more expensive for tourists.
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