La Suisse, 100 years old, queen of the Belle Epoque fleet on Lake Geneva
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Lake Geneva’s collection of beautiful, popular but aging paddlewheelers, the largest in Europe, will need significant funds in future years to keep them running. Key players in the operation of the fleet met in Lausanne Thurday 26 August, where local authorities agreed to make a commitment to support the Belle Epoque boats over the long term.
The CGN (Compagnie Générale de la Navigation), which owns the boats, has said restoration work on at least two of the boats, the Vevey and the Ville-de-Genève, will require heavy investments, as will maintaining the boatyard. The company met Thursday with canton Vaud officials, the association of Vaud communes, the local heritage association, local employers and unions, to seek solutions to a number of complex problems. Greater use of CGN boats by commuters and tourists will require public transport and parking solutions, for example, and local communes are implicated in maintaining docking facilities.
The recent renovation of La Suisse, which has been celebrating its centenary on the lake during the summer of 2010, has made the boat a popular tourist attraction.
Consumer use of Lake Geneva boats on the rise
Leaving Lausanne, a CGN boat's trail in Lake Geneva
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Thonon-Lausanne CGN (Compagnie Générale de Navigation) boats are now accepting season tickets for the Evian-Lausanne route, the company announced Tuesday 23 February, as part of its new prices and schedules for 2010. An annual pass on the Thonon-Lausanne line, increasingly used by commuters, is CHF2,916 (€2,010 approximately), second class. The pass can be combined with the Mobilis zone 11 and 12 cards for buses, trams and metros in the Lausanne area, at a lower than normal rate.
The boats leave once an hour during peak times, morning and evening, and the trip takes 27 minutes.
Details, CGN
Cash to make the paddles go round
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The three cantons that subsidize Compagnie Générale de Navigation (CGN) operations on Lake Geneva have advanced funding for the 2010 budget to the tune of some CHF7 million, reports Le Temps 4 November. CGN issued a terse press release in which it said only that its CEO Kurt Oesch had met the government ministers from Vaud, Geneva and Valais who are responsible for funding the boat transport company. (The French département of Haute Savoie contributes about CHF1m a year as well).
Le Temps reports that one of the solutions being mooted may include financial help from the Swiss government.
photo, ©Catherine Nelson-Pollard, 2007
Lausanne, Switzerland and Thonon-les-bains, France (GenevaLunch) – Lausanne-Thonon has just become an easier commute, with the CGN (Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman) starting regular Navibus service between the two, 15 December 2008.
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneva, Fre) – A 20% increase in fuel costs in recent months has led the Compagnie générale de navigation (CGN) to end boat service to six lakeside communities for the 2009 season, reports the Tribune.
