Geneva's trams, buses, have new schedules starting 11 December
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva public transport system (TPG) buses and trams will run on new schedules, new routes and new fares starting 11 December, the same day the new CFF Swiss rail schedule goes into effect.
This year’s annual changes are more significant than in some years, the result of a major and ongoing overhaul to better service the growing population. The new system can be reviewd line by line on the TPG web site, in French. To make sure your line is still running and at what time, you can also enter your itinerary on the route planner, in English.
New fares are available in French and English.
If you’d rather ask a question in person, you can either go to one of the TPG associates who are walking around stops and stations wearing bright orange jackets or go to the Plainpalais Circle temporary booth.
Few ventured out early Wednesday morning (Saint Prex, canton Vaud)
An aptly named street Wednesday morning
Update 09:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The overnight snowfall throughout the Lake Geneva region is causing major traffic disruptions Wednesday 1 December. Cointrin Airport in Geneva is closed until at least 14:00 and travellers are being advised to check with their airlines.
The TPG in Geneva decided early in the morning not to run any of its buses and trams until further notice. The Tribune de Geneve is providing regular updates on the city’s public transport situation, as is RSR, which says some trams are running in the city, at 08:00.
Geneva, with 20 cm of fresh snow overnight, and more falling, has been the hardest hit area, according to MeteoSwiss reports.
Roads are considered moderately dangerous, with icy conditions, from Geneva to Lausanne and up the hillsides to the Jura. Road conditions in Valais are good, with less fresh snow than around the lake.
Everyone's new best friend, on a topsy-turvy snowy morning (Saint Prex, canton Vaud)
Lausanne’s public transport is running, with relatively minor delays, after 10 cm of snow fell overnight.
The CFF Swiss train system is operating, but with some delays: details for delayed trains and a map are updated frequently. Passengers were stranded Tuesday evening along the Lausanne-Geneva line when the Intercity train had a technical problem from about 18:00-20:00, but the problem was not weather-related.
The Swiss highway department’s truck info road updates and TCS (Touring Club Suisse) provide details of congestion and closed roads, with traffic in the Lausanne-Geneva area slow Wednesday morning, but with fewer people than usual on the road before 08:00, reports one commuter.
Schools are open in Geneva and neighbouring France, but with limited public transport, some children will not be making it to school.
Geneva, old tram (photo, ©2010 Peter Brodbeck)
Ride a historic tram around Geneva and Carouge. Only seven dates are open to the public.
Location: Geneva
Link out: http://agmt.ch/article/tramway-touristique-2010…
Date: 3 Oct 2010
Map of the changes to Cornavin station, to improve pedestrian traffic flow
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A six-year-old girl was hit by a tram in front of Geneva’s main station late Saturday and, according to the Tribune de Geneve, she remains in serious condition at the hospital. Details of the accident, under investigation, are sketchy, but the Geneva newspaper raises the question of safety in front of the station, where in 2008 the city created a 20-kph-zone with pedestrians given priority.
The area is crisscrossed steadily with tram, bus, taxi, bicycle and pedestrian traffic, raising public complaints about too many distractions for people crossing the area.
Major renovations at the station, part of which are designed to improve the flow of pedestrian traffic inside but also around the station, are an additional distraction.
The growing number of bicycle riders in the city, who often ignore traffic rules, has been cited by the TPG on a number of occasions as a problem for tram drivers. The Tribune reports that since the start of 2010 Geneva has had seven tram-bicycle collision, one of them fatal to the bike rider, and 11 tram-pedestrian accidents.
Trams around the station, Blvd Georges Favon and Rives Droite will stop over Easter
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Roadworks around Geneva’s main train station, Gare Cornavin, in Geneva will shift Friday 2 April into a critical phase for connecting the new Cornavin-Onex-Bernex tram line. Trams around the station will not run from Friday morning to Monday night 5 April. The stoppage will also affect trams in the Rive Droite area and along Boulevard Georges Favon, reports the Tribune de Geneve (Fre).
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A red car that ran a light near Geneva’s Cornavin train station Wednesday at 20h30 injured a scooter driver and caused a major snarl in traffic in the area. The scooter driver and a motorcyclist both hit the car, but the motorcyclist was uninjured. Buses were rerouted and formed a long line along the Rue de Lyon, reports the Tribune de Geneve. Trams were able to continue along their usual routes.
Fewer Geneva roadworks, as tram goes into service
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – If you haven’t yet done so, be sure to shift your radio settings to find World Radio Switzerland in its new FM home: 101.7FM. And this is the weekend when the TPG (Geneva public transport) puts its new schedule into effect, including the new line to Meyrin and more frequent buses and trams on several lines, so doublecheck your travel plans if you’re heading across town. Monday 14 December the new CFF rail schedule goes into effect for all of Switzerland, so make no assumptions about when your train is leaving. Two additional trains should make life easier for urban commuters: an extra late afternoon train from Bern to Zurich (16:14) is designed to ease pressure on that often-packed line, as is an 18:31 regional train from Lausanne to Geneva.
Links for details: CFF, TPG (note: Sunday night the site was being updated), WRS
Another alternative to city traffic
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The city of Lausanne is proposing alternatives to cars in the city centre. It foresees a city centre as car-free as possible by 2016, with a public transport system of trams and the underground Metro network that opened in late 2008.
The plans are part of the massive Métamorphose urban development project, parts of which were voted on 27 September.
The tram will run from the city centre, Place St. François, to Place Chauderon, on along the route des Plaines du Loup, which is the future site of the ecoquartier, and on to the airport at Blécherette.
Olivier Français, the city official in charge of the project, says that the project is subject to many changes still, but that “we have one objective: that is to provide alternatives to the car”, reports 20Minutes.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Forty people lost their lives in accidents in 2008 that were linked to public transport: three of them in buses, one in a tram accident and the other 36 in accidents that involved “unauthorized” crossings or inattention at crossings of trains and trams. Switzerland has one of the world’s lowest rates of accidents linked to public transport systems, but the government, in its annual report on public transport safety, notes that more needs to be done to protect crossings.
The figures show a 33 percent increase over 2007 figures, but Bern notes that 2008 figures were lower than those for every year since 2001 except 2007.
Donations: UNHCR site or Facebook
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva’s city buses will offer riders a new and more worthy than usual distraction from 15 April to 30 June: Gimme Shelter, a 30-second film by a short film directed by Ben Affleck and filmed by John Toll, both Academy Award winners, will be shown on 200 TPG buses, trams and trolleys that have Innova screens.
Ben Affleck, filming at UNHCR refugee camp
The film is the centerpiece to a UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) campaign to raise money during 2009 for clean water and emergency humanitarian assistance kits for displaced persons in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
According to the UNHCR, “There are currently 1.3 million displaced people in the DRC. The effects of the conflict have claimed as many as 5.4 million lives in the last 10 years, with an estimated 1,000 people dying every day.
Refugee camp, DCR (image for UNHCR 2009 ©Zalmai, reproduced with permission)
“In some areas, two out of three women have been raped. Abductions persist in all brutal forms and children are forcefully recruited to fight. Outbreaks of cholera and other diseases have increased as the humanitarian situation deteriorates.”
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – Bus and tram conductors in Geneva have the right to hand out procès-verbaux denouncing parked cars that block their route, reports the Tribune, quoting TPG officials. Parking in the way of a bus is a practice some drivers are finding expensive.
