The incredible bus system

Written September 4, 2004 @ 23:15

Switzerland is known for its train and bus system. For a country so small, and for a town as small as Neuchâtel it’s pretty impressive how tight the transit ship is here.
So far in my adventure, I haven’t really taken advantage of the train system (‘cept my train ride into town from the Geneva Airport), but I’ve been using the bus almost every single day and it’s cool enough for me the want to write a little something about it.
So the buses in Neuchâtel are like the streetcars in Toronto, except they’re not on rails. I guess that would mean that they’re normal buses, but run by electricity.
To get on the bus, you can either enter from the front door (like on the TTC), or like most people, enter from the other doors on the bus. There’s a little button beside each of the doors that you press for them to open once the bus has stopped. The door open, you get on and find a spot to sit/stand.
The buses are all the extended buses with that rotating accordion-like part in the middle. I’ve never been on a bus that’s so completely packed like rush hour rides at home in Toronto, but it’s been busy enough that all of the seats were taken and some people were standing. The bus system is so great that lots of people take it and they might as well have all of the buses be long to make sure that there’s enough room for everyone that wants to ride it.
You may wonder how they know that you’ve paid if you don’t get on from the front and pass by the driver. Well it seems that it’s all based on trust (for the most part). Apparently sometimes an inspector comes around to make sure that you have a ticket, however the whole time that I’ve been here, I haven’t seen one. But if you’re caught without a ticket you have to pay a fine, or if you’ve got the wrong type of ticket you have to pay something too.
Tickets can either be purchased from the driver if you get one from the front door or at the little machine at each of the bus stops. The price of tickets varies depending on the route that you want to take, how long you want to be able to ride the bus for (normal tickets last for an hour – so you can transfer, or make pitstops as long as you end your trip within the hour, but you can buy tickets that last for 24 hours), your age (half price for children), if you’ve got a dog (you have to pay for your pet to board the bus)…it’s a little confusing I suppose. The machine at one of the stops today actually ate another teacher’s money, so that sucked, but I personally haven’t had any problems with the buses. You can also buy a multi-trip tickets from kiosks (the school gave me a six-trip ticket to use when I first arrived to get me going – but I think you can buy other increments), and passes for different lengths of time. I’ve just recently purchased a year long bus pass. Of course, like most things, the longer amount of time you purchase for, the cheaper each individual trip will end up being.
Now, because I’m young, I lucked out. Apparently, 16-25 year olds get a cheaper rate for bus passes than adults (and those younger than 16 get an even better deal). Woohoo! I think I saved about 100CHF, which is quite a big chunk of money.
The city of Neuchâtel is divided up into different parts with of course different bus routes. It costs a different amount depending on which route you want to ride on, but it’s the same price regardless of whether you’re going to be on the bus for 3 stops or 13 stops.
Now, the bus itself has some pretty cool things (at least I think so, but I definitely notice strange things, and take special interest to other “non-interesting” things).
Kind of like the “stop requested” signs on the TTC, there are signs hanging from the ceiling of the bus. There’s one by the front of the bus. And one or two (I don’t remember exactly – I think two though) other ones in the middle of the bus. These buses tell the destination of the bus (the bus number and route), the time (accurate of course – it’s Switzerland for goodness sakes!), the next stop (each bus stop has a name) and when stopped at a stop, the current stop. The sign just continuously cycles through these pieces of information. Now, I’m trying to figure out how the bus knows where it is. I’m guessing that it gets all of the info through the electric “whatever-it’s-called-thing-at-the-top-of-the-bus” wiring. When the bus is at a stop, the cycling information stops and instead the name of the current stop flashes. So how does the bus know which stop it’s at? Does the driver do anything? I’ve been on a bus where the bus stopped a little early because of traffic, and the sign still flashed the appropriate stop, but then the bus stopped again at the stop once it was there (while the sign went back to the cycling in between). An outline of the bus is painted to show the area where is should stop, but it’s not like there’s anything in the road to tell the bus where it is. A mystery indeed.
When you want to get off the bus, instead of pulling a cord you need to press a button near the door that you want to exit (similar to those found on the TTC) which turns on a light by your door. The driver will stop, and only the doors on (and hence have had their buttons pressed) open, unless someone presses a button from the outside to get on as a door that no one is getting off at.Anyway, it’s a really good system, and I think the signs are cool.
In case you’re wondering, I get off at the Hauterive stop to get to my apartment, and at the Rocher or Gare stop to go to school. The main bus station is at Place Pury which is downtown, so I’m often getting off there to do shopping (especially when the market is on).