If the BBC correspondant was really Swiss, he would have bought his ticket the previous day;-)

its a "she"...... 

I also thought she'd have a CFF General abonnement given she's the Swiss correspondant. Oh well... 

Nothing mentioned about the recent price hikes, and drop in quality of service.

"And in vain are the protests of the 750 other passengers across Switzerland receiving similar fines every single day....

Swiss railways say their policy is designed to protect honest fare-paying passengers, but a quick look at their balance sheet suggests something else. The company is making an estimated $2 million (£1.26 million) a month from fines."

“In vain are the protest of the 750 passengers… “

In vain? Sure, because protest is not the winning strategy. I was in this situation a few times and never got a fine. The trick: as soon as the train departs, look for the conductor and explain them that you’ve got a problem: you wanted to buy a ticket but the machine was out of order. Don’t ask anything but do look really worried, make them feel that they have the absolute right to fine you and that you would accept it without a murmur. They will feel comforted to see that you respect both their authority and the rules, and very probably won’t fine you.

As for your pride… save it for another day, or put it in the fact that you were clever enough to outsmart the rules

> Swiss railways say their policy is designed to protect honest fare-paying passengers, but a quick look at their balance sheet suggests something else. The company is making an estimated $2 million (£1.26 million) a month from fines.

No surprise.

I think that's great advice. And it often works....

However, in the story, the writer didn't even know her e-ticket was invalid until the conductor came to check the tickets....

"No matter, I thought, I have got a smartphone, and I hurriedly set about buying my ticket that way.

This was not as easy as I had hoped, fiddling between credit card and phone with freezing cold fingers, but, by the time I got on the intercity to Geneva I had an e-ticket and I proudly showed it to the conductor.

Unfortunately she was less than impressed and told me in no uncertain terms that my ticket was not valid. Why, only became clear several weeks later when a letter arrived from Swiss railways euphemistically named "revenue protection service".

The good people there tell me the formal payment for my ticket from my credit card company arrived four minutes after my train left the station. That means, they say, that I bought my ticket on the train - and that is not allowed.

Together with the letter was a fine for 190 francs (£133, $210). In vain do I protest that the policy of abolishing ticket sales on trains surely cannot be taken that far? In vain do I point to the broken ticket machine and my paid-for ticket, valid only on that day, for that journey?"

Well some of the ticket collectors are jobs worths for sure, bullied children getting there own back on society.

I got de briefed a few months a go cos I ran to catch the airport to down town train.  (I have a yearly transport card for Geneva) I jumped on just in time as the doors shut.  Î was in first class, so for the 5 minute journey I stood by the loo's and door to go down town.

The ticket collector told me I was standing by the first class loo's and my pass is only valid for the second class loo's, this time he would let it slide but next time....

WHAT????

its a better class of piss smell up there....

Indeed! Toilets are filthy! Teenagers place their feet with shoes on on the opposite seat, waiting room in most stations are worst than some in 3rd world countries and even the outside of the train is greasy of the machine oils...
That's not the service a tourist expects in Switzerland...

Tuesday, 5 February, 2013

SBB toilets to get new 'neutral' smel, alpine views...(or alpine smell and neutral views?)

http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/sbb-toilets-to-get-new-neutral-smell-alpine-views.shtml?34451