It’s Not Just The Dutch That Get Rail Ticketing Wrong
We always think of the Swiss as being clever and efficient, but according to this report on the BBC web site, they seem to have trumped the Dutch by bringing in a ticketing system, that is even worse, than the one I described here.
One thing that never seems to work with these systems, but does usually work well in the UK, is how the system deals with the occasional problem or a traveller, like the man I met, who was using a London bus for the first time in his sixties, despite living there for years. In his case, the probably very friendly bus driver was able to help him out.
I’ve had a case on the train from London to Ipswich, where I had got on the train with the wrong ticket. I can’t remember exactly why, but it may have been that I’d punched the wrong button on the machine, when I bought the ticket. In Switzerland, now, that would now mean a fine of £133, but the inspector sold me the appropriate upgrade and even took into account my Freedom Pass and Railcard. Ticket inspectors are the first line in both protecting the revenue and making the customers happy.
Let’s hope British train companies don’t do any of these.
1. Bring in swingeing fines for genuine mistakes.
2. Abandon the simple orange tickets that everyone understands.
3. Insist that everybody has a smart phone.
Point two has so many simple advantages other than the obvious one of familiarity. Imagine your ninety-year-old mother lives in Edinburgh and you want her to come to you by train. You just post her the ticket and seat reservation and tell her to get to Waverley at the appropriate time. It usually works well, as the tickets are of a size and type, that don’t get lost and are easily understood. They can also be easily shown to staff, which can’t always be said for a display on a smart phone.
Booking To Geneva And Rotterdam On Eurostar
As an experiment, I just wanted to see if I could book direct to Rotterdam on the Eurostar web site.
You can’t, but you can book direct to several Swiss cities in one go on the Eurostar web site.
I was also able to get a ticket to Brussels for just £38 on the day I wanted. To get to Rotterdam using another site, adds another £21. But I want to go to The Hague. That cost £76 or twice the London-Brussels fare.
I suspect tourists, who after spending a few days in London, who perhaps wanted to see Europe by rail, wouldn’t start by going to The Netherlands. But they might go and look at the pleasures of Switzerland.
Swiss Prosecutor Says FIFA Took Bribes
It would appear from these statements by Swiss prosecutors, that FIFA was as bent as a nine-bob note when it was run by Joao Havelange. In a well-crafted phrase by an old accountancy mate, many at the top in FIFA have been screwed, glued and tattooed.
How far is this investigation going to go?
And Now For The Olympic Tennis
Out of curiosity, I looked up the Swiss performance in the 2008 Olympics. I found this informing report on the Swiss in the 2008 and 2004 games, where they got 6 and 5 medals respectively. The report is both ambitious and optimistic and I suspect that Roger Federer is looking to improve on the doubles gold he got in Beijing. After all, he will be carrying the Swiss flag in the opening ceremony, but he hasn’t won an Olympic gold in the singles.
So Federer must start favourite on his favourite surface. He will also be carrying a lot of the weight of the Swiss nation, to get a medal.
So who will meet him in the final?
Hay Fever in Switzerland
You’d expect the Swiss to be fairly professional about this and this web site is very much so. The trouble is finding it was difficult as typing something like “pollen forecast switzerland” into Google, gets all sorts of crap paid for sites mainly from the United States.
The interesting fact, is the Swiss thinks a lot of their hay fever comes from an imported plant called ambrosia. They are now attempting to eradicate it.
Originally from North America, ambrosia (ragweed) is a weed with two specific properties: an extremely high spread potential and highly allergenic pollen. Pollination begins in mid July and continues until the first autumn frosts.
In the last twenty years ambrosia has spread on a massive scale in Europe. In Switzerland it has now spread over vast swathes of land in the Geneva and Ticino regions. North of the Alps its presence is limited to specific areas, but without appropriate countermeasures there is an imminent risk of it invading the whole country.
To avoid this scenario, from July 2006 ambrosia has been declared by law a plant that must be disinfested / eradicated.
I wish them luck.
The World Cup Goes Cuckoo
Or should it be cuckoo clocks, with the Swiss beating the much-fancied Spain?
And then we have the ambush-marketing row over the Dutch and their orange mini-dresses! I have every sympathy for them, as Budweiser is crap American beer, that has no place in a sport, that is not mainstream in the United States. In truth no-one should be locked up for the way they dress. Budweiser is also not gluten-free. so I can’t drink it. I suppose if I were in South Africa I’d be drinking Diet-Coke or some excellent South African wine. I’d love to know what coeliac friendly alcoholic drinks are available in the stadia for the World Cup.
It will be interesting to see what happens the next time the Dutch play. I wouldn’t bet against enterprising street traders selling everything they can find in orange and we’ll see strapping Dutchmen in orange T-shirts with matching wigs.
The Anonymous Widower 