Public Transport System
How to get around
The public transportation system is one of the best in the World. You can get to almost all places by public transport. If trains dont go to a village, then the yellow buses, called "Postauto" and run by the national post service, will take you there. Tickets can be bought in any train station.
The service has it's price though. a distance from about 25 kilometers, can cost you up to 20 swiss Francs. If you are traveling within Europe, it's worth looking into interrail or euro domino. offers can be seen at the swiss trains webpage: interrail | euro domino
If you are planing on travelling an extendet time in switzerland, or if your tickets cost more than sFr. 300.-. you can look into a "half price ticket" (cost: 150.- for one year), where you only pay half price on any train and bus fares. see halbtax
Transportation
Switzerland has about 5030 km (about 3126 mi) of railroad track, of which about 60 percent is owned and operated by the government; almost all the federally owned system has been electrified. Most of the rail traffic between France and Italy passes through Switzerland. Buses connect the more inaccessible regions. Roads totaled about 71,120 km (about 44,190 mi) in the early 1990s, and about 3.9 million motor vehicles were in use, of which more than 78 percent were passenger cars. A national system of expressways was under construction; by the early 1990s 82 percent of the system's planned 1854 km (1152 mi) had been completed.
There are three Alpine highway tunnels, including the 16.3-km (10.1-mi) Saint Gotthard Pass tunnel, which was the longest highway tunnel in the world. There are also numerous railway tunnels through the Alps, with more being planned to alleviate highway traffic. In February 1994 Swiss voters addressed air and noise pollution issues by narrowly approving a controversial referendum banning all heavy truck traffic passing through Switzerland. The ban, heavily criticized by many European governments but also hailed as an important environmental measure, will go into effect in the year 2004 and will shift all large trucks traveling through the country to flatbed railroad cars.
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