Hi guys,

The commuters' rule Links gehen, rechts stehen makes me smile/snicker/gnash my teeth every day

In Zurich, it works perfectly well (most of the time, anyway).
Basel, not so much.

My pet peeve isn't even the fact that some people won't even budge when politely asked/told "Excuse me, please/Exgüsi/dörfi dure?", because they are clearly standing on the "wrong" side of the escalator (left), it is the groups of people accumulating at bottoms and tops of said escalators and blocking people from getting off and spouting obscenities when told that they're in the way of about 50 people

How about the "People, please let travelers get the f$%# out of the train before elbowing your way in"...

Ideas:
1. Stand on one side of the escalator, let people run up/down the other.
2. Keep at least 50cm distance to train doors while people are getting out and wait outside instead of clogging the bottom stair of the double-decker trains before everyone who wants to exit is out - it won't kill you to get in the train('s top floor) 10 seconds later than you anticipated.
3. When getting off escalators, walk several steps away before stopping to chat with your group of friends about God knows what. Please don't stop in the middle of the path.
4. Use all the train doors to enter -there is a good reason why trains have several.


Life would be way easier for a whole lot of commuters if people just used common sense - especially during rush hour.

Ok, rant over

How are things at "your" train stations?

Zürich HB - no issues, same with Zürich Airport, Geneva ( and Aeroport ) or Lugano. Basel SBB and Bern - sigh ... people bumping into you, holding hands and blocking the path on the escalator etc.

Home station at Wädenswil can be a pain as it is a hub .. hundreds rushing down the stairs for the awaiting bus services that will depart within 2-3 minutes, or 32-33 minutes later

Teaching the Swiss to stand right

Mine doesn't have escalators and the average number of people struggling to get onto the platform is about two .

I always thought "Please stand on the right" was a specifically London Underground thing, I didn't even realise there was an equivalent "rule" here.

I'd advise you to not make a trip on the London Underground during rush hour, or at any other time.
After three years here I'm still constantly amazed at how efficient the system works in CH (I live in Zurich).

I've always stayed right if I'm just standing but I've seen that it's not a totally followed rule in Bern as manytimes I have to entschuldingung someone who's too thick to understand it.

As long as people stand only on ONE side of the escalator, it doesn't matter which side that is - to me, at any rate

Well either way we should all be using the stairs. They're healthier.

An interesting note on the crazier things in life, I recall a few years ago in a health and safety publication, I remember reading that the Canadian Government held a position to remove these signs and concepts all together. There was apparently a study on injuries from walking on a moving escalator and the public healthcare costs associated with it (as well as lost work hours toCanadian industry)-and it was deemed that all should stand and not walk when on an escalator. I can't find the ref. anymore so perhaps it was abandoned- but it was interesting note nevertheless. I usually follow the stand right walk left, but wouldn't judge someone wrongly for not following suit.

I agree to some extent - if you're healthy, don't have a trolley and are capable of walking up and down stairs without having to use the handrail

Standing on the right, walking on the left, was NOT in evidence in Zürich into the 1980ies. BUT, in the 1950ies, 60ies, 70ies, 80ies, thousands of Zürcher on English learning stays in London saw the concept. It was a courageous step when people in charge started to put it into practice here, and was met by many, particularily of the older generation with absolute bewilderment. "You do NOT walk on escalators" was their comment. In the meantime, it has been taken over by much of the people but not all of course.

Just as in case of the roundabouts, I am fairly confident that it will work perfectly within 80 years from now

I was in London from 28Sep 72 until 22Dec 72 and was on the Tube during rush hours, and ADMIRED "London Transport". At that time, Zürich had NO S-Bahn, people arriving from the eastern lakeshore could not go farther than Tiefenbrunnen or Stadelhofen and then continue by tram, the Sihltalbahn (S4) and the Uetliberg-Bahn terminated at Selnau rail-station. the airport could only be reached by the 68-Bus departing all 30 minutes. Much of public transport of Zürich today was devised along what Zürcher folks had seen in London.

If you refer to the federal level, you may be astonished to hear that while the SBB/CFF/FFS was very reliable and punctial in the 1950ies and 60ies, a lot was improved by copying SNCF (France) and other rail-companies in Europe

Back to ZVV, sometimes, the copies are better than the originals

For people blocking the exit, I love days when I'm taking my guitar in to school to do music with the kids ... I don't have one of those soft, squishy backpack bags, I have the hard wood-&-leather case. Amazing how quickly people are able to make room for me to get off the train, tram and bus when I carry that!

Seriously, I find that people pushing to get on are more pushy on buses than trains or trams - are they worried the driver will go without them, when they were standing at the stop when the bus arrived?

In Munich in the 1970's the Müncheners invented the "Easy Access" station. At the major underground stations in Munich, for each S-Bahn track there are two platforms. One for joining the train and one for leaving the train. The train arrives, opens both sets of doors open, and passengers flow quickly off and onto the train. Now why couldn't the Swiss think of that?

The airport train in Pittsburgh, pa - I think it must have started in the 1990's - opens on one side for exit and the other for entry. It's logical and efficient, but I don't see how it would work here with existing tracks.

I do find that it's a bit easier to exit the train in Zurich or even winti than Bern. But also, I noticed yesterday that the train fit less closely to the platform on Bern. I'm a little slow getting off the train because of a bad knee. People just need to be patient.

On Lausanne people are ready to kill each other in order to have a place in a very full train at rush hour, such as the ones for Geneva.

Normally people are quite civil, especially towards old people and strollers, but in those occasions it's each to their own.

Oh Wolli, you never cease to amaze me!

My first thought when arriving back at Basel SBB after my holiday in France recently: "Welcome back to the land of people who stop dead at the top of escalators". Every flaming time. The pushing to get on buses before people have got off no longer irritates, just bemuses. I've given up trying not to bash them with my suitcase/trolley, it's their problem. The most curious is why, after all that bustle to get on, they then stand there looking at empty seats and don't sit down?

I think they created Sheldon from him.

The more I watch of that series, I see that there's a little bit of Sheldon in all of us

SO true. It's like their batteries are running in overdrive while on the escalator and then die once they reach the top
And the look you get if you dare ask someone to move in the train sothat you can sit down... "Wow, I didn't know anyone except me existed on this planet".