I was just wondering why it seems as if the swiss french dont carry out with the same perfection as areas such as canton bern? one thing that i have noticed is in the trains. the swiss german trains are much more new and the windows are always clean. in the swiss french part, the windows on the trains are foggy, and they dont even have the head mats anymore. the swiss french section also has more trash around. also the number of african immigrants in french switzerland are much greater. is it they feel more comfortable with french? or they're is just not as many illegal alien sweeps as in the german areas? i am not biased at all i just was wondering if anyone can share what they know about the different philosophies.

I'm assuming it has a lot to do with many Africans speaking French. I know you said you are not "biased", but I hope you are not equating African immigrants with uncleaniness.

no not at all. sorry if it sounds that way. the title is simply swiss french vs swiss germans.

well reason for the Africans is cause many of them speak French in Africa, hence they move to the French speaking part...

But it is true that the French part suck more than the German part in regards to service, friendliness, etc....

i like the french parts more.

it's more alive. people seem to actually have emotions there. people are more fashionable. food is better.

french swiss are also way cooler!

Hang on a minute - are we suggesting that the Swiss French areas are a bit more like France - and the Swiss German areas a bit more like Germany.

I'm astonished - such deductive reasoning.

Statistically speaking, the Swiss Germans are 84.2% perfect, whilst those from the Romandie only achieve a 81.8% rating. Go figure.

There was a whole thread recently about africans and Geneva, perhaps search the forum, before this thread turns into that one.

There are major cultural differences between the regions. The most poignant for me is that the trams/buses/trains always run on time in the swiss german part, whereas it is never the case in swiss romande. In fact, I don't know why they even bother to print the bus/tram schedules in Geneva, it is just a waste of paper.

It's a well know fact the the romands (those from the french-speaking part of the country) are on average less uptight than the Swiss Germans.

Many long-haul trains (IC, ICN) run between Romanshorn or St. Gallen and Geneva, hence they cover both parts of Switzerland. I have noticed the lack of head mats on some trains between Zurich and Berne as well. It's probably nothing to do with the area you're in.

As far as the Africans are concerned it's mostly a matter of language as others have pointed out already.

Can't say anything apropos the differences between Swiss-French vs. Swiss-Germans, but I do know where all of the bat-shit-crazy neighbor stories come from.

Sorry, but what a load of rubbish.

my experience: swiss-french are more sociable and unlike swiss-german will not talk about business/work during lunch. The swiss-german are more reliable businesswise.
Regarding the trains: the worst ones are those that go from Lausanne to Valais, they get all the old coaches. Apparently the swiss-german politicians are more persuasive in getting all the new investements. It's also due to the fact that swiss.german cantons also co-invest in infrastructure unlike the swiss.french who are far more reluctant.

one thing that is better though is that the first class coaches in french parts are always the big ones with the seats facing each other. some of those trains single story trains to berne are more like airplane seating all facing front. the older cars are somewhat better.

Stating the blitheringly obvious: but i'd say the biggest difference between the Swiss-French and German parts is the language they speak. Everything else follows?

well in deepest darkest glarnerland they still make lemonade from springwater .....and lovely it is too , but nothing beats rivella.

I wonder about something, jsg, are you using the Romande public transport system during peek times? and perhaps the CHD system for tourism and therefore at less busy times?, hence why you might have noticed a hygiene difference?

Some of the trains running from Valais to Geneva come from Italy and there is a large percentage of foreigners living along Lake Geneva, (Geneva 35% foreigners, Vaud 30%) so we too have our part to play...

mm could be... i am aware though that the amount of people on peak hours is far greater. i just used trains as an example though not a main cultural difference.

The train line from Yverdon-Geneva and Lausanne Geneva is notouriously overcrowded, which goes a long way explaining both the uncleaness and the occasional late train.

There are plans to double the train lines since ages but so far no big sucess since the zurich area gets all the national investment in public transport. There are always been a huge rivalry between the Lausanne and zurich agglomeration, since both rely heavily on transport services for economic development.

I live in Geneva and it's true that the level of cleaness and ponctuallity isn't that great even compared to over french-speaking cities in switzerland. But it's not that bad and there are over priorities for the autorities like preventing drug traffic and such.

I have studied in the french part of Switzerland and no, they are definitely not more fashionable unless you like people in homenitted jumpers with pink and brown patterns

No head ,no need for head matsbetween Zürich and chur there are always head mats