Hi All,

The tram 1 line serving Dreirosenbrücke to Banhoff SBB is frequently delayed by ~ +ca 3-7 minutes (between 7:40 to 8 AM when I ususally take). It is becoming increasingly high in 2012. Sometimes even the n-1 tram comes later than the designated tram n's time.

Although just a few minutes it has a cascading effect on your remaining leg of travel especially if you have to commute somewhere far from Basel.

I have learnt enough lessons to leave earlier but still would like to bring this this to the notice of the concerned authorities. Whom should I be writing about this to?

Any advise will be appreciated.

An affected Tram 1 commuter.

While waiting for #2 this morning, I had just missed the tram... 20 minutes passed... still no #1 or #2. Finally I gave up and walked to a different tram line and connected to the #6.. That was at 9:00 and trippled my commute time.

Not commuting but while walking I noticed tram #3 was also very delayed . I guess it's all related to the snow and mechanical failures associated to the cold.

You could try to write a complain at http://www.tnw.ch/kontakt/. Or perhaps the offices of the BVB in Barfüsserplatz have a suggestion's box.

Hi,

Yes. The last 2 weeks have been horrible. The most annoying part is stopping the tram for 3 4 mts in front of SBB at the junction for the people to cross or let other trams go. You feel so helpless like shut in a cage checking your watch and actually realizing now you wont be able to catch your usual train and will face a delay of 30 minutes and start composing your 'Im sorry I will be delayed today' emails.

There is not much you can do about it. I started commuting starting Jan. this year and each day, one means of transportation is late. Mind you, SBB etc. considers a delay of more than 5min as "late".

Mojado,

I do give the benefit of doubt for last week and this week that it is the snow but it has been happening quite often in this route I mentioned. On normal days atleast 1 or 2 times/week.

Of course I still havent learnt to leave earlier


Thanks,

AS

You're right ..its quite impossible to time the wait outside SBB for the crossing etc in their trial run because its highly varying and unpredictable. Sadly,the entire delay is greater than 5 minutes usually.

How do you know the trams are running late? Maybe they're not 3-7 minutes late, rather 4-7 minutes early.

Make your mind up

Mimi..I have the moral of the story but havent started practising in life

When the monitor says "Bitte Fahrplan beachten" and one just passed at 8:31 and the next one should come at 8:33 and another at 8:38 and nothing shows up until 8:42 then you know there's a problem.
Then when you wait 20 minutes for your connecting tram and nothing arrives... well... that's the next clue.

What is going on with this tram at the moment?!

It is making me quite irritated now as I was 25 minutes late for work and it looks bad on me!

A few times I have had to cross over and just get the 14 in the opposite direction and then change at Bankverine to get to the SBB.

What annoyed me the most was that there were no warning that the tram was late or anything. It merely didnt show up on the screen and then when it did, it changed 3 times adding 8 minutes at a time. I wouldnt mind as much if it were summer but in this weather its bloody freezing!

Does anyone know why this is happening and why the number 1 line seems to be extremly incapable of being on time at the moment?!

I think i may have to show this thread to my boss just to prove it is the tram and not me!

Apparently it's because the points on the tracks aren't working correctly. They're heated, but the heating system is only designed to cope with temperatures of -10C. The prolonged cold spell has caused them to freeze, meaning in many cases the driver has to change the points manually.

This involves them jumping out of the tram with an enormous crowbar to manually shift the tracks. As you can imagine, this is likely to cause serious disruption on a system that's normally scheduled without much slack in the system.

I've completely changed my route until it warms up. It's taking a little longer but it's more reliable and less waiting.

The weather forecasts keep trying to tell me it's warming up here in Basel(my iPhone weather thing oddly had Max -1, Min -6, Current -12) but cycling to work this morning felt the coldest so far.

Mine said high will be +3 and low -1. I'm expecting all of this ice to melt this week.

I'm still amazed to be living somewhere where the public transport works at all at temperatures below -2C and even with more than 5mm of snow! In the UK you wouldn't be getting to work at all - public transport there has so much to learn

Anyway, if you look at the bottom right corner of this page in the morning, it will tell you on the little black display if there are any bad disruptions on the Basel tram network:
http://www.bvb.ch/en/news/current-info

Totally agree Quark,

Minimal disruption compared to the UK, still, I think it's fair to expect that to an extent.

I've seen them outside Heuwaage jumping out and messing with the points by hand.

Bit off topic, but fair do's, hats off to the tram drivers, they always delay setting off a few moments if they see you scrambling for tickets, and those on the tram keep the doors for you. Never failed to happen the couple of times I was in that situation.

I don't select English now on the ticket machine. Oooh get me

Have you noticed the cold weather recently or has that escaped your attention?



As a sapient being, you should be able to get hold of the forecast the night before and note that in freezing conditions of up to -15-20°C there may be delays due to frozen points (as mentioned by VI) but also frozen power lines, frozen tracks, as well as increased incidences of blocked roads, blocked lines, accidents etc. etc.

Based on this you adjust your travel plans. I know nowadays it is all about living for the moment, and no one really plans anything other than "I'll call you when I get there" but a bit of planning really never hurt anyone when conditions are out of "norms".

Yes. This route is like the most soft and easy target for this winter.