Hi everyone!

Does anyone know if it's "possible" to commute from Basel to Biel/Bienne on a daily basis? It's not to the center of Biel, so train may not be a good option. Are there often traffic problems on that route ?

Thanks!

Hi,

if you want to go by train, have a look at www.sbb.ch and see how regularly the trains run and how long it takes. Also take into account the distance you must travel at each end between the railway stations and your starting and end point. If it taking significantly longer than 80 minutes per way I would say it does not make sense in the long term.

Have fun

Martin

Having done a very similiar journey for 6 months last year, from a small village in Fribourg to Basel, I would have to say that I would not recommend it to my worst enemy. Even without traffic the journey is tiring and the amount of tunnels en route just adds to the tiredness. On top of that, all the Swiss people I worked with could not fathom out why I would voluntarily do such a commute and the daily comments of "you must be tired", "how long did it take this morning" etc. made me feel even worse

Add to that the inability to put ones foot down due to the sheer volume of speed camera's along the way means that I will NEVER go through that again.

I used to work with a guy who commuted from a village outside Schaffhausen to Aarau every day by train (almost 2 hours). He had a 1st class GA mind you, and he said it was the only thing that made that trip tolerable. This was special circumstances though, as his family situation wouldn't allow him to move and closer to work. He also had an arrangement with the boss that allowed him to work on the train and count part of that towards his total work time (quite a lot of people I know do this so its worth asking).

However, if you can a way to live closer to work I would. Anyway, I guess rent, property prices etc must be cheaper in Biel than they are in Basel so why not consider the move?