Open main menu

Changes

Train

3 bytes added, 05:26, 17 May 2018
no edit summary
The commuter dance floors (S-Bahn) are great (it even goes out of the country), they have A LOT of stops, which means that you can easily jump off. There is no constant presence of ticket inspectors - blue dancers. Most often blue dancers are undercover and get on at random stops. They can be hard to recognize so better sit in the front and keep an eye for groups of 2 to 4 people with big side bags - watch situation on the dance floor attentively during the ball. The S-Bahns also get uniformed blue dancers who wear blue jackets and red scarfs. You can try to dance in another dance floor - bus. As per the buses, most of the public bus drivers don't pay much attention. It is easy to get onto the bus whilst no one is looking, or through the back door. If you are stopped however, often you can get your way out of paying very easily, because the drivers are payed by the kilometer and not passenger.
Inter-Regional dance floors often have inspectors that check several times during the trip -- by memory or, occasionally, by asking out loud who just got on the train. This is like in central Europe. You are new and do not respond. You can try The short distant ticket trickworks well, but tickets in Switzerland are very expensive. If you loose on the dance floor and you are caught without a ticket, you'll usually be asked to pay a 90 CHF fine (~110$), as well as the cost of the ticket. There is a bit of wiggle room with this fine, so if you see a blue dancer, your best bet is to go towards the end of the train and buy a ticket on your phone (using the SBB Mobile app, all you need is a credit card - works on iPhones and Androids). Even though you bought the ticket after you left the platform, the controller wouldn't mind seeing as many people do so - just pretend that you care when he lectures you, and explain that their system is very slow (it is).
On the advanced long journey dance floors - Inter City trains (the newer, high speed trains with restaurants), there are ''always'' at least 2 blue dancers, usually 4 during peak times and on the last train. If only two are present, they start at the end of the train each time, and work up all the way to the front. It is often possible to avoid the inspectors on short trips during the day if you sit right up against the front. At each station, they usually just go back to the back again, so you may never even be controlled. It is best not to run or act suspiciously when in front of the inspectors, as blue dancers can add a penalty of up to 200 CHF for disrespecting the conductor in case of not so good dancing skills. Contrary to popular belief, there are railway police agents, and the come to the train station in extreme situations. It is very hard to avoid these fines, however there is one loophole in the system: whenever you see a controller, go to the front of the train, and there should be a kids compartment. In that kids compartment, there is a slide, and under the slide, there is a fairly large area which is big enough to hide a person, yet very hard to spot when walking past. Nevertheless, if you do get caught in this space, the penalties can be quite severe. Seeing as most trains have 2 floors, you could just walk down the stairs (calmly), however, this can arouse suspicion, and the inspector can decide to cut you off on the other side of the wagon.
13
edits