Excuse My Carbon Footprint

As briefly mentioned in my one-year Swiss anniversary recap, we drove a car not even once our first year in Switzerland. Zürich features one of the densest public transportation networks in the world (second perhaps to only Tokyo), so driving for us was never absolutely necessary (although potentially infinitesimally more comfortable in several cases, usually concerning IKEA). We successfully navigated the paperwork and independent eye test (you arrange an appointment with an optometrist who certifies your eyeballs and stamps his/her approval--always a stamp involved) to receive our Swiss drivers licenses in October, just under the 12-month Swiss limit for extending a foreign license; thus we avoided attending (God forbid) driving school.

Possessing a Swiss license enabled us to join the quite-excellent Mobility car-sharing service, a rent-by-the-hour setup with 2,000 cars all over the country. We have three Mobility locations with 7 total available cars within a 5 minute walk from home, and that doesn’t even include our local commuter train station. Jump in, drive around, return it, walk away. No attendants or lines or any of that crap. You don’t even refill the gas in most cases. The fees are not so hot for long travel distances or travel times but for bulky errands it can’t be beat. Even so, I introduced myself to Mobility only because of the perceived necessity with Lausanne being my new home away from home.

Lausanne is less than half Zürich’s size and its public transportation is nowhere near as comprehensive. My office lies out in the industrial boonies (yes, unbelievably, it is indeed possible to find a small spot of ugly near gorgeous Lake Geneva), a minimum twenty minute drive from the city center, and is serviced by only one peripheral train and bus line that quits service at 7:30pm. Eventually I’ll stay in a corporate apartment near the office (I’m currently lodged in a city-center hotel during apartment remodeling), so I needed a longer-term viable transportation option. Enter Mobility.

Steph kindly burned a vacation day the Wednesday before I started work and we practiced my commute: 2 hour 10 minute direct train from Zürich to Lausanne, Mobility car reservation and rental at the station (first time we’d tried it), driving out of the city to the office and otherwise exploring the region. Needless to say, nothing is as easy as it appears on Google maps.

Our ridiculous red station wagon featured a loose manual transmission and tight brakes (I reserved late and got the bottom of the barrel), an especially bad combo for a very hilly city; every other block presents a roundabout intersection with five mysterious choices; streets are alley-width and mostly one-way; street name postings are infrequent, tiny and French; stoplights are oriented slightly differently; street signs are all unusual; heavy construction is ubiquitous; constant vigilance is required to avoid both aggressive pedestrians jumping out in front (cars must stop for all pedestrians or risk a steep fine) as well as automatic traffic cameras that automatically mail tickets (also steep fines) for speeding; speed limits are posted in kilometers not miles/hour; last but not least, not shifting gears before 2,500 rpm is more damaging to the environment. And although I try to refrain from sweeping cultural generalizations (and profanity), I must say the Swiss drive like bats out of hell. Smart move to practice first with two people!

Lausanne in general is much prettier than Zürich, with several spectacular churches and Old Town overlooks of Lake Geneva, with the whole city built on a hill sloping downwards towards the lake. We stopped at the Christmas market for the usual warmed wine (now vin chaud instead of Glühwein) and examined the Globus gourmet grocery store. And I happily used Mobility again the very next day to pick up a bulky, heavy load of new ski equipment :-) from a far-flung Zürich suburb.

Last week--my first week on the job--I lucked out. The office training center had arranged a shuttle taxi from the office and hotel each day for several visiting customers. We caught the taxi at 8:30am, arrived to the office by 9am and departed at 4pm. Now those are my kind of work hours. This week however (so close to Christmas), no visiting customers means no shuttle. Monday’s travel included a 35 CHF one-way taxi trip (for less than five miles, ouch!) to the office, followed by the newly-acquainted, typically flustered administrative assistant (who doesn’t know me from Adam, only that I don’t speak French) forgetting to book my taxi home, thus requiring my waiting until 7pm for an impromptu ride from a coworker. A logistical comeuppance from the prior week, no doubt. Tuesday and Wednesday I jumped back on the Mobility bandwagon (actually thankfully not a wagon this time) for some Fahrvergnügen, albeit navigating alone in snowy, slushy, dark conditions. But I’ve managed successfully now four times. Too funny, can you believe I hadn’t driven to work in over 7 years?? Craziness.

So far so good at the job, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the next two weeks off including a Christmas visit to the U.S. of A. My timing is pretty good.