SBB Has Banner Year ;Basel-Stadt police purchase posh cars; Traffic Nightmare Shuts Down Basel; Parking costs may double for Basel residents

News For 20 March 2018

The results are in, and for the last fiscal year, the SBB managed a healthy profit.  While this may not immediately make you jump for joy, it should, because the management of the railway service has decided to recycle its profits into fare discounts.  GA and AG subscription holders will receive voucher booklets entitling them to fare reduction on ticket purchases.  Off-peak tickets eligible for 1/2 fare price will see their prices also reduced by 70%.  Both discounts will go into effect May 1st.  But perhaps no greater accomplishment was achieved than improved punctuality: 89% of Swiss rail traffic managed to arrive on time, the highest in six years.

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Cantonal police of Basel-Stadt have purchased seven new Tesla cars.    The electric cars, vaulted at CHF 140,000 each, cost about CHF 49,000 more than today’s cars. The argument for the expensive cars are because they are electric the operating and maintenance costs are cheaper and the resale value is significantly higher.

 

A current charge lasts 500 kilometers and the average Basel-Stadt police car travels 200 kilometers per day.

 

Opponents argue the nearly one million francs for seven police cars is incomprehensible considering the vehicles have not been tested in everyday police life.

 

The first cars will be delivered later this year.

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Unless you live under a rock, you probably recall the traffic horror the entire Basel region experienced last Wednesday.  A tractor trailer hauling 24,000 liters of methanol overturned.  miraculously, the driver managed to survive with only rib fractures and light burns despite the explosive nature of the cargo behind him which somehow managed to stay unignited.  Authorities were taking no chances however, and shut down highway access for kilometers in either direction approaching the crash.  Drivers were reporting driving times of four hours from the city to the Airport, leaving many stranded overnight.  Traffic patterns did not return to normal until the early hours of the following day. ********** Basel government wants to increase the price of a resident parking card to 284 Swiss Francs per year. Currently at CHF 140, the price increase is still below Lucerne at 600 francs and Zurich at 300 francs.

 

The plans also call for a commuter parking card to be 860 instead of 700 francs a year and the price for a visitor parking card should rise from 10 to 12 francs per day.

 

The government is responding to an evaluation of the parking space management concept, which was completed at the end of 2016. The first impact control report published last summer had shown that the parking pressure is sometimes still high.

 

The ultimate goal is to reduce the utilization of the street parking to a maximum of 90 to 95 percent. Today, the occupancy rate of the parking lots is above 100 percent, especially in the densely populated neighborhoods. At times, there are more vehicles parked than parking is available.

 

The government wants to promote additional private parking and slow down the elimination of parking spaces on the streets.

 

The amendments do require adjustments to the Building and Planning Act, the Environmental Protection Act and the Parking Space Management Ordinance. The consultation lasts until May 31, 2018.