Zürich is located in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking part. It is an old medieval city that grew up around Lake Zürich and is split by the Limmat River. Zürich is a small but fast moving city. I visited there for a few days with my sister and we had a really good time. Although we didn’t stay near the downtown area, it was very easy to catch a train right to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). From there you can walk or take the trams around the city.
My impression of Zürich after being here for a few days is that mobility is everything. The lightrail (trams) are ubiquitous within the city and serve as a symbol of its connectivity and efficiency.
One aspect of this that I found very interesting is how they have made the transportation system so user-friendly. "Ein Ticket for Alles," meaning one card for everything, refers to Zürich’s initiative to integrate its traffic system. Zürichers can buy a monthly pass that works for all trains, trams, busses, and boats in the public transportation network, so it is very easy to switch between transportation modes to get where you need to go. Also, they have made it much easier to use the train system. The trains in Zürich run on regular schedules arriving at the station at a specific interval throughout the day. For example, at a certain station, the train will arrive at :20 or :50 past the hour every hour, so one who uses that train to commute to work every day knows exactly when it will come throughout the day. It is not about making the train the fastest; it is about creating long-term reliability and ease of use.
Zürich’s current driving concept is to create the shortest possible distance for people moving throughout the city. This includes creating short connections for pedestrians and public transport users. Flying into Zürich, one experiences this immediately at the airport. The airport is also a major train hub; and you can go from plane to train into the city by just going down a few floors. It is very convenient and easy to connect.
The lightrail system has been long established in Zürich. In an effort to modernize the city in the 1973, the government wanted to build an underground metro system, but the people of Zürich were against it. They wanted the transportation to be on the surface where everything could be seen because they believe it would be safer and cleaner. So they developed their intricate tram and bus system.
The pros: Both trams and busses run on electricity- no direct pollution, can be powered by renewable sources, quiet, clean, organized, safe, reliable, frequent
The cons: Cables above the streets — do they make the city ugly? Also, the system is organized but can be complicated—transportation squares are can be difficult to cross and need to be developed more.
Now the plan is to simply kick the cars out of the city slowly. Developing the public transportation system so well makes it easy for a Züricher to live without a car, which more than 50% do. The city is limiting parking more and more starting in the city center and concentrating the parking available to municipal parking garages. Car traffic is slowed and calmed in the city. Priority in Zürich traffic is given first to trams and busses and second to cyclists and pedestrians. Traffic lights are set up to give public transportation green lights and a control system is set up making trams and busses reliably on time always.
Traffic is integrated within the streets. Many streets have dedicated tram and bus lanes. However, on most streets, the trams run in the same spaces as cars and bicycles. Zürich’s goal is not to separate everyone into their respective zones, but to create a mobile community. Everyone (cars, motorcycles, bicycles, trams, buses, and pedestrians) must be aware and watchful of everyone else. They share the street organically.
One example is Limmatquai Strasse, the street that runs along the Limmat River’s east bank. Originally the large, busy harbor street was used to move products coming up and down the river, and it grew into loud busy with heavy car traffic. Now it is a quiet clean promenade along the river where trams run regularly and pedestrians can walk freely because almost all cars are banned.
When I talked to someone from Zürich, I was not surprised to find out that when trains or trams run late just by a couple minutes, people freak out and get upset. Because the system is known for being very reliable, commuters plan their journey to work down to the minute. If one train is late, the whole system and plan of how that person gets to work is messed up. It happens, but not often.
Other than transportation, Zürich also has an interesting way of dealing with waste management. Since the early 90’s, Zürich has had their “Zürich Recycling” system where over 170 recycling stations were established throughout the city. Soon after they introduced the “Züri-sack,” which is basically a standardized garbage bag that people must buy to dispose of non-recyclable household waste. Charging for each sack, the city has made people more aware of what they put in these sacks and has encouraged people to use the recycling system more.
CULTURE
The Swiss are very democratic. The government is described as a center left government that pushed public transit very early. There is no one leader, as in most countries. Switzerland is governed by 7 ministers coming from all the different parties. All decisions are majority decisions and sometimes come very slowly. Change doesn’t happen fast in Switzerland, but it is an issue of quality over speed. Because of the government is so balanced and rational, the country has a reputation of being very stable.
Most of the Swiss have a good education. Switzerland is not an industrial country and wasn’t known for producing more than clocks and banks. Many of the people are well educated and have white collar jobs. The result is a business-oriented country with a high standard of living. The Swiss are also quiet people, nor very rash or aggressive. Even though they have money, they don’t need to show it off and therefore don’t have any qualms about arriving to work by tram or bicycle instead of an expensive car.
FUTURE
City development goals are to increase the density of the already dense city and making use of all the space of the city efficiently and in a balanced way to prevent urban sprawl.
Reduce energy consumption from 3 tons per person to 1 ton per person in the city.
A fun ad campaign for Zurich transportation.
No comments:
Post a Comment