Hopefully I have pluralized that correctly...
At any rate, I wanted to put some questions that I have been thinking about up here in case anyone can help out with them.
The main one is about the public transportation system in Basel and how much it costs. I think I have found a website for it, but it is all in German and my German just is not that good yet to be able to figure out where to go for prices quotes. What I am wondering is how much is it for a month, or perhaps a year, ticket to travel on the trams and buses in Basel. Is there even something like this available or do you have to fumble around with exact change every time you want to use it?
Since we are currently not planning on bringing our car - a 2001 Toyota Corolla with about 150k or so on it (though I am open to discussion about this - high insurance and shipping costs have so far dissuaded us) this is really the one thing I am most wondering about.
Also, what are the prices of bicycles like in Europe? If they are very expensive in Switzerland (which I imagine they are) is it possible to get a more reasonable price in Germany or France? Or should we just buy them here and ship them over? I did read (on American in Düsseldorf) that a bike can add quite a bit to the cost of palletizing your stuff when you ship it over because it is an oddly shaped item...not in a handy box.
Thanks to any Baselers out there for any insight you can provide :)
4 comments:
There is no way I would ship your car here. You would have to bring it in to have various things like light bulbs changed to have it conform to Swiss rules. I think this cost us something like 300 CHF for our less than one-year old Jeep back in 2000. Also, you then have to bring it in for an incredibly anal bumper to bumper inspection by the "Swiss authorities" before they will give their approval so that you can get license plates. Did I mention that the entire engine and undercarriage needs to be steam cleaned before you bring it in for inspection...? Cha-ching!
I don't have my tram pass on me right now, but it's something like 64 CHF per month, or 640 CHF per year (two months free when you buy the annual pass). It's a great deal! Also, keep in mind that we pay over 2000 CHF per year for car insurance, the parking in our building costs 175 CHF/month (Huh? ...not included with the rent???), gas is about $5.00/gallon, hidden speeding cameras ding ya 40-120 CHF per infraction (once got three in two days). SAVE YOURSELF THE HASSLE!!! Sell the car, and use the money to buy a tram pass. Or, walk or ride a bike! Our American neighbors don't have a car, and they say they have never had a situation in three years where they wished they had a car. They've needed one for driving vacations a couple of times, but they've just rented one when they needed it.
Bikes: I'm not really sure how much they cost in Switzerland (we brought our bikes from the U.S.). For that matter, I'm not really sure how much they cost in the U.S. I'm sure they would be much cheaper in France or Germany.
Ciao
Thank you again TBF. It definitely sounds like leaving the car behind is the best option, as I suspected. Three in two days! ouch! You did mention the steam cleaning requirement in one of your blogs, but good to reiterate it, and that it is expensive. I hope your trip back to Basel goes well, and you make it through customs with your lewt! MrB likes Old Navy for clothes too, but holy cow, 25 t-shirts! :) Luckily they are cheap and last pretty well (well, unless you are working in an organic chem lab and get unidentifiable chemical splatters on them, and they put holes in your shirts...yes, we are regulars at Old Navy...) We'll have to stock up before we head over. There is certainly a lot to think about for an intercontinental move! I took tomorrow off to get our washer looked at (it leaks - hopefully they'll be able to fix it so we can have it for another year) but I think I'm going to start going through old paperwork and the closets and start getting rid of stuff, since I hate doing it, and it's going to take a while to get through everything we have. Nothing like starting early! All of our other moves I have wanted to sort through stuff and just ended up throwing it all in a box because I ran out of time, can't do that this time though.
In addition to what TBF said about the tram pass, as a native local, i would like to add that this pass is not only valid on city trams but in general for public transport all over northwestern switzerland (an area of roughly 700 sq. km) see map: http://www.blt.ch/lnetz_tnw-gebiet.asp all towns ans villages are connected with either trains or buses, what means, that you would be able to explore the whole region.
i forgot to mention that there is a train pass, that is valid all over switzerland, i.e. you ride free on every train, ship, bus, urban transport etc. and you get discounts on touristic railways. it costs 2990.- CHF a year (compared to the 640.- for the Basel area pass). further information: http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/abonnemente/ga.htm
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