Commuting to Geneva By Car and Train

I rarely go to Geneva for two reasons. The first is that there is rarely a compelling reason to go into Geneva, except for work related things. The second reason is that Geneva is expensive to get into.

To get to Geneva and back, by train, will cost 9.40 CHF. According to a parking cost simulator the price comes to 9.50 for parking a petrol car, and five CHF to park an electric car. I think that this is as well as the cost of charging the EV.

Not Just Geneva

Geneva made it expensive and time consuming to drive in Geneva to discourage people from using their cars to get around within the city. In the process they forgot that people come into Geneva from outside Geneva. What might be rational, if you live in the city, to encourage mobilité douce, becomes absurd when you consider getting into Geneva from outside Geneva.

Work Day

When you go to Geneva, for the entire day, it’s easy to justify taking the train, because parking can be 31 CHF per day, whereas the train is just 9.40 per day if you do a single trip.

Congestion

In an ideal world you would have a meeting at 17:30 so you would set off the travel time before, but with Geneva if you do this, at rush hour, you risk being trapped in traffic. If you have something at 17:30 you should aim to be in Geneva an hour early because if you leave later you get stuck in congestion.

Avoiding rush hour is good, for others who have no choice, and for yourself, especially in a petrol car, as you waste less petrol sitting and idling.

The Geneva Wall

Mentally it’s as if Geneva was a wall for me. If anything is organised that requires me to pass the autoroute de contournement I avoid it. I have been stuck in Geneva congestion far too many times to intentionally subject myself to it, without good reason.

Scooters and Bikes

When I had to go to Geneva, especially in the summer time I liked to take the scooter, rather than buses and trains. The reason for this is that parking is much easier. The other reason is that a 16 year old scooter was not likely to be stolen. In contrast a bike is.

If I could go to Geneva by bike, leave it locked up, and not fear theft, then I could cycle to Geneva, and then catch the train back. Due to the risk of bike theft using a bike is not an option unless you have a cheap bike you don’t mind losing.

And Finally

There was a time when I thought nothing of going into Geneva by car. They then did everything to make it horrible to drive into the town. The result isn’t that I took the bus or trains, because buses, especially, are once an hour from Vaud villages. They also make it 10 CHF for the aller-retour from Nyon to Geneva. This means that before doing anything we’ve blown 10 CHF.

Add to this that walking within Geneva is frustrating due to traffic lights, traffic and more and you make it so that Geneva is visited exceptionally, rather than regularly.

I haven’t done anything social in Geneva because getting into Geneva is expensive and inconvenient. Meeting people to hike, do via ferrata and ride bikes makes more sense.

To highlight the point, the last two times I went into Geneva it was for social rides. My only trips into Geneva are because I was cycling and usually I venture as far as Place Des Nations, before fleeing back to the countryside.