2025-11-12 Trains in Switzerland
I wonder whether one of the reasons there is significant support for the train network in Switzerland is that the autobahn between Zürich (where many people live) and Bern (where the federal government has many of its offices) is very congested and therefore many parliamentarians take the train. First hand experience changes minds?
The alternative is a parliament where one of the perks is a government car. Of course you’ll want to use it. And you’ll feel the pain of congestion. So these parliamentarians are more likely to vote for bigger roads.
This probably has the quality of hashtag shower thoughts but the train connection between Zürich and Bern is the busiest in all of Switzerland and I can’t help but think this must have an effect.
Source: PDF
One way I could imagine going from the world of cars to the world of trains is that pesky "fitness to drive a car" test. When I see some older relatives, I wish they’d stop driving. But they pass the tests and they enjoy the mobility and autonomy – and they feel they are too old to learn their way around riding trains and navigating ticket apps and computers and train switching. So now I’m thinking: In a world where the parliamentarians have cars, is there a way to force them to use the train while they still are in power, while they still have the ability to adapt, to change? We could – just a thought! – make this car aptitude test super hard and start doing it at 60. Some parliamentarians would fail the test and would have to switch to train rides.
Sneaky enough? Maybe not! 🤔
In order to get it passed, we could frame it as “self-driving cars are the future and this move supports the new technology, supports local car makers, helps us fight car racing by foreigners and makes the roads safer again.” Many parliamentarians will overestimate their abilities and vote in favour, thinking that there is no way they would be among the ones that failed the test.