Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

It’s the autumn holidays here in Bern, which means most of the city is soaking up the last summer sun in Italy or Greece before the cold months arrive. The good thing for those of us in Bern is that it’s pretty easy to find a seat on the bus.

Speaking of buses, there’s lots of quirky stories about public transportation out of Geneva today.

This content was published on October 6, 2022 - 18:00

5 minutes

I report on the Swiss pharmaceutical industry and healthcare topics such as access to medicine, biomedical innovation, and the impact of diseases like cancer. I grew up just outside San Francisco and studied international affairs with a focus on development economics and healthcare policy. Prior to joining SWI swissinfo.ch in 2018, I was a freelance journalist and a researcher on business and human rights.

In the News: Border security under pressure, heating with fossil fuels, and the foreign ministry speaks out on the crackdown on protests in Iran.

The Swiss border security chief, Christian Bock, has sounded the alarm over an uptick in transit migrants. The number of migrants apprehended at Swiss borders has increased significantly in the past few months, reaching a level in September not seen since 2016. Last week alone border security personnel registered a record 1,150 people on the eastern border. Switzerland is primarily a transit country for migrants making their way to France and the UK but that doesn’t mean Switzerland can turn a blind eye says Bock.
The Swiss foreign ministry has called on the Iranian government to protect Iranians’ right to freedom of expression amid a violent crackdown on anti-government protests that erupted after the death of a young Iranian woman. In a statement released on Twitter yesterday the foreign ministry condemned the excessive use of force by Iranian security forces against protestors and reiterated calls to conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the woman’s death.
Some 58% of Swiss buildings are heated with fossil fuels, according to statistics published today. Heating with oil has declined but is still the main energy source. This is followed by gas, which has doubled in the past 30 years. The latest trend though is heat pumps, which are seen as central to reducing CO2 emissions. While the proportion of buildings with heat pumps is only 17%, that’s four times what it was in 2000.

Religion’s roadshow draws ire in Geneva

As promised, this edition of your daily briefing is about some peculiarities on public transportation. Coincidentally both cases are in Geneva. The first concerns a religious advertisement on the back of a bus that has secular advocates in a tizzy.

The ad states in big yellow letters: “You are the God who sees me”, quoting a verse from the Old Testament. It’s been featured on buses for more than a year, but it didn’t attract much attention until a few days ago when the news daily Watson startedExternal link nosing around asking politicians if they thought it violated the law on secularism.

According to the law, proselytising isn’t allowed by public authorities, and this includes local transport agencies. But this is an advertisement like other paid advertisements on buses. Why should this advertisement be treated differently than those for soft drinks, sports teams or clothing brands that are found on buses or trams all over Switzerland? No one thinks that an ad encouraging people to drink a milkshake at McDonald’s posted on the back of a bus is a message from public transport authorities.

Should there be different rules based on what is being “advertised”? What’s the line between advertising and proselytising?

The tricky thing with this ad, which I’ve also seen in Bern, is that it doesn’t include any pictures or images – just yellow text on blue background. It was created by Agence C, a group that is dedicatedExternal link to buying up advertising spaces for biblical verses. But there’s no message about who is behind the advertisement. Agence C says it’s exercising its right to freedom of expression and religion enshrined in the constitution.

So, what happens now? After pressing politicians on the matter, Watson finally got some responses to what it has called “busgate”. It appears that a state senator in Geneva is looking into it, but this could easily become a national debate.

transport — © Keystone / Christian Beutler

Young people pay a steep price for not buying a tram ticket in Geneva

Everyone in Switzerland who forgets to buy a tram ticket knows the uncomfortable feeling when you see someone in uniform jump on the bus to check tickets. For many young people in Geneva, this feeling is outright fear.

According to a reportExternal link by Swiss public television, RTS, 10-20 people a day are in prison in the canton for unpaid fines on buses. RTS spoke to a man who was in prison for a month because he had accumulated fines amounting to CHF1,200.

This is because of a change in the criminal code in 2018 that eliminated the option to negotiate a deal with a judge for community service or other ways to pay off the debt. People are often fined CHF50-CHF100 if they don’t have a bus ticket.

Some politicians argue that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. This is especially the case as young people are the most affected. According to the report, transport fines are one of the biggest sources of debt for young people aged 20-29.

Many of the people RTS interviewed said they weren’t trying to cheat the system but simply didn’t have enough money to buy a ticket.