Giving 14 year olds Visa cards to get them hooked

probe

Hooked on using public transport...

Swiss Rail has been offering combined Visa cards and transport tickets for years. They now offer combined prepaid Visa cards with half fare cards to people aged 14 years and older. Ideal for online shopping as well as travel. Cost EUR 88 per annum.

http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/abos-billette/abonnemente/halbtax/halbtax-mit-visa-karte.htm

Network coverage map: http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/uebersichtskarte-halbtax-abo.pdf (Dozens of public transport companies - private, federal, urban and state owned participating in the system).

FAQ: http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/abos-billette/abonnemente/halbtax/halbtax-mit-visa-karte/halbtax-mit-visa-faq.htm

The refreshing Swiss public transport system.

Imagine the difficulty one would have getting Bus Eireann or Dublin Bus to buy into a Visa half fare card Issued by CIE or Irish Rail? It would take at least 10 years of negotiation (like integrated ticketing has - and it is still not in place) and the card would probably cost about €2,000 per annum "to prevent loss of revenue to the system". Not to mention getting private transport service providers involved. What system, one might ask.....

djpbarry

Moved from Green Issues.

FlameoftheWest

The thing is that young Swiss people have a level of psychological and social maturity the majority of Irish adults do not have.

The Swiss will use their Visa/Transit cards for communting on their vast rail and bus network.

The Irish would use their Visa/Transit cards on our vast pub and off-licience network and then call into Joe Duffy to complain about the interest payments.

Build it and They Will Puke.

Cool Mo D

FlameoftheWest wrote: »

The thing is that young Swiss people have a level of psychological and social maturity the majority of Irish adults do not have.

What a load of rubbish. I think you'll find that Irish people are no different in maturity than anywhere else. Also, there the credit card for under 18's in Switzerland is pre-pay only according to that link.

A half fare card would be nice - but would also have problems. If the Swiss rail company knows that most people will have a half fare card, they will increase the price of trains, in order to make money on tourists, and occasional business travellers who are not going to be in a position to get one.

Also, it may surprise you to know that there is a discount card available from Irish Rail, for 16 -25 year olds - the railcard. Not as good as the Swiss one, but it exists.

Cookie_Monster

FlameoftheWest wrote: »

The thing is that young Swiss people have a level of psychological and social maturity the majority of Irish adults do not have.

+1

hugoline

probe wrote: »

They now offer combined prepaid Visa cards with half fare cards to people aged 14 years and older.

They have been offering the Visa card for a while now, and quite successful: over 60'000 were sold up to the end of last year. Before that you could combine the half fare card with your 'Postcard', an ATM card for your bank account which was quite popular as well.

The "General Abonnement" at about 2000 Euro per year for unlimited travel is also a good option, especially for commuters. So much so, that the SBB will increase it by 6.5% by the end of the year (and are also looking into joining that with a credit card)

probe wrote: »

The refreshing Swiss public transport system.

Completely agree (but also keep in mind that a large proportion of the funding for public transport is by tax money. Over 2 billion per annum, several fold higher than in Ireland)

Cool Mo D wrote: »

What a load of rubbish. I think you'll find that Irish people are no different in maturity than anywhere else.

In my personal experience with regards to saving money I would have to disagree with you. There are always exceptions, but general I found that the average 15 or 20 or 25 year old Swiss had more money in the bank than the Irish counterpart. On the other hand the Irish can be much more fun to party with

fh041205

Cool Mo D wrote: »

What a load of rubbish. I think you'll find that Irish people are no different in maturity than anywhere else.

In fairness, how often do trains get spray painted, seats written on, windows broken, emergency stop buttons pulled, level crossing gates left open or items thrown at trains in Switzerland. They seem to have more respect for the railway at least.

godtabh

I think it was Geneva a new light rail system was designed around business people in mind. A study found that by attracting these type of people normally working class people were likely to use public transport. Thats called thinking.

unJustMary

Cool Mo D wrote: »

What a load of rubbish. I think you'll find that Irish people are no different in maturity than anywhere else.

Have you lived elsewhere?

Have you looked at the rates of alcoholism, imprisonment, illiteracy, self-harm-deaths for Ireland compared with other similar countries. Have you looked at whether the welfare systems there give people bus-passes, tv-licences, medical-cards, or whether they just give the people cash and expect them to manage it to get whatever goods and services they need.

Nuff said, this isn't a "bash the Irish" thread.

TBH, I don't see much difference between a pre-pay Visa and a ATM cash-card.

Post-pay Visa is a whole different ball game though.

parsi

In Switzerland you also need to keep an eye out for the Army reservist going on a rampage with his gun.

Anyways you're comparing a massively rich , somewhat bigoted country with our own relatively poor state.

Minstrel27

unJustMary wrote: »

Ireland compared with other similar countries.

Ireland cannot be compared with Switzerland.

thetonynator

went on the train for the first time in years last month, when coming out of heuston, someone threw a stone at the train from outside, smashing a window in the next carridge. would that count as maturity???

parsi

FlameoftheWest wrote: »

The thing is that young Swiss people have a level of psychological and social maturity the majority of Irish adults do not have.

Hard to tell really.. in 2003 there were over 3,00 acts of vandalism on Swiss Railways with 686 assaults on staff. So unless there are a lot of Paddys over there then there must be a lot of homegrown troublemakers. Just like anywhere else.

http://www.guardianangels.org/pdf/227.pdf

murphaph

parsi wrote: »

Hard to tell really.. in 2003 there were over 3,00 acts of vandalism on Swiss Railways with 686 assaults on staff. So unless there are a lot of Paddys over there then there must be a lot of homegrown troublemakers. Just like anywhere else.

http://www.guardianangels.org/pdf/227.pdf

I wonder can figures from the guardian angels be fully trusted? In any case, if Ireöand's reilaway network was even half as extensive as Switzerland's I'd imagine the rates of assault and certainly vandalism would be much higher. I also wonder what counts as "assault" in Switzerland, raising ones voice perhaps? I doubt they have the same definition as we would.

Judgement Day

thetonynator wrote: »

went on the train for the first time in years last month, when coming out of heuston, someone threw a stone at the train from outside, smashing a window in the next carridge. would that count as maturity???

Well don't expect CIE/IE to do anything about it as this problem has been 'maturing' on our railways for at least the last 40 years. Hotspots include Dublin/Cork (nr.Ballyfermot); Limerick/Ennis (nr.Longpavement); Limerick Jn/Rosslare (nr.Carrick-on-Suir); Dublin/Cork (nr.Kilbarry); Dublin/Galway (nr.Athlone); Dublin/Bray (nr.Shankill) and we won't even mention the 'black' North. Lurgan, Belfast etc.etc. .....and other frightening examples of Irish maturity. Maturity of behaviour and maturity in dealing with a serious problem. :mad:

Metrostar

parsi wrote: »

Hard to tell really.. in 2003 there were over 3,00 acts of vandalism on Swiss Railways with 686 assaults on staff. So unless there are a lot of Paddys over there then there must be a lot of homegrown troublemakers. Just like anywhere else.

http://www.guardianangels.org/pdf/227.pdf

Let's not forget that Zurich has a huge number of herion addicts.

therecklessone

Don't forget the Nazi gold either!

parsi

murphaph wrote: »

I wonder can figures from the guardian angels be fully trusted? In any case, if Ireöand's reilaway network was even half as extensive as Switzerland's I'd imagine the rates of assault and certainly vandalism would be much higher. I also wonder what counts as "assault" in Switzerland, raising ones voice perhaps? I doubt they have the same definition as we would.

Don't be lulled by the Toblerone imagery of snow covered mountain tops, alpine meadows and St Bernards frolicking.. Switzerland has plenty of problems. I'm sure that on boards.ch there will be plenty of stories about stone throwing etc.

According to this link the Swiss have more crimes http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_percap-crime-total-crimes-per-capita

(It's actually quite difficult to find comparisons - a lot of reports are designed to push a political view)

Judgement Day

parsi was stone throwing a problem on the West Clare too?

murphaph

parsi wrote: »

Don't be lulled by the Toblerone imagery of snow covered mountain tops, alpine meadows and St Bernards frolicking.. Switzerland has plenty of problems. I'm sure that on boards.ch there will be plenty of stories about stone throwing etc.

Less of the patronising please. I've been to Switzerland a few times now. It's a different world and people do not treat public property as shoddily as the Irish do. I wouldn't want to live there because it's a funny inward looking nation in many respects, but it is generally a safe land.

parsi wrote: »

According to this link the Swiss have more crimes http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_percap-crime-total-crimes-per-capita

(It's actually quite difficult to find comparisons - a lot of reports are designed to push a political view)

You mean they have more RECORDED crim per capita? BIG difference between that and actual crime. How many times have we seen scraps resulting in broken noses etc. in Irish towns on a friday evening that are never reported as assault? Lots of crime goes unreported in Ireland because the public have little faith in a lot of it being solved.

parsi

Judgement Day wrote: »

parsi was stone throwing a problem on the West Clare too?

Nah. Stones are a modern day invention. There wasn't any stone throwing before the Late Late..

murphaph wrote:

you mean they have more RECORDED crim per capita? BIG difference between that and actual crime. How many times have we seen scraps resulting in broken noses etc. in Irish towns on a friday evening that are never reported as assault? Lots of crime goes unreported in Ireland because the public have little faith in a lot of it being solved.

LOL. If the stats suited your argument they'd be gospel.

My point is that sometimes we appear to have a glorified view of life in other countries based on reports or fleeting visits. Yet when you delve deeper it becomes clear that things aren't always as they seem.

I would always have been a big believer in the German way of doing things. We've all seen it - buses running to time, swish trains, mannerly staff, quality buildings and decent information systems. Then you start to see the cracks appearing - strikes, service reductions, unsafe swish trains, public order difficulties around stations and on trains .

A year ago the Berlin S-Bahn was a glorious example of an excellent transport system. Today it's an example of a shoddily run, maintenance-starved laughing stock.

bonkey

murphaph wrote: »

Less of the patronising please. I've been to Switzerland a few times now. It's a different world and people do not treat public property as shoddily as the Irish do. I wouldn't want to live there because it's a funny inward looking nation in many respects, but it is generally a safe land.

Its generally considered to be the safest nation in the world....but at the same time, there were certain train routes which had to first have security cameras and then security personnel due to rising numbers of attacks on ticket inspectors.

Back when we had smoking carriages, it was pretty-much par for the course to have someone smoking a joint, and not so unusual to see someone doing something harder.