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Local News Summary of, August 16th

  • The SBB wants to register Basel fair dodgers throughout Switzerland
  • Five Swiss universities among the top 100 - among them the University of Basel

The SBB wants to register Basel fair dodgers throughout Switzerland

It would hardly be conceivable, that the Swiss railway staff are in favour of a Swiss register for fare dodgers. This would be in the form of a central fare-dodger register, containing data that is collected countrywide. The Tariff Association of North-West Switzerland thinks the register is not a bad idea.

The SBB wants to tackle the problem of fare dodging: a national register should do just that. In 2016 alone, 430,000 fare dodgers were caught by the hard-working railway conductors.  Through this, the SBB lost tens of millions of Francs. The justification given by spokesman Reto Schärli when asked about the use of  such a register, sounded like an appeal: "A standardised databank would help the industry as a whole to fight against fare dodgers," he said.  In relation to this, the legal basis for such a register was established in 2016, without the Data Protection Law being violated.

Only a fiftieth of the percentage of travellers do not pay their fare

A look at the statistics certainly shows that the Swiss are honest travellers.  Just over two billion journeys are made on public transport every year; 5.5 million per day. Out of these journeys, 1,158 are made by people who do not pay their fare. This corresponds with a fiftieth of all journeys. But of course it is about the cost, Mr Schärli said. "The SBB alone loses tens of millions of francs every year through journeys made without valid tickets."The Basler Tariff Association, TNW, is also concerned about money. Director Adrian Brodbeck supports a central fare-evader register, also on financial grounds. "One view of the revenue protection is that fare evading is a lost revenue." In the region, out of 214 million journeys, around 54,000 are made through the country without a ticket.  The transport companies estimate the lost revenue to be around 2 million Francs. However, each ticket fare would amount to 37 francs.

Basel and the fare evasion rate

In both Basels, unlike with, for example the  Zürich transport company (ZVV), the different bus lines are not allowed to exchange the details of fare dodgers.  They certainly discuss how successful each respective ticket inspection is. For TNW, it seems a central register for fare-dodgers is not a passion, Adrian Brodbeck said, after the local effort questioned such a register. "The effort is made by the transport companies, which are entitled to their earnings made on the buses. This question can therefore not be answered by the TNW.  Although the TNW makes provisions regarding the maximum fare-dodger quota, this is not exceeded. This requirement from the transport company is jointly approved by the TNW.

Between greed and goodwill

In contrast to this, the SBB see here a financial benefit, that the penalties would rise on a case by case basis. At the end of the day, this is the main use of a country-wide register for fare dodgers. In repeated cases these people could be punished with a high penalty. Neither the TNW nor the SBB want to admit a deterrent effect. It is for this reason especially why the inspectors are there.  At least also the Swiss railway want to be kind and understanding towards their customers. "On the other hand, we want - in particular - to be fair with our customers. That means, we don't want anyone to face higher supplements due to a small mistake. For us it is important that the public transport is easy, reliable and customer friendly. That also involves a sound judgement."

There would be a sense of proportion when the transport companies would recognise that according to their own admission, only very few people are travelling around without tickets. And therefore it is likely that there is no need for such a register. According to Mr Schärli there are currently ongoing discussions between the transport companies. A decision could arguably follow at the end of the year at the earliest.

Five Swiss universities among the top 100 - among them the University of Basel

The University of Basel has made it once again into the top 100 of the best universities worldwide, according to the "Shanghai-Ranking".  Just as last year ETH Zürich remained at 19th ranking and was therefore the best university on the European continent.

Last year, the University of Basel fell out of the top 100 of the "Shanghai-Ranking" but could be happy this year about its 95th rank. ETH Lausanne improved its ranking significantly from rank 92 to 76. The University of Zurich however went down from rank 53 to 58, and the University of Geneva from 54 to 60.

The first 20 positions were dominated by US universities; Harvard being first, and Stanford second, just like last year. Third was the university of Cambridge in the UK which improved its position from 4 the previous year. Besides the US-universities only the University of Oxford (rank 7), the University College London (16), and ETH Zürich (19) were ranked in the top 20.

The "Academic Ranking of World Universities" as the ranking is officially called, has been carried out since 2003 by the Jiaotong University in Shanghai. It compares 1000 universities from all around the globe in six categories, including the number of Nobel Laureates and Fields-medals of their alumni or employed researchers, the number of publications in important journals, and the citation rate of researchers of a university.