I live in Lausanne, and I was hoping someone could tell me where I could go to fill up my gas tank late at night (or on a Sunday).
On a Saturday night, I went to two different gas stations nearby where I live (around the University of Lausanne) but found that they were all closed with no credit card payment methods available. How ridiculous is this?? Do they expect people to drive only during day time? I don't know if it's open on Sundays, but knowing the trend of how practically everything is closed on Sundays, I'm afraid that it'd be closed on Sundays as well...
Where's a place that you guys know in Lausanne that you can go to fill the tank by credit?
Should have clarified - other than paying by cash at the station (which was closed), there was no way to pay. You couldn't pay credit, debit, etc. Just no access at all.
Though I dont drive a car in Switzerland, I have been wondering as to why gas stations close at night. Back home they are opened 24 hours with staff on duty....#Just thinking out loud
I can't remember seeing one station here that doesn't take cards out of hours, many also take cash. I sometimes take Euro notes at the market and keep them for emergency filling late at night.
Loud may be but wrongly More and more petrol stations are open Mon-Sun 24 hours. BUT petrol stations which are part of a repair-garage are closed at night and on weekend, and most even were closed down as new laws made them too expensive to maintain. Also closed down were the many small stations often just in front of houses or on free places beside roads, as you now need a safety-basin below any petrol station.
We use the term "petrol stations" back home but in CH ive heard quite a number of people use the term "gas"....
The petrol station near my place, Avia, closes at 22:30. I dont see many Shell's and BP's in Bern. Why are they becoming more expensive to maintain? High labour costs? When I was told what the minimum wage is in CH, I thought geez, thats a comfortable salary! However, I soon learnt that its really peanuts!
Our petrol stations back home even have fully fledged restaurants and play stations for kids in them.
Gas is a gas and not in a liquid form like diesel or petrol. If you ask for gas you either want to fill up the gas bottle for your grill or you have a gas powered vehicle.
Yes its best to refer to petrol or diesel or tankstelle as gas stations highlight you are american
I live out in sticks, and yet we have at least a dozen petrol station where we can pay by cash or card in the area (and I've just come back from our little village supermarket where the very outgoing and friendly owner sold me some lovely moist dark brown sugar, YES)
"quite a number of people" clearly means foreigners, because GAS for Swiss people is natural gas EXCEPT some stations who really sell gas, for example for buses.
sorry, only in German, as it is not a federal thing but just a matter of the Canton of Zürich
Many local petrol stations are family owned and done under the franchisee of one of the big petrol companies. And of course do not have much clientele after 22.30
They become more expensive to operate due to the many security precautions demanded by the laws
To operate a fully-fledged restaurant for most average petrol station is difficult. There however are some fully-fledged restaurants combined with petrol stations on highways (Kempthal north of Zürich, Grauholz north of Bern, and one some 20kms east of Lausanne, plus the Heidiland near Sargans and the Urnerland near Altdorf, and one or two between Bellinzona and Lugano and some others) . But you have first of all to see the difference in regard to distances AND the point that Swiss highways restaurants are not allowed to sell any alcoholic beverages AND that Swiss people generally prefer not to take full meals at petrol stations
You have to look harder for the card machine ....... I've never encountered a petrol station - big or small - without one. I don't see why Lausanne would be any different.
As a last resort you could always find one of the locked manhole covers on or near the forecourt, take a sledge hammer to remove the padlock, lift the cover and drop a bucket down into the tank. You can then pour this via a funnel into your car - assuming, that is, that you always carry a sledge hammer, bucket and funnel in your boot, as per regulations.