Legal or not?

European Buses and cars from Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, etc, pick up clients from Swiss Airports (ZH Airport, Geneva Airport) and do tours and transfers in Switzerland with unacceptably low price compared to Swiss buses, taxis and limousines.

Few of big companies in Switzerland do the same thing too. (bringing drivers from for example Poland and paying them extremely less)

Many foreign companies (mostly Asian) even take Swiss transfer, even though they are not in Switzerland. They rent buses from Europa car or something and take drivers from European countries mentioned above, who are doing tours and transfers here. The prices, once again, are very low.

Due to this, many taxi/limousine companies are shutting down because they have no work. This isn't a small problem, because it cost loss in millions to the Swiss taxi companies.

My question is if this is legal. If not, whom to contact/ where to receive the information.

Do you have any examples to link to? Somehow it doesn't make sense to bus over a fleet of vehicles from, say, Lithuania, along with a driver (plus relief drivers and tour-guide) just for the sake of driving a group of tourists around for a week.

I've seen Asian tourists in and around Zurich using buses from other European countries but I figured that their holiday started in that country and they're part of a wider tour.

Taxi services in Zürich lost me as a client not because of cheaper European options, but because I got tired of being taken for a ride .

In no other country I visited did taxi drivers made me feel as fooled as the ones in Zürich. And I've been to Rome.

For example: http://www.nomads.in

This is an indian company. If it is 1-2 days, then they will try to book via a swiss company. If it's like a week, then they do it.

If you want to know about one of the companies with really cheap rates then:

http://alptransfer.com/

This one is a Swiss company. There are even more companies.

I'm not sure you are comparing like with like, though. You mention tour operator buses at the airport picking up what appear to be package tourists on a tour of Europe. You then appear to be using this as the reason that taxis and limos are going out of business.

Sorry, I don't see the connection.

Taxis and limos are expensive means of shifting people from the airport to their hotel, home or company. I can't see how tour buses from other European companies are forcing them out of business.

They are not only tour buses from other European countries but also cars.

The tour buses from other European countries are not only doing big tours but also local tours which is forcing limos out of business.

The cars from same company as those tour buses are doing transfers (with low prices as the Swiss taxis) which is forcing the taxis out of business.

In my experience of meeting holiday groups and doing transfers with them, only Swiss registered transfer vehicles are allowed to pick up at Swiss airports, or at the Swiss side of cross-border ones like Geneva.

For transfers to French resorts this can still make a lot of sense for many people, but I've only ever been aware of Swiss operators doing CH-CH transfers.

Tour groups are a completely different kettle of fish, and I don't see a problem with what you describe - it's certainly not taking business away from Swiss operators, rather it's bringing more tourists and their spending money here in the first place.

By trying to discuss these two scenarios as if they're tantamount to the same thing you're not going to get any real answer to your question. If you've any actual examples of foreign vehicles doing airport transfers then please share them with us.

Presumably those tourists are staying in hotels and spending money in restaurants and attractions, right? Maybe a bit of shopping, too?

Really? To this extent:

Millions? Over what period and how many companies have gone out of business?

I think there should be more concrete information (news links with at least a few stats) to get the full measure of the problem. Otherwise it's just anecdotal, isn't it?

I've had a quick google around but can't find anything which matches thus far.

The only thing that google threw up was the fact that ZH taxi drivers were grumbling about Über and they don't seem to be thriving too well here.

You name to many examples to give one conclusive answer.

Foreign companies picking up people from Zürich Airport and drive them to Germany is perfectly legal, them stopping and picking up or letting of people along the road in Switzerland is illegal unless they have permits to provide such feature.

A German offering taxi services inside Switzerland has to have a permit and abide to all the rules, if he can offer a cheaper service when doing so all is fine.

And yes I know life here is expensive, but I've had cabs in Zürich for up to 8,- Chf per kilometer, so yeah I see room for improvement.

What you're looking for is called "Kabotage", commercial domestic pickup and transport within Switzerland by a foreign operator. There are as many different types of cabotage as there are types of transport (airplane, taxi, bus/Car, etc), usually each with its own regulation and requirements.

A lot is being dicussed, or may have been decided on already, about lowering the barriers or removing them altogether. It allows Netflix, for instance, to officially offer rides like Bern-Zürich-St.Gallen-Bregenz-München where people are free to use and pay for Bern-Zürich only. So Netflix Flixbus is (I believe this has been decided) now competing directly with the trains.

Similarly, Austrian and German taxis were forbidden to pickup passengers at Kloten airport (or maybe just to wait for them, you'd have to look up the details). AFAIK that ban is no longer in place.

A foreign operator doing what you describe isn't in itself illegal, it should be Ok as long as they're properly licensed, meet regulations (including maximum driving hours and minimum number of resting hours for the driver), etc. And of course, pickup or dropoff in Switzerland are Ok as long as the other end of the tour (on the same day, I believe) is abroad.

ETA:

nomads.in looks Ok, though admittedly I checked only their "Grand European Tour - France, Italy & Switzerland". They transport the tourists from Italy to Engelberg, afterwards they use trains (and cablecars) only. After a few days they fly back home from Kloten. This looks perfectly legal.

Don't you mean Flixbus?

And thus it concludes it is fine if those tourist are involved in illegal activity.

https://www.voev.ch/kabotage-studie

Various interpellations in the parliament. See parlament.ch.

https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/zuerich...ossier_id=1073

No, of course not, but up until that bit of the thread there was no evidence that there was any illegal activity, given that the OP had provided precious little in the way of substantial information.

Of course

I am sorry but I don't have much evidence. It was a question which a friend, who owns a limousine company asked.

That assumes that they stick to their advertised schedule and means of transport. I would think that the actual tours aren't monitored, so if they were to switch to bus, especially if it happened on short notice, probably nobody would notice.

Here's an article in German , may serve as a starting point.

Not the first time it is discussed on EF

Title, topic and thread starter might be just a coincidence

https://www.englishforum.ch/introduc...089-legal.html

Try booking a transfer there. Tell the that you need a tour in Switzerland. Ask them where the bus is gonna be from and which country the driver is gonna be from as well.

I am sorry but I didn't get information in the last one. Aren't I allowed to ask again?

From your link: <>

LOL.

If the taxi-driver doesn't take you for a ride, who will?

Of course you are but it would have made sense to bump your old thread. You could have complained you didn't get an answer in all this time.