Toll at the Gotthard receives a lot of encouragement

Transportation, Travel and Trips
1
Is it logical that people would say yes (69% according to a survey) to a Toll on the Gotthard? Do they really think this would lessen the flow? Just another money making trick.

2
I might have to think twice about driving to Milan for a Pizza.

3
I also don't get it. I mean unless it become outrageously expensive, all the tourist going down in July and August for very expensive vacation are not really going to care about another 80 or 100 CHF?

(Mont Blanc is 65 Euro return)

4
You have a reference for the survey? It would be interesting to see.

5
Adding a slight cost may divert drivers to other routes, but it’s not going to stop people from travelling.

What they need to do is put cars and trucks on trains, ideally between Germany and Italy. Perhaps also between the two portals. This would halve the journey time and reduce the load on other Swiss roads.

At the same time put in a reservation system keeping 20% (or so) of capacity to local traffic.

I really don’t understand why these trains are not already in place.

6
I would also charge a queuing fee of 10 CHF per 30 minutes.

7
Only concern is that my route of choice, San Bernardino, would become a nightmare.

8
Because the logistics of it are quite costly (special trains and staff), the capacity would hardly be enough, and the demand is not there except for a few days/wekeends in the summer.

In terms of capacity, you can't do better than the channel tunnel car shuttle which does an average 300 cars per hour. In off-peak periods you'll have trouble filling the trains (as the motorway will be faster), while at peak times you can hardly make a dent in the flow (Gotthard is 1000+ vehicles/hour) and waiting times for loading/unloading will be similar.

People already pay more than that in wasted petrol and time.

9
Depending on the charge, people may decide to pay and take the car-train rather than wait for hours in a queue for the drive-through tunnel.

Unless I need to take the car - for an extended camping trip for example, I always take the train as a foot passenger when going to Italy.

10

Yes, but they only have to wait several weekends in the year, because for the rest of year there is no queue, charge or not. For the rest of the year the shuttle trains, loading areas and tunnel schedule slots would not be used.

11
Many people don't have much choice. When you've got kids in school, you are going to use the tunnel at weekends, especially in the school holidays.

12
I think drive-on in Southern Germany and drive-off in Northern Italy would be very popular. Not only do you avoid the tunnel you avoid the need for a vignette.

And I think this would be appealing to freight companies as well

13
If it's congestion pricing using cameras to recognize plates. I'm up for it. Not only the Gotthard. All Swiss motorways.

The irony is that people driving literal mobile homes that could cross after midnight and stop to sleep in the first few parkings after the tunnel, well...they don't do it. When you have a slooooow dinner in Milano, and drive back at 22h00-23h00 you find that there's literally no one in visible distance driving across the tunnel. Also, crossing before 7AM in the south direction works fine. Tried that over the Ascension weekend and no wait time.

14
It's not going to stop people and alternative routes are very inconvenient, time consuming and unlikely to be cheaper.

There is still a big demand to cross from Switzerland to Italy and a charge will not solve the congestion problem, unless of course, it is so monumental that nobody can afford it (think Chf 150 ++)

15

It does not look like everyone is happy with the proposal:

Source 1: https://www.worldradio.ch/news/bites…angers-ticino/

Source 2 (german): https://www.blick.ch/politik/wir-wue…d18642065.html

16
honestly, I don't get what the big deal is.

The people who have to wait more or less know that they will have to wait and budget with a loss of time there. It is trying to fix something that few people are really asking for.

Maybe for wealthy people it is a big inconvenience/loss to have to wait this long. There is that saying.....you either have money and no time or time and no money. It would be sort of in my way a regressive tax on the not well off people by taxing the tunnel.

I can also understand there are commuters. In such a case I would keep the Gotthard pass exclusive to them during the peak periods.

17
We live on a culture we cars are not a human right. They are regarded as luxury. There is no regressive tax because people not well-off are not supposed to own a car in first place. Be frugal, live within your means, and ride the train.

At the same time, about 25% of housing units in Ticino are registered as 2nd residences. People living north of the Alps during the week and spending some days on a sunnier place have the voting rights, social influence, and benefit from reduced congestion.

Whatever the people driving from NL to IT while pulling a caravan think, it's doesn't matter that much.

18
I suppose there could be a peak-time congestion charge?

That may work to reduce the queueing and peak times and would give those who didn't have a tight-schedule encourage to traverse at a less busy time.

If it was electronically controlled with number-plate recognition then there could be an opt-out for locals and workers.

19
charge based on congestion e.g. number of vehicles.

no discount/exemption for locals their cars cause same amount of congestion as any other car.

20
I drive the tunnel almost weekly for work - it's a stupid idea. Even if the tunnel cost 500chf a transit, I would still need to do it (and would just recharge the costs to my clients in Lugano).

Further, it would mean more stress for the pass, and other roads in the area - moving highway traffic to small village roads...

It frustrates me how the answer lately to infrastructure issues rarely is "fix the infrastructure"; but more "tax the people".