I understood Bern was in the process of passing an exemption to the law for taxis and similar transport, so this may soon be a thing of the past. Of course probably won't be implemented for some time though.
Indeed I did.
However it appears that despite Ktipp reporting that the police say it's illegal, many Taxi companies still refer to the CHF30 surcharge on their websites...
So rather than risk my Taxi not turning up after I've threathened them with the police while booking it, I'd prefer to find a company that defintely doesn't charge it
btw, as I'm not a subscriber to Ktipp and therefore can't read the article, would you care to elaborate on the content?
How does the obligation to carry rule work if I hail a taxi on the street and the driver physically doesn't have a suitable child seat? Do you inform them of the law and wait patiently while they drive off to the depot to fetch one or just call the police on the spot?
It is the driver who faces the fine for not securing a child properly. I know when the laws were changed the taxi drivers in Baden were complaining that they do not have room to store the car seats in their cars not knowing when they need them.
If I drive clients and their children, I tell them they have to bring a car seat. I am in the process of getting the one for older children. I have one for younger children.
I booked a cab with the 0444444444 number (not sure how many 4s exactly) 4 weeks ago and was charged chf20 for an infant carrier. Not great but a marginal improvement on chf30!
If the surcharge is illegal cab companies don't seem to care. And for those who say 'take your own', well even if we had a portable infant car seat u couldn't have taken it as was going to catch an international train and needed to take buggy instead.
I had to use a taxi 2 times,
the first one it was just me and my 1yo son (I was still pregnant with the 2nd) and they explained me the charge of the seat is because for most of the customers need full use of the trunk is important to have it free and cant have the seat always in the trunk, so they charge for the trip to pick it up and return it. The second time i used a taxi, my baby was already born and(well I did ask for the taxi driver's card) when i called he said it will be still 20chf for both seats. explaining again the charge is for the pick up/ drop off of the seat and not for the seat itself.
CHF30 for a car seat in a cab is really quite crazy!!
We are expecting a baby soon and will be taking a taxi back home from the Unispital. Do the taxis at the hospital have car seats or as mentioned in the earlier posts we will have to pre-order one??
Would be good to know what parents in similar situation have done before??
In the hospital reception you can ask them to order a taxi for you (or give you the number) and tell them you will need a childseat. normally they tell you wether will be 20 or 30 chf you'll have to pay extra for the seat. Its important to specify that you will need the child seat, because the charge is to pick up the seat and bring it with. Taxis normally have their trunk empty in case passenger has something to put there.
Hope all goes great on delivery
For a baby you will be requiring a very different 'variety' from the usual seats though. I have no idea whether they will have the 'Maxi-Cosy' or whatever they are called. I'm not sure you would want to put such a small baby in a 'seat' used by other babies anyway. Can't you beg, borrow, or steal one to use? Or are you talking about a seat for an elder sibling?
When I had my second baby I had to go back home in a taxi with my newborn and I put a (square fabric thing for babys) on the maxi-cosi and there was no biggy.
Did you ask the taxi firm to provide a maxi-cosy though?
The hygiene part crossed my mind too. Beg, borrow, steal - not much good at either . Thinking of buying one - maybe a cheap model just for the occasional taxi use!
As coco said, just put a little blanket or something over the seat and that solves the hygiene issue, thats what we did when we had to hire an infant carrier with a hire car.
That said, if you can pick up a cheap car seat it's far better than always having to pay to hire, even though it's a hassle to carry around, the hire costs soon add up and the rates for taxis and hiring with car hire are ridiculous the world over. The hire ones often look pretty shabby too which makes a mockery of the H&S brigades admonitions to never buy a second hand car seat because you 'don't know the history'.
FYI many airlines will check a car seat for you at no extra cost.
This EF member is selling a maxi-cosi branded infant carrier if you are in Zurich, for chf30 so same as using a taxi one and at least you could wash the cover:
http://www.englishforum.ch/sale-want...go-zurich.html
(I have nothing to do with the seller btw, was just browsing the marketplace!)
or ricardo.ch. If you have a baby you need to have a maxi cosi, cause there will be times you will be in a car. New born babies are usually too small for the regular maxi cosi, but a folded towel in the bottom usually fixes that.
Ask around, maxi cosi's are only used for like 8 months so plenty of people have one left. Clean the cover and you never have to worry. If you buy a buggy type which is compatible with maxi cosi it is even easier to travel around with your baby. And after the maxi cosi time you use the buggy as regular buggy.
Btw 'maxi cosi' is just a brand name, they do car seats for all age children. For a newborn you need an 'infant carrier' of which there are many brands available. The prams which can have an infant carrier attached will often only fit a particular brand of carrier so do check before buying.
I do know people who have managed without an infant carrier but if you intend to get in a car at any point it will almost inevitably end up costing you more if you don't just buy your own to start with.
Thanks for all the inputs.
We ended up buying one on Saturday though still laughing about it coz we dont own a car but are the proud owners of a car seat now .
Something you might need to take into consideration while travelling by taxi in Zürich: there is a war between taxi companies, which makes prices fluctuate a lot (and unfortunately not always in a visible way). This means you will most probably be explored if you are not careful. For example: I took taxi from Zürich Airport to Zürich Oberland and paid 250 CHF until Rüti (the price was already so high, we decided to ask a family member for a lift the rest of the way). When mentioning this to Swiss colleagues they demonstrated how to do it: the following time, we went to a taxi plaza and asked about 8 drivers "Will you take us to Zürich Oberland for 100 CHF?" till one said yes.
When taking a baby seat, try to ask a couple of different drivers, if you have the possibility, to try to find a cheaper/ for free solution. I don't find it very fair they charge for it, but on the other hand, some companies charge if you have a big luggage (even if you laod the trunk yourself).
With no disrespect for the professionals of this kind, I find taxi service in Zürich to be extremly bad. But then again I have been spoiled by good old german taxi systems.
I avoid these fees by putting a fake beard on my 4 year old kid and have him sit on the shoulders of my 8 year old while putting a trench-coat over the both of them. The taxi driver perceives them as being a single adult male passenger, and therefore the car seat is not required.**
**Please note that this trick will only work if you have 2 kids. If you have an odd number of children, this will not work and you will either need to rent one of your neighbours kids, or pay the 30CHF for the kid seat (whichever turns out to be cheaper)