Remember the lady with the girl in the UK who made over 30 requests to the police for assistance before setting fire to her car with her and her child in it..
It's not really relevant whether it's a good use or not, what is relevant is that the Zurich police can afford to do this, have the resources to do it and will do it.
in the late 90s, ZVV stopped doing plainclothes checks after one of their inspectors was stabbed during the conducting of his duties. I'd assume that this is why there is an elevated checking of certain routes in Zurich now
If you're nice to them, they are flexible.
When I was a boy, I was told to throw away my ticket into the bins provided in every tram/bus in order to avoid littering. I do this to this day. What if I overheard the annoucement and told the inspection crew on the street that I followed my oldfashioned behavior?
You'd get a fine for not having a ticket. Or if you're lucky, they'd let you back onto the tram to go digging through the trash.
I came across this phenomenon at Kalkbreite today. The tram was about 50% full, and five people were asked to disembark from the train with the inspectors.
It's obviously worth their effort - 5 per tram, a tram every 6 minutes....with about 15 staff...including 4 very bored-looking police officers.
Ya mostly at night. I often see them checking foreigners more than they do locals but that might just be a coincidence.
I am afraid that it is legal, and has been standard practice for years.
If anyone is ever interested in sharing with SBB CEO Andreas Meyer what you think, please mail him at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) . his email is available to the public at the Verband Schweizer Lokomotivführer und Anwärter homepage
You could also be fined for disposing of something recyclable (paper) in the trash.
Update: last night i was walking briskly towards my train and, remembering that I wasn't supposed to board 1. class, I skipped the first two 1. class carriages, and walked on towards 2. class. anyway, there were two conductors waiting at 1. class, presumably to check on passengers boarding.
imagine my surprise, when one of them asked me to board 1. class and walk on through to 2. class. anyone had similar experience?
They check 100% every time I've seen them. How do you they're foreign?
I usually go my ways with a bicycle and therefore I don't have a month pass, but by tickets for each time.
I have seen these guys stopping people when they are already out, but usually I throw my tickets away in the bin inside of the train marked for tickets !! For that reason I find it ridiculous to stop people when they are outside of the train, it is of course hard to prove you had a ticket if the train is ready to go and if it is not gone, I don't really find it appealing to put my hand in a bin to search for garbage...
did they then charge you for a 1st class ticket?
did you also tell them about the story in the paper and that you won't step into the 1st class carriage as ticket inspectors are evil monsters and they are probably trying to trick you?
I spat at him and went about my business