9 comments

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  Hudsonland

  1 year ago

  Never trust a country where the trains run on time. I heard somewhere that the Swiss (or Austrians) apologise over the PA if the train is a couple of minutes late.
  
  Love the free transport for match-ticket holders idea.
  
  "Maybe all that money that the United States spends on weapons and the military could be better invested in its own country instead by fixing the infrastructure such as roads, bridges and signage?"
  
  Or the US could use that military to invade Switzerland and kidnap their urban planners. I understand the Swiss have weapons of mass destruction, you know.
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  damir

  1 year ago

  sounds like fun.
  but how do they make a profit from the fans by not charging the transportation, that's one of the main money things...?
  But it is the Swiss and their currency is the strongest in the world, so i guess they don't need the money.
  I wonder if it's the same in Austria?
  The USA wouldn't be able to duplicate what the Swiss do because of the geographical size of the countries.
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  Kartik

  1 year ago

  RE Infrastructure in the US:
  
  Yes it is crumbling. Even in my recent travels to India I found the main roads despite the pollution and filth to be actually smoother than many roads in the US. Bridges are near collapse in the US. Take the Pulaski Skyway in Newark or the Bay Bridge in SF/Oakland which are both undergoing long overdue renovations.
  
  The airports here are similarly poor in big cities. But I would qualify your statement based on a few things:
  
  1- Infrastructure repair and development is not evenly distributed nationally largely because of pork projects and the way Congress works. I've seen this first hand. I'm sure the roads, bridges and airports in West Virginia and Alaska are all aye-okay.
  
  2- Many of our airports are confined by the cities they are in. Unlike European cities which were either rebuilt in large part after WWII or we simply not that big like Zurich, our major cities had their airports right in residential neighborhoods. Boston's Logan, Chicago's Midway, NY Laguardia, Washington National, Houston Hobby and even the massive LAX itself are confined by the cities around them. We didn't have the luxury or perhaps the foresight to build a whole new airport on the periphery of the city as the French did with DeGaulle in Paris or even as the French did with LaDefense outside of Paris which has taken critical business outside the city centre and allowed the historic portions of paris to be unaffected by rapid business growth.
  
  3- The US has to spend on military, although I would agree the current levels are far too much. It's our obligations to keep the world a safer place, and to project the ideals which America has always stood for and works to promote. Now has the current administration misused American soft and hard power? Of course they have but soon a better day will come where the projection of American power and ideals is done in a more responsible manner. By spending on the military we allowed Western Europe to redevelop itself after WWII. In the near future American ideals will once again shine a light on the world, as they did in the not so distant past. A simply change of administrations at 1600 Penn Ave. will help accomplish that!
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  Jeff Hash

  1 year ago

  Damir:
  
  I remember during the Atlanta 96 Olympics that travelling on MARTA (Atlanta's transit system) was free with a game day ticket. Its done as a way to cut back on road congestion and keep people moving, since few roads anywhere can handle that number of moving traffic at any time. I'd assume tickets were priced in a way that it took this move into account.
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  Dignan

  1 year ago

  Are you saying that train rides between cities was also free? I can see having free transit for subways and light rail but between cities is another thing. If that is true it is incredible!
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  LemmusLemmus

  1 year ago

  As for free public transportation, most (all?) Bundesliga clubs have something similar: Free intra- (though not inter-) city transportation if you own a ticket. My understanding is that the clubs pay the local public transport organizations money for that, so that will be priced into the tickets. (I would guess UEFA had to do something similar.) Besides the money, the benefit to the transport organizations is that the bus driver doesn't have to sell 50 fans a ticket before he can restart the journey, which would disrupt schedules.
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  The Gaffer

  1 year ago

  Dignan,
  
  Free train trips from city to city, yes. I love the Swiss!
  
  Cheers,
  The Gaffer
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  kkfla737

  1 year ago

  The train leaving Wembley Central to Paddington on the Bakerloo line was free on the day of US-England. However from Paddington anywhere beyond they began charging, and the buses going to Wembley were actually pulled out of service forcing me to walk about a mile or two from Harrow Road to the stadium.
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  TT

  1 year ago

  Here they apologise over the PA when the trains arrive dead ON TIME as is normal. Seriously!
  
  Omatase shimashita.
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