Lausanne Transportation

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Compagnie Generale de Navigation sur le lac Leman offers possibility to travel by boat from one to the other spot on the shore of Geneva Lake. But it is more than just a transportation – being on the boat and "discovering" shores of the lake (both Swiss and French) is marvelous experience, and even the shortest visit to any of the cities, towns or villages on the lake would not be complete without it.

CGN web page offers downloadable time-line but also the information about the company history: "[…] Thanks to Edward Church, US consul in France and a boating enthusiast, Switzerland's first steam ship, the 'Guillaume Tell', made its appearance on Lake Geneva in 1823. CGN was formed in 1873 as a result of a merger between three navigation companies. […] This alliance highlighted the predominance that tourism was to have throughout the Lake Geneva area. Efforts continued to increase the size of the fleet, while maintaining the comfort and speed of transport. […]
Then came the Belle-Epoque, a real high point in tourism. Hotels, palaces and railways became the symbols of a period in which luxury was the order of the day. […]
After the war (WWI), the company enjoyed an increase in numbers again and new vessels were launched. In its weakened position, CGN still had to deal with the appearance and development of the automobile and the severe economic crisis that lasted through the 1930s. In 1940, CGN even suspended its services for three months.
Fortunately, there was a positive outcome. From 1943, the authorities intervened in the hope of seeing CGN's vessels plying the lake once again. The National Exhibition in 1964 provided new stimulus, and the acquisition of new and modern units followed […]".

We enjoyed late summer evening on the boat "Geneva", having a ride from Montreux to Lausanne. It was the perfect way to admire the beauty of the lake, Swiss Riviera, French Alps, Lavaux Vineyard Terraces…

There is only one main railway station in Lausanne – Gare centrale de Lausanne – Lausanne central railway station. The huge edifice of the station was built between 1911 and 1916 along the lines of Leipzig station in Germany. It serves as an arrival and departure hub for many domestic as well as international trains.

From the Lausanne railway station there are train connections to major cities every 30 minutes, cities such as Geneva, Zurich, Bern, Neuchatel… but also "nearby" "Swiss riviera" towns Vevey and Montreux. Service of Swiss railroad company is as precise & sharp & perfect as it could be. Free booklets, very easy to "read", provide information on every arrival and departure.

We are coming from the country with pretty long tradition of railway transportation – the first traffic with steam traction in Serbia was opened in 1856, and Serbian Railways as a company is traced back to 1881 when King Milan I declared formation of the Serbian National Railways – but probably without any talent for maintaining & servicing railroad & trains & travelers – Anton Pavlovich Chekhov had even written the mocking story about his "adventures" traveling by train across Balkans. Having that in mind there is no doubt that we could easily overrate the service, but it is certain that it is very good.

Gare centrale stands between the center of the city and Ouhy. Rue du Petit-Chene leads to it from Grand-Pont, and Avenue L. Ruchonnet – from Pont Chauderon.

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On September the 18th 2008 Lausanne inaugurated its new underground. The first Swiss metro and the world's first automated driverless system able to cope with the city's slopes.
It's a 6 km north-south line, going from Ouchy (south, by the lake) to Croisette (north).
The metro climbs slopes with an average six per cent gradient, with the steepest parts at 12 per cent - a world first and a major feat of engineering.

The opening of the new underground is a big event in Lausanne. It has been spoken about for decades, and the works have been going on for years. The inauguration party will last 4 days, but unfortunately due to technical hiccups, the line will only be properly open from October 27th.

From Ouchy to Epalinges (Croisette) the journey will take about 20 minutes. This metro will improve the mobiliy in Lausanne, and make it very easy to travel around for tourists.

During our visit to Lausanne we stayed in Ouchy, which is the part of the city located on the shores of Lake Geneva. It is here you will need to go if you want to catch a ferry on the lake, or visit the Olympic Museum.

During our stay we took full advantage of a handy bus that runs from the main train station, down the hill to Ouchy. There is usually a metro that runs from the central station to Ouchy, but it was out of service during our stay.

The MB bus was frequent and easy to use, departing frequently from across the road from the station, and stopping in Ouchy outside the tourist office. The trip took less than 10 minutes.

We didn't have to bother with bus tickets as the rides were covered by our Swiss Pass, though many hotels in Lausanne will give you a free travel pass that covers transport within the city. Alternatively you can purchase a ticket when you board the bus.

We arrived and departed Lausanne by train. We travelled in from Zermatt (via Visp) which was a 3 hour journey. I particularly enjoyed the last section of the trip when the train line runs along the edge of Lake Geneva. After 2 nights in Lausanne, we caught the train to Geneva. This trip took around 40 minutes.

Train travel in Switzerland is easy. Trains are clean and run on time. Stations are well signposted and fellow travellers are considerate. The trains we travelled on all had luggage areas and toilets. It is a stress-free way to get around the country.

Being on the train is also a great way to do some sight seeing on route. Some of the rail lines travel through the most gorgeous mountain scenery. One day we travelled on the Glacier Express, on a 6 hour journey from Chur to Zermatt. The train travels through valleys, up mountains, past lakes and glaciers.

The only confusing thing connected to train travel in Switzerland is deciding what type of ticket or rail pass to buy. Sure you can buy tickets from place to place as you go, but there are various passes that may work our more economical depending on your itinerary and rail usage.

I spent some time before our trip calculating out the cost of buying various tickets versus rail passes, and in our case determined that a Swiss Pass offered the best value. The Swiss Pass is valid on almost all trains (supplement was required to use the Glacier Express), on buses, ferries, and we got 50% off the cost of cable cars and mountain transport in Zermatt.

You can investigate Rail Passes here

Train timetables and routing here

The bus network in Lausanne is pretty good (except in the winter time when it snows!!). Buses go all around Lausanne and come every 6-7 minutes during the week (daytime) and 10-15 minutes on Saturdays and evenings. Sundays, on the other hand, isn't too good, buses run only every 20 mins. approx. All buses go to St-François (downtown).

All tickets have to be bought at the bus stop and cannot be purchased on the bus. FYI, you better have the exact change, because the machines do not give back change... UPDATED : some machines DO give change back, but only in the most "touristy" bus stops! Most machines accept Euros, but the exchange rate is terrible.

There are random checks on buses to see if you have a valid ticket... Fine is CHF 60.- if you pay cash immediately or CHF 80.- ...

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it was a great experience tarveling from Basel to Lausanne by ORIENT EXPRESS train, this was an ancient time train which still use up to now in order to encourage the tourism in Switzerland. It was also for remebering the novel with the title " Murder on Orient Express", a story about a detective (?)(if I am not mistaken) Hercule Poirot

The best and fastest way to go from any point of French Switzerland to Lausanne is the train. The price was reasonable, they depart after an hour and a half from the previous one (at least from Geneva train station), and it takes little time (from Geneva it was an hour or so). You can also reach Lausanne by TGV and the French, Italian and German trains.
To see timetables and prices, check:
Swiss trains
http://www.sbb.ch/en/
TGV
http://www.tgv.com
Trenitalia
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
German trains (if you don't know German, go to the International Guest section for the English version)
http://www.bahn.de/
French trains
http://www.sncf.com/indexe.htm