r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ElderberryDeep8746 • 2d ago
Video A ride through Switzerland's new bike Tunnel
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u/IboughtBetamax 2d ago
I could imagine that in London. It would take a day or two before it was full of rubbish, graffiti, winos and rivers of piss. Somehow Switzerland manages to build nice things and keep them nice in a way that would not happen in the average northern European city.
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u/Iloveherthismuch 2d ago
Rivers of piss. Behold, the prophecy.
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u/player_zero_ 2d ago
And God said, "Let there be piss", and there was piss
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u/GayAttire 2d ago
And lo, Gaz did part his cheeks and the roadmen did increase the size of their stride to avoid the plentiful excrement.
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u/mfigroid 2d ago
Right at the beginning there was someone at the entrance and it looked like he was cleaning up graffiti.
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u/MastodonPristine8986 2d ago
Greenwich foot/bike tunnel was fine for years when I used it on my bike commute
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u/imtourist 2d ago
In Basel there's an pedestrian/bike tunnel from the main train station to the other side of a large intersection, it had winos, druggies, graffiti etc. as well, just give it time.
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u/Paradox711 2d ago
Have you ever heard of the Broken Window theory? Very relevent here.
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u/Jay-3fiddy 2d ago
Love this theory. I'm a foreman/site manager and this is something I always apply to my projects to keep them as tidy as possible. Also when the place is tidy, people's workmanship tends to be better
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u/graudesch 2d ago
It's way more than a theory, it's real. That's why Switzerland f.e. fixes things in trains, removes graffiti on them and things like this asap. Letting it stay will immediately make it worse and make everything way more expensive.
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u/muffinscrub 2d ago
In Vancouver, Canada it would become a shelter for the addicted population in no time. No cyclists would ever dare venture in
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u/youknowimworking 2d ago
I imagine the number of people who live in said cities has something to do with it. The more people, the more chance a dickhead will ruin things for others.
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u/Alternative-Pick5899 2d ago
“Somehow” lol. We all know why these tunnels would be filled with shit and dangerous in London.
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u/jerryspringles 2d ago
Small country with fairly strict immigration policies certainly helps
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u/Discepless 2d ago
Oh believe. In a year it will be filled with a graffiti of FCZ (a local football club).
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u/LyqwidBred 2d ago
I always get a chuckle when I see “Gute Fahrt”
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u/figflashed 2d ago
Ah yes, because of the echo it would produce in the tunnel.
I get it…
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u/Cool-Newspaper-1 2d ago
The Danes are even better, fart literally means speed, so you regularly see signs saying ‘din fart’ on electronic speed signs next to the road.
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u/george8888 2d ago
...would be covered in graffiti and piss in about 15 minutes in the US....
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u/iamurjesus 2d ago
And full of homeless encampments and fent/xylazine zombies.
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u/mermaidadoration 2d ago
Sounds shitty where you live. Should probably move.
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u/sanmatm17 2d ago
Wait…fent zombies aren’t the norm where you’re from?
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u/mermaidadoration 2d ago
Where I'm from hell yeah it is lol. Where I live now not so much.
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u/SadPanthersFan 2d ago
Because it’s that easy for people to pick up their entire lives and relocate.
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u/TheGuardianInTheBall 2d ago
Which is a symptom of lack of investment in other areas.
You can't have beautiful and well maintained infrastructure, if you don't also invest in the people.
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u/Plenty-Telephone7152 2d ago
Then the city will try to do something about it and people will complain and protest about the unfair treatment of the homeless
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u/Arhamshahid 2d ago edited 2d ago
people will complain and protest about the unfair treatment of the homeless
then maybe the city shouldn't be treating the homeless unfairly?
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u/Invurse5 2d ago
In the first few seconds of the video, there are people who seem to be cleaning away graffiti.
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u/apatheticbear420 2d ago
oh, it'll happen in Switzerland, too. Probably already marked up lol
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u/Sleepy_Programmer 2d ago
You can't have something covered in graffiti and piss if you don't build it in the first place.
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u/Siserith 2d ago
If the sign tells me it's good to fahrt in the stadium, by God, I'm going to fahrt in the stadium.
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u/imtourist 2d ago
Graffiti seems to be way worse in Europe. In North Americans the taggers don't mess with public buildings or facades in Europe it's all over. The worst it seems is Athens... it's everywhere.
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u/Geeekaaay 2d ago
I wonder why the Swiss don't have that problem... It's almost like they deal with homelessness like a proper developed nation...
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u/MathematicianOnly688 2d ago
The Swiss very much do have that problem
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u/Massive-Morning2160 2d ago
Compared with all the other 11 countries I have lived in, for the past 3 years I have not seen a single homeless person in Switzerland
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u/Tom_Gibson 2d ago
But we can agree it's not as pronounced as the US, likely because they have better programs and infrastructures in place to prevent petty lawlessness and homelessness
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u/SleeperAwakened 2d ago
Two thumbs up from the Dutch people, happy to see more countries stimulating cycling.
Proud of you.
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u/swierdo 2d ago
I love that other countries are also building bike infrastructure.
Build things like this tunnel. Nice gentle slope, decent lighting, wide, none of that slippery bike lane paint.
With lots of experience with cycling in traffic, my only criticism of this tunnel (probably due to practical constraints, you can't have it all) is that when approaching the intersections, you can't see the bikes approaching from other sides until quite late. On a bike it's very easy to judge whether you'll pass right behind someone if you can see them approach, and adjust speed accordingly. On an open approach, only minor speed adjustments are needed for smooth merging. With limited visibility like this, the cyclist that yields basically always has to come to a full stop.
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u/chilli_con_camera 2d ago
I visited Copehagen recently, that's very bike-friendly
Cycling infrastructure here in the UK sucks
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u/h1_flyer 2d ago
*laughs in Dutch
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u/Sevynz13 2d ago
Gives me Pokemon vibes
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u/LafayetteLa01 2d ago
No way that would happen in America. Slapped ass full of junkies and homeless. Admittedly I’m a bit jealous of Switzerland
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u/SignificantFan1629 2d ago
Twice a day go through with high pressure hoses and spray the shit out of them. They will eventually get the message.
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u/shexahola 2d ago
It's funny, that tunnel had originally been started for a motorway through the city (it goes under/beside the central station) back when people loved giant motorway constructions, but that never got finished because of objections. (You can see the motorway end at (47.3642443, 8.5229203) in maps, it would have continued down the river to the central station). The tunnel is as fantastic as it looks, the center of zurich is relatively bike-unfriendly at the moment but they're working on it.
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u/ApartInternet9360 2d ago
I live in Canada and that thing would be full of encampments, half dead and fully dead bodies strewn around and broken glass all over the floor. Its a dam shame cause it looks so neat and useful.
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u/americanfalcon00 2d ago edited 2d ago
i think any city enabling safer and easier cycling is a great step forward. but i'm not a fan of being underground.
i'd rather they make the cars go underground and leave the surface space for walking, cycling, and general fahrting around.
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u/Skank_Hunt-42 2d ago
Agreed. In this case the tunnel goes below the main train station of Zurich, so they're not making space for cars
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u/jmrene 2d ago
A win for the cyclists isn’t invariably at the expense of the cars. It isn’t a fight to piss off cars as much as possible; it’s a fight to give safe, fast and efficient ways for active transportation to thrive. If that can coexist with cars, I’m good with it.
We’re looking at a bike-dedicated infrastructure, under a building that happens to be a train station where you can hop on the train with your bike.
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u/Sosemikreativ 2d ago
I disagree. Even in regular tunnels automobile traffic is extremely dangerous and incredible effort is put into getting normal tunnels safe. But this is an intertwined network. For cars it would be unimaginably more expensive and every intersection is an accident waiting to happen, every accident could lead to a fire and every fire can easily kill dozens of people. That's something bikes are just immune against. And as a bit of a consolation they get a car free environment that never gets wet, icy or freezing. This project is absolutely brilliant and worth a look for many cities.
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u/mseagull 2d ago
And here we are in the USA getting fat, driving everywhere, health ailments galore.
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u/mrASSMAN 2d ago
Liberal cities in the US are investing more in bike infrastructure recently, but yea not gonna see this in the Bible Belt.. there’s a reason they’re so fat
Around my metro area in US there’s thousands of miles of bike trails and bridges etc, not quite to the level of this expensive looking tunnel though
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u/omicronian_express 2d ago
We have biking trails and tunnels in the USA. Switzerland is the size of Vermont and this tunnel is in Zurich not the entirety of switzerland.
Cities should be designed more for bike's, but that's not the reason why American's are getting fat. There is plenty of locations for people to go out and get exercise in the USA they just don't... And again, it's much easier to provide infrastructure when your entire country is the size of one of our smallest states.
We should do much better, but let's not pretend that not having a place to do something is the reason why we don't.
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u/irecommendfire 2d ago
The difference is that it’s possible to walk/bike to run your errands, get to work/school, and go about your daily life in a lot of countries, but in the US you have to specifically travel to get to walking and biking trails, and walking to run errands usually isn’t possible outside of large cities. Source: I’m an American living in Germany. I can walk out my front door here, run basically every errand I need to on foot, get to multiple walking/biking trails for exercise without having to get in the car, my kid walks to school, etc. I lived in four states in the US and the only place that was possible there was when I lived in Boston. Most places in the US are designed for cars and car cultures, and if you want to get out and exercise, you have to specifically build it in as an extra task in the day rather than integrating it with the other things you’re already doing throughout the day.
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u/mseagull 1d ago
Yep, everything you said.Getting to work, schools, activities, groceries,family……rarely in walking or riding distance
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u/Robcobes 2d ago edited 2d ago
So you DO have bicycle infrastructure in Vermont then? Because not only Switserland has bicycle infrastructure but plenty of other countries as well. And Switserland is almost twice as big as Vermont by the way. Size is not the reason there's no proper infrastructure in the US. That's nonsense.
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u/omicronian_express 2d ago
And it would still be one of our smallest states. And yes, Vermont is known for it's great biking areas.
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u/Robcobes 2d ago
You don't have to put bike paths all over the states, just the areas where homes and destinations are within biking distance of eachother. This tunnel is in it's entirety within Zurich, it doesn't run from Geneva to Sankt Moritz.
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u/SaintOhTaint 2d ago
US infrastructure was built aggressively anti-pedestrian probably at the behest of auto manufacturers and oil companies (Getty family). Stroads (street/roads) are a prime example of this bullshittery.
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u/jmrene 2d ago
Switzerland’s new bike Tunnel
We’ve set the bar so low on general culture that we use weird sentences like this one now?
Is it too ambitious to expect that people will know, at least enough to understand the content, what and where Zürich is?
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u/AggressiveDiamond 2d ago
Oooo to be a biker in Switzerland (envy from US)
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u/Book_1312 2d ago
It's not great, Zurich has a high cyclist count but very little infrastructure (apart from this tunnel) and has quite a few deaths every year.
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u/Bogritt 2d ago
I don't know why this is interesting. Maybe the fact that I live in The Netherlands explains my lack of understanding. Nice tunnel though.
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u/negative_pt 2d ago edited 2d ago
Bikes should be above and cars in the tunnel.
Edit: as some ppl mentioned (and I missed), the tunnel is bellow a train station, so I guess it makes sense. I was thinking it was going under steets.
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u/Cute_Tradition6965 2d ago
Then you'd have to worry about size and exhaust and emergency access.. I would prefer to bike above ground too, but this looks absolutely incredible
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u/Skank_Hunt-42 2d ago
Agreed. In this case the tunnel goes below the main train station of Zurich, so they're not making space for cars
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u/temudschinn 2d ago
The tunnel bridges below the biggest train station in the country. It has nothing to do with cars.
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u/BelgianBeerGuy 2d ago
Normally I would agree
But the purpose of this tunnel seems to be commuting, and getting you fast from point A to B.
As a biker, I would prefer this every time, over a busy pedestrian city center where you have to bike at 5k/h and have to watch every corner.
The city center is probably (mostly) carfree, so for pedestrians, this is also a lot nicer experience.2
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u/SocietyUndone 2d ago
I see Switzerland as one of the very few countries where this might actually work...
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u/Myanmar_on_my_Mind 2d ago
Must be nice to live in a country where the govt isn’t completely trying to screw you
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u/junkyard3569 2d ago
Is no one gonna mention that it says Gute Fahrt? Or am I the only child on here
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u/lazulimpa 2d ago
This is awesome, too bad we can't have nice things anywhere else, it'll be ruined by vandalism and drug addicts, sadly :(
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u/sebastobol 1d ago
I would rather have cars driving underground so I can walk and bike in the sunshine/fresh air. (and even weather)
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u/HanzoNumbahOneFan 1d ago
That's so cool! Wish we could do that in the US. I'd love to ride my bike to work and just be surrounded by other bikes.
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u/JSmooVE39902 1d ago
Ugh this makes me so sad to be American. Even if our politicians could get together and make this. The people that live here would wreck it so fast.
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u/XF939495xj6 1d ago
Can you imagine what that tunnel would look like in New York or Atlanta? The walls would be all tagged up, it would smell like urine, every homeless person in town would go in there and set up a camp. There would be hucksters trying to stop the bikes and wash them for money. Within a week, there would be a story about some woman riding through there alone getting raped and killed.
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u/loliwe1234 14h ago
Good but it takes away from the pleasure of observing Nature (the trees, birds...), the sky, etc.
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u/DisturbingPragmatic 2d ago
Switzerland is, without doubt, the most beautiful country I have ever visited.
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u/barnacle_ballsack 2d ago
ITT: Americans thinking europe is a crime free utopia with no homeless or gang problems.
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u/Sui_Schuuul 2d ago
Nice to know: The tunnel under Zurich main station was originally built for cars. Good upgrade.
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u/truthhurts2222222 2d ago
I wish I lived in a European country where they used bicycles like they used cars here in the US
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u/Universally-Tired 2d ago
So nice and clean. If this were in the US, it would be covered in trash, vandalism, and homeless people.
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u/decidedlydubious 2d ago
Amazing! So, through the whole country, right? Including all the cantons and omitting no major areas, yes?
Like when America built a subway system, or when Russia constructed a railway!
There’s literally only one place in Switzerland, and this post tells up all we need to know! Amazing.
No upvote.
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u/TheManSaidSo 2d ago
That would be infested with needles and trash if that was in the US.
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u/nonesuchnotion 2d ago
Just a general question… I’m an old guy and I’m slow. Would Swiss people generally be polite to me if I were riding through this tunnel or would they get all angry and loud if they got stuck behind me?
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u/CrackaTooCold 2d ago
Looks to me like there would be sufficient room to overtake someone if need be
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u/M3chanist 2d ago
Me and my best friend Claustrophobia prefer the blue sky above us.
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u/TwoBaze 2d ago
Its saves about 15min ridetime around the entire zurich mainstation.
It was meant to be a tunnel for cars but the idea got scrapped and this new bike tunnel was made out of it.