Public transport switzerland.

I've had it checked on every Swiss train I've been on, but this was largely is the German speaking area. That was both on the mainline trains and the mountain railways.

It does seem a lot of European public transport depends on people not being dicks, though. It's nice to be trusted but also nice to have a population that's trustworthy.

I asked work colleagues about this in Sweden, when taking the tram in Gothenburg and no one ever checked tickets. They said the shame of being caught without a ticket would be "unbearable" for a Swede (this was over 20 years ago so things may have changed).

My impression is that the Swiss are very law abiding. But at the same time (in the German speaking part of Switzerland) nearly always had our tickets checked when we've travelled.

I remember always having tickets checked by guards in Switzerland.
Anecdotally when I was a student (a fair while ago) I met a (typical?) German anarchist type student on a campsite in Norway who told me that the only countries you had to buy a train ticket were the UK and Switzerland. Most other places didn't bother checking. Certainly seemed true on my trips to Belgium for work. No idea on other countries.

I never travel on public transport without a valid ticket. However I did use to travel 2 or 3 times a week between Stafford and Coventry. Once a month I would buy a day return at Stafford (the return ticket being valid for a month) and coming back I'd buy a day return at Coventry (ditto). Usually those tickets would last me the whole month without being asked for.

Interesting. I wonder why no one has checked mine! Just to be clear I have bought a ticket everytime and will continue to do so - even as a non Swede it would be equally unbearable!

On trains, usually they check every person on boards ticket. Never not been checked. Always had also a ticket for my bike when it was with me, for same reasons as Sweden!

On buses and trams, there is not conductor like there is on trains, but there are occasionally inspectors on the vehicle you are on. It's all very 'stazi' esque though, as they get on incognito. As soon as the doors close and the tram moves forward, plain clothes people suddenly stand up from the seats and call "Billet" - ****! Bastards!

Mostly the young, unlucky or more frequently the auslanders that get nailed. you get a fine, but it is also the social shame that does greater damage.

Once my wife with three young kids jumped on just at the last minute and was on her phone app buying the tickets as the tram moved off. Too late! "Billet!". ****! She was dragged off at the next stop, with all 3 kids, but they actually didn't; fine her, they made it clear that they had to do it for show.

So, don't forget your ticket on swiss public transport - also for your bike (though don't take your bike on busses or trams during peak time, even with a ticket you will get a fine for that too!).

Fines in Switzerland is how they keep the taxes low.

In Berne, if you get caught on a bus or tram without a ticket, the ticket inspector will take you to the ticket machine to buy one. If you don't have the money then he will take you to the cash point. If you can't get money from the cash machine he takes you to the police station and they deal with it formally.

I am almost always checked on the trains. Exceptions seem to be very busy commuter trains, or travelling first class.
I've never been checked in the bus, but I have heard tales of the zealous inspectors.

The train inspectors take their jobs seriously too. When I was without data and I couldn't show the half fare card on my phone, one inspector was all ready to throw me off. Fortunately a fellow passenger let me use his data hotspot.Another time I had a free train ticket included within a tourist pass in Davos region. It wasn't clear if the bike was included, so I boarded the train, immediately and unprompted asked the inspector, and his first reaction was to remind me I should have done it before boarding 😂

But universally I just love how the whole public transport system works. At the weekend I did a wonderful trail down from the Illhorn. The ride to the top was two postbuses and a chairlift. This facilitated a 2000m technical descent with only 200m of climbing. I made a bike reservation for the trip beforehand by email. The bus had a bike rack on the back, like many do. The bus was basically full. When more cyclists arrived, we were asked to remove our bike from the rack, and the driver hooked up a bike trailer. That whole cufuffle made us 10mins late to the transfer. But that bus, had waited, because no one wants to miss a bus. Actually all the possible buses to transfer had waited. We then had a bike shuffle, where we loaded the bike rack, then realized more spaces were needed, and so the collected drivers moved the trailer to the second bus. It was wonderful, and incredibly effective. Totally customer service orientated and definitely one I didn't mind paying for. To top it off this local bus route also had phone charging ports, and wifi.

The UK feels like a third world country in comparison.

Might be too late now, but did you buy a half fare card?