accommodation annual assurance canton cantonal children choose contact country ecole education english european federal french geneva geneve genève income information insurance international mandatory months office parents people permit primaire private professional residence schools services social specific swiss switzerland tuition years

The public transports (TPG) are well developed in the city and the canton of Geneva. There are trams, buses and trolleybuses, trains and boats. The Unireso concept allows to to use the same ticket on trains, boats (mouettes) and all public transport available inside the canton of Geneva.

The tram network is made up now by 4 lines in main directions. Bus and trolleybus compelet the transport system. The boats cross the small lake of Geneva and the train joins the Cornavin train station to the airport or borders of the canton.

It is possible to buy annual, monthly or weekly travel cards. At the begining it is better to choose a daily travel card (valid on all the network) than to purchase a ticket for only one hour. Tickets and travel cards can be purchased at the DATT machines (distributeurs automatiques de titres de transport) that allows three types of payment: cash (CHF or euros), the Cart@bonus or a card called "CASH".

Bus/Coach

There is a coach station between the train station and the lake. It has roads to several European cities, towards east and west. Touristic coaches to discover Switzerland depart also from there.

For the further villages, there are also postal coaches that are very useful.

Boat

Geneva does not have a port, but there are several docks and the boats go between the different cities bording the lake of Geneva. Departures of shuttles (called Mouettes) happen several times an hour on both banks of the lake. It is possible to use these boats with a bus ticket.

Website:
Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman
http://www.cgn.ch

Train

In Geneva, the main train station of Cornavin, located on the right bank, is linked with the Swiss and French network. It goes also to the airport of Geneva-Cointrin. You can check the timetable online on the Federal Railway Network website (timetable of all public transports in Switzerland, ticket purchase available online): http://www.cff.ch.

Train: http://www.cff.ch

Airports

You can find several international airports in Switzerland:

• Cointrin (Genève): http://www.gva.ch
• Bâle-Mulhouse (Bâle),
• Kloten/Unique (Zürich).

Cointrin and Bâle airport are EasyJet destinations.

You can book your plane tickets with ebookers, STA Travel, TravelOnWeb (see EasyExpat Travel).

Taxis

Several websites:

• http://www.taxis.ch (coop taxi 202)
• http://www.taxi-phone.ch (33 141 33)
• http://www.taxige.com
• http://www.geneva-taxi.ch

Cars

As often in big cities, driving in the centre must be avoided at rush hours. It is better to park at car parks and use the public transport network.

The annual road tax disc (vignette routière - price: 40 CHF) is mandatory for the Swiss motorways and on the circular road around Geneva. It can be bought at the customs or in petrol stations or post offices (if you go to Geneva-Vallard, you do not need a disc because the motorway stops immediatly after the customs).

A anti-pollution disc is always put on the car and indicates the month and the year of the next technical check-up (MOT) to do.

Parking in Geneva

• Yellow lines: parking is forbiden.
• White lines: with time-disc, pay and display spaces with a time limit (you must type you space number and your immatriculation before to pay to the machine).
• Blue lines: free spaces during a limited time with a disc that you can buy in petrol stations (for example).

Stickers: The sticker (macaron) allows inhabitants and commercial staff from the city-centre to park in the blue zone of their sector without a time-limit (residential parking permit).

City Map: http://map.search.ch Road Map: http://www.viamichelin.com/