Editor’s note: Park City Councilor Bill Ciraco is chronicling his exploration of public transportation in Europe in a series of commentaries.
Departing Grindelwald at 2 p.m. I could sense traffic would soon be problematic. Grindelwald, like Park City, has its own concerns about traffic, and given the frequent rail and gondola service available here I wouldn’t be surprised to see it restrict traffic to residents only.
As I cruised down Grindelwald Strasse in my rented convertible life seemed sweet, and it was about to get sweeter at my next destination.
Zermatt is a mountain village in southern Switzerland bordering Italy. Surrounded by some of the tallest peaks in the Alps, it is a sight to behold. The elevation there is 5,000 feet with the Matterhorn rising to nearly 14,700 feet above. Simply awe inspiring.
Approaching Zermatt from the north, there are a couple of interesting choices. The one I took sent me up a valley just to the west and south of Interlaken towards the town of Kandersteg, where the directions told me to take the ferry!
Everything about this part of Switzerland is surreal. Valleys at 3,000 with summits at 14,000 feet. Milky turquoise green lakes laden with mineral runoff from glaciers on high summits. And yes I include instructions to take a ferry in the middle of a mountain valley with no lake — surreal.
As I approached Kandersteg, I figured that it wasn’t a “boat” ferry but a train that ferries cars through mountains for 12 miles, delivering me to a switchback-laden perch 1,000 feet above the Rhone Valley. I was now 30 miles and about 45 minutes from Tasch, where I would be able to park the car and board the Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn for Zermatt, the one and only way for visitors (unless you are James Bond) to reach the city.
Arriving in Tasch, you are greeted with clear signage directing you to the car park, which is also the train station. In the garage I saw tourists of all stripes park, remove their suitcases and proceed to the train platform. With a wheeled suitcase, I did not need to use any of the numerous and free luggage carts that were available. All of this — parking, making my way to the platform and boarding the train — was easier than finding a parking spot at Dan’s or Whole Foods.
Tasch to Zermatt is five miles, but really much more. It’s as if you boarded platform 9 and 3/4 and ended up in a world of wizardry and magic. With level and zero gap boarding, rolling luggage or your luggage cart on to the train is painless and easy.
In Zermatt, hotels greet you at the station with their own electric shuttles to whisk you quietly to your hotel. As you make your way up Bahnhofstrasse, you notice you may be the only vehicle on the road. The sidewalk and street are filled with people. There is a sense of peace and excitement balanced in some Matrix-like juxtaposition.
It is a symphony of bliss. Cafes alive with coffee, streusel and music. Shopkeepers busy tending to the foot traffic passing their beautifully arranged windows. There is a buzz, but there is even more relaxation with the harried car centric world left behind.
You take a moment and in the late afternoon sun and catch your first glimpse of the Matterhorn, and no matter how many times you have skied Jupiter Bowl, you feel small but not out of place. Here nature places you in a world that demands respect and rewards you with an amazing landscape. I can’t help but think that this would feel so different if I had arrived here in a car on a four-lane super highway into town.
Zermatt is programmed like this by necessity. There is a two-lane road in, but I am told it makes the way to Tabiona look like the autobahn. It is restricted to freight, delivery, etc. Half of the deliveries in come via the road and the other half via the railroad.
As tourism and local wealth began to blossom after World War II, Zermatt decided that with their narrow streets and dead-end status, they were going to think differently about cars. They did, and it has made this place one of the most special on Earth to visit.
Zermatt controls the flow of tourism into town by providing a better and more unique way for people to access it. There are over 3 million annual visitors here, and it runs like a Swiss watch.
On my first (and only) full day in Zermatt, I walked across the plaza from the Hotel Monte Rosa to Zermatt City Hall. I wandered the halls apologizing in German that I didn’t speak any German (Es tut mir lead, ich spreche kein Deutsch) and asking to speak to someone about transportation policy.
A city staffer named Bernhard Arnold was kind enough to welcome me into his office and speak to me for an hour about transportation policy. Between the two of us, we quickly realized that the problems and pressures that both of our communities face are the same: transportation and housing.
Back to the theme of surreal. It is only fitting that across the street from the train station is the Gornegrat Bahn, a cog wheel railroad that takes 5,000 vertical feet up to the Gornegrat Station for a view of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa (15,200 feet), both straddling the border with Italy and filled with glaciers. Here at 10,000 feet I looked around at another 5,000 feet of stunning mountain vistas around me. I was speechless.
If there is a model city worth embracing and working towards, even if it is not possible to get all the way there, Zermatt is that model. I hope we can have the courage and vision to move in this direction. The reward is life-changing.