"Just be very careful of trams and also tram tracks, if a wheel goes in one you can come off very quickly."
In the new series New Town Asks The Questions, we ask expats living in Zurich about their experiences and challenges since they moved here. Our second interviewee is Michael from Yorkshire in the north of England. He has been living in Switzerland for 8 years.
New Town: Michael, thanks for being our next interviewee. When you moved to Switzerland, you lived in Flumserberg for the first 3 years. Was it difficult for you to settle in a mountain village like that, or was it easier there than in a big and "anonymous" city like Zurich?
Michael: I wasn’t even in a village, I was in a quite remote mountain farm with my ex-wife and her horses, a couple of near by neighbours spoke some English - the Flumserdeutsch was impossible to follow - but even my wife (who is from Zürich) was not completely accepted - she was told by one local she would always be an "Ausländer". I guess I was accepted more as I was the eccentric Englishman and the farmers' children liked to hear me speak English.
"The farmers' children liked to hear me speak English."
New Town: You’ve been living in Zurich for 5 years now and we know that you cycle around the city. There are always disputes between cyclists and car drivers, with cyclists demanding more dedicated cycle lanes or even an “autofreies Zürich”, while car drivers on the other hand complain about cyclists who do what they want on the roads and fail to follow the rules at all. What is your experience of cycling in Zurich and how does it compare to cycling in Yorkshire, where you’re from?
Michael: I only started cycling here 2 years ago and last rode a bike in the UK when I was at school around 1980. There is a discussion right now on a Leeds Facebook page about the rising numbers of cyclists in the city and not many car drivers are friendly towards them or the recently built cycle lanes.
I find it safe here in Zurich and have never had a problem with aggressive car drivers. However, when I do drive cyclists who ignore all traffic rules do annoy me. I guess being in my 50’s now I tend to ride over carefully. I spend a long weekend each month in the Netherlands where I also have a bike and that is heaven for cyclists, who probably outnumber car drivers!
"I find it safe here in Zurich and have never had a problem with aggressive car drivers."
New Town: What advice would you give an expat who has only just moved to Zurich and wants to cycle in the city, for example by commuting to work? Where would you recommend that they get their bike from and what should they be careful of?
Michael: Once every couple of months there is a bike market in Helvetiaplatz, but there are plenty of bike shops around that sell new and renovated bikes. There is also usually plenty of much cheaper bikes for sale on Facebook 2nd hand pages and on englishforum.ch. I would strongly suggest getting insurance (mine came with my general personal 3rd party liability insurance) as if you do cause an accident it could be very expensive (and an accident involving a tram could bankrupt you!). But it is generally very safe with some good bike lanes. Just be very careful of trams and also tram tracks, if a wheel goes in one you can come off very quickly and damage your bike as well as you!