u/Chemical-Rush-6433

In all honesty, what options do we have to take care of this issue? France cannot take care of their criminals, so we have to pay the price for it and watch it happen in silence?

The Geneva-Vaud area is losing its reputation as a safe haven in front of our eyes and no one is doing anything. It reached the international media now, it’s not just little arguments on reddit anymore.

Maybe activate the Schengen emergency 6 month border control could be an option (if we’re even allowed to do that)? I’m not super rich but I know lots of people that aren’t either and had their homes broken into while they slept, I don’t want to be the next one. It’s really worrying me

Today I had a horrible experience with a crackhead. He came ask something (really agressively) in a language I did not understand and as usual I ignored, but that made him even more pissed off and he wouldn’t leave me. He started getting really agressive as threatening to throw a glass bottle at me. After 5 minutes of him following me at a really fast pace I just started sprinting/borderline running. It was a really scary experience, even though it’s far from the first time it happens.

What do you guys do in this situation, call the police, run, confront? Normally I confront them but this time I was really scared of getting a knife pulled at me or an empty vodka bottle thrown on my face

Maybe I’ve grown too picky but I feel like the packaged meat at migros/ coop has become way too rubbery, hard and just has a weird taste. I’ve given it so many chances but it just doesn’t work for me

Where do you guys buy your meat? Another supermarket or directly at butcher shops? Do you end up spending a lot more at the end?

Do you all also notice guys being shirtless in really unexpected places this summer ? I have seen guys (mostly young ish 15-25) having no shirt on in trains, metros, buses, the city center, inside Migros..
I have nothing against people doing what they have to do when it’s hot outside, but come on now, I don’t want to be in a crowded metro having skin to skin contact with your sweaty back because you refuse to wear a t-shirt when everyone else is doing the bare minimum. This is the first summer I notice this, normally once you left the lake it was really rare to see

My experience is in Lausanne, can’t really speak about other cities in CH

I just want to bring a positive perspective here from seeing people complain so much about the « new » Switzerland. I am only in my mid 20s, but I have enough experience in my life, as well as hearing stories from other people to certify everything I’m saying.

Switzerland is a lot better nowadays than even 20 years ago, regardless of what people on here may make it seem.

- Our air is a lot cleaner. And I mean a lot. It was not uncommon for us to have heavy smog, especially in winter time, in the early and late 2000s. Things got better in the 2010s (all over Europe).
- Our lakes and rivers are extremely clean. They used to be the most polluted in Europe 60 years ago. I was not born yet to testify this, but a quick google search has done the job.
- Yes, crime is an issue in some areas, and I can understand the worries regarding refugees. But our cities are a lot less run down nowadays. There is an active movement in cities and villages to rethink public spaces, to refurbish old broken down buildings, to create new businesses.
- People who have been here for 2 years and complain about SBB: they have never been as punctual as nowadays. Trains were full of graffiti, even when I was a kid. Train stations are being refurbished and improving in every corner of the country.
- This might be controversial to some, but even 30 years back, our cities were huge parking lots. In Lausanne, Flon, St François, Riponne were all used as parking spaces. We have full pedestrian squares full of life now.
- Cigarettes are not allowed indoors anymore. I remember being forced to breathe in cigarette smoke everywhere 20 years ago.

Feel free to add more things if you have, I just wanted to bring some positivity to this sub that feels extremely negative most of the time

Quelqu’un arrive a m’expliquer scientifiquement pourquoi il pleut aussi peu sur l’Ouest lausannois/Lausanne, pendant qu’il y a des orages sur Lutry, Epalinges, Nyon, etc ?

À chaque fois que je regarde la carte de Meteo Suisse, on dirait qu’une espèce de trou s’ouvre en dessus de cette région et la pluie s’arrête. La même chose arrive en hiver.

Ça fait trois semaines que j’attends, tout le pays est sous la pluie et nous on n’a même pas 3 gouttes :(

First, in my opinion and experience, Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world where patriotism is still not « claimed » by the extreme right (thankfully). People from both the left and right seem to be extremely proud of the country.

I remember growing up and until my late teens, Lausanne was full of flags everywhere. The Grand Pont was full of flags of cities from the region (Pully, Renens, Lutry, Ecublens, St Sulpice, etc). Pont Chauderon had all cantonal flags. The Petit-Chêne also had some flags on them (the « spaces » to insert the flags are still on the buildings. In Ouchy, flags were hanging in most of the poles that are now left empty except if there’s a major event. I find it really sad that we lost this « pride » in our region and country, all to be put advertisements on the poles instead.

As far as I know, there is only one place where I can find a Vaud cantonal flag in the center of Lausanne (in Riponne on top of a building by the Valentin church), if not in the whole city. We have such an amazing canton and it’s really sad we really have to look in our capital to find the flag the one flag around.

When compared to Zürich, Basel, Bern or Luzern, cities in the french-speaking part (except Geneva), really lack this sense of « regional » pride (even though it was everywhere less than a decade ago). In german-speaking cities, you see cantonal flags all over buildings, on façades, streets, etc.

What becomes interesting here, cities that are more right wing still show this pride in the street. For example in Morges, Nyon or Montreux you can still find flags. In Lausanne, Vevey, Neuchâtel or Fribourg this becomes extremely rare.

What I find shameful in this is that by doing this, we’re 1) following the exact same footsteps of other countries and giving the « monopoly » of our regional pride to extreme right parties and 2) we’re dividing ourselves even more. I can’t say whether all this that I stated is indeed because of a left wing majority government which is more anti regional and national pride, but there seems to be a pattern in Romandie.

I don’t wanna be that person because I truly believe we need a bike sharing system in Lausanne. But what the hell are these Lime bikes? They started being deployed last week and I see them scattered on the middle of sidewalks, fallen over on the street, blocking the way, parked literally anywhere.

Publibike had proper designated stations (the purple squares) where people could grab and return their bikes. Why isn’t this done now?

Mixing these Lime bikes splattered everywhere and people nearly running me over on the daily with a modified electric scooter than can reach 40km/h, this isn’t really looking good (and I’m saying this as a biker).

Hey everone,
I have worked all week, as well as saturday, and I decided to go to the lake in Vidy yesterday (as did most of the city), and it is genuinely impossible to relax at this beach. Seems like people bring their entire living room (I even saw a family with a couch), but what really gets to me is the loud music competition among the different groups. If only it was 1 group playing music, ok I can still deal with it, but once there’s 7 different speakers at max volume in a radius of 10 meters it becomes complicated.

Maybe I’m just grumpy, I know this happens every summer, but am I the only one genuinely bothered by the amount of loud music coming from every direction?

Is there any beach nearby, accessible by public transportation (that doesn’t add another 20-30 minutes to my commute), where I can actually relax?

While I know these are 2 of the best cities to live in the world and I prefer Geneva, I feel like Zürich is a lot better in terms of infrastructure, road quality, cleanliness, etc than Geneva.

Just to explain the points I mentioned before about what’s better in Zürich:
1 Infrastructure / Road quality: extremely extensive S-Bahn in Zürich, roads in Geneva are just mediocre (for example the Rues Basses are full of potholes), buses are the slowest in Switzerland (don’t remember where I read this statistic)
2 Cleanliness: I find neither city dirty and I’m not saying cleanliness in this sense. I mean the overall look of buildings and sidewalks in Geneva give it a grittier feel. For some reason, Geneva has a different type of sidewalk to other Swiss cities, and even though they are physically clean, I always see a lot of « spots » (such as old chewing gums) that give a rusty impression. Same goes for buildings that look like they haven’t been renovated in 70 years. I do believe Zürich has more graffiti, especially in the outskirts, but even that seems « orderly »

I have started researching a lot about the PAV in Geneva because those subjects really interest me. Do you think this refurbishment of a huge portion of the city will « boost » the « prestige » of Geneva in the same way as Zürich is?

+ Bonus point: I rarely see people on the internet and daily life talk crap about Zürich, quite the contrary. Everyone glorifies it for being top notch. Geneva, on the other hand, is regularly bashed by everyone (and I never understood why, because I love that city), but there has got to be a reason, I guess

Edit: yes, I’m posting this once again on the hunt of a bigger city than Lausanne

For context, I have lived in Lausanne for almost my entire life. I work here, studied here, have *most* of my friends here (I will come back to this) and my family is nearby. I have recently travelled to Copenhagen, and I realized I really crave a big city with more cafés, more cultural events, more international, more tourists (I love meeting people from abroad and tourists) etc… Even though I love Lausanne with all my heart, I feel like it is still way too small for my liking and for the lifestyle I want to have. I feel like every time something interesting happens or comes to Switzerland (whether it be a popup, a concert, etc) it is in Zürich. Lausanne feels pretty « isolated » in this aspect, especially once you finish university. I speak french fluently, my family « migrated » from Zürich to Romandie around 30 years ago, therefore I have an okay base in Swiss german. Quite a few of my friends, and both my best friends, have been moving to Zürich (and I would say that number keeps increasing year after year). My job would theoretically allow me to work in Zürich. I have personally never been a fan of Zürich because of the work-oriented lifestyle, but maybe I just misunderstand the city since I have never lived there. Would you guys say this is the right decision or should I stay in Lausanne?

This morning as many of you saw, there was a post about the trash left behind during Balelec. I am by no means cautioning this, it is some disgusting behavior and should be punished.

I must say however, it has become a trend amongst a lot of Swiss germans (mostly on the internet) to say this is because french Swiss are not real Swiss, that we are dirty, we speak loud, we’re not efficient.

May I, for one, remind you guys how disgusting Zürich city looks after street parade? Yes, it does get cleaned soon after, just like the park got cleaned this morning. The Rhein river in Basel on weekend nights? Same issue. Area surrounding Reitschule in Bern? Not even gonna get started.

Second, should you also be reminded about what happened in Zürich center for the first of May demonstrations yesterday? I also frequently see people here roasting Lausanne because of protests, but once again, different cities, same issues.

The french speaking part of Switzerland has the exact same problems as the german speaking part. You guys are not some « superior » group because you speak a different language to us. Can you guys kindly stop talking about us as if we’re some sub-group of the country?

Sincerely,
A romand.

Yesterday I was biking in one of those roads with painted on « islands », meaning that a car + bike cannot pass at the same time. The road is kind of long and I could sense a van close to my ass blinking his lights for me to go faster or move to the side. As soon as the road ends, this guy accelerates from 30 to 70 within a few seconds, passes a few centimeters away from me and cusses me off. Had I not moved to the side and thought quickly, I’d have been under that van.

The van belonged to a company, and I took its name, but unfortunately not the license plate. Is there anything I could realistically do?

(This happened in the Ouest lausannois)