Buses and other transportation near CERN is operated by the Transports publics genevois (TPG). Sorry, no English version. Some vocabulary words to know:
- Horaires et réseau = Schedule and map (routes)
- arrêt = stop (like bus stop), and arrêter = to stop
- ligne = line (like bus line)
Luckily, their site is well organized, and so there is a page for all the buses that stop at CERN. By “all” I could just say, “both.” At this point in time, there are only deux linges qui arrêtent au CERN: ligne 56 et ligne Y.
To ride the bus you must pay ahead of time at an intimidating machine that looks like this:
All of them look like this and have the same instructions on them. It’s a busy sign, but it’s really just a three-step process:
- Press a silver button in the yellow or blue columns that corresponds to how far you want to travel (yellow region is Switzerland, blue is France)
- Pay the money it requests
- Take your ticket and hop on the bus – but don’t show the bus driver! He doesn’t care. (Only randomly do authorities check for tickets)
And that’s my quick guide to riding the buses. Note also that the top map I show here is the ligne-Y bus route that ends at Val-Thoiry mall (there is a huge grocery store there too).
Tags: student life
