for maybe a year now smoking is prohibited on swiss trains. yesterday, when i had to catch an early train to geneva at 6:34 and arrived at the trainstation 10 minutes early, i was amazed to observe a shocking trend. as the waiting area started to fill up about 1 in 2 persons started to smoke cigarettes in desperation, one guy next to me smoked 3 cigarettes lighting up one after the other. as the train approached the smoking got more frantic. naturally some people took their last puff just upon entering the train and threw the cigarette onto the floor; of course they exhaled the smoke inside the train as a small act of civil disobediance. the first part of the journey to geneva i was sitting alone, but in fribourg a great number of people entered the train – half of them smelling of smoke. in lausanne a guy sat down opposite me, who stank of cigarettes so strong, that i considered switching seats.
in the paper i read, they talked about a new expression coming from ireland where smoking is prohibited in pubs, bars and clubs. when people go outside to smoke cigarettes the famous “do you have a light” pickup line gets used to engage in smirting, a mixture of smoking and flirting.
so lets face it, it does not work to prohibit smoking. while i guess passive smoking gets slightly better, a prohibition does not detract people from smoking, they just smoke more before and after trips or outside the pubs. and, now smokers smell up the trains while before the went to the smoking department.
at the same time, yesterday we went to the lift apero and we had to leave early because the smoke got so intense.
we need an invention! some form of smoke bubble maybe? a ventilation system that pulls out all the smoke, and allows people to smoke where they want.
Moto helmets?
In Germany, smoking is forbidden in waiting areas as well. If it is not in Switzerland, SBB should not do things halfway.
Smokers have behaved like a majority for a whole century. If there is one thing we can learn from the USA (!), it’s how to deal with this problem. Yes, i do sound like a zero-tolerance jerk, but what other choices are there? Prevention never paid off on this one, although millions have been invested throughout the years. What remains is MASSIVELY raise the price of cigarettes – no more loosey 20 ct. every year – and start amending. I know it’s sad.