Basel BVB Tram Challenge

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Soup Dragon
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Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Soup Dragon »

I'm in Basel this Saturday 13th September and will probably try and visit as much of the city as I can by tram. Apparently public transport is free to guests staying in Basel hotels. Does anyone have any experience of using the BVB is Basel, if so how easy is it to use?
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Soup Dragon
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Soup Dragon »

Well the information I received about the free public transport turned out to be correct.
I received a free two day 'Freedom Pass' when I checked-in at the hotel. I did a bit of research on Friday morning and then attempted the main challenge on Saturday.

I started my attempt at Riehen Grenze at the top of route 6 at 11:00. It was a miserable wet day and certainly not the best day for a tram challenge. On the first stretch the tram reached speeds in excess of 60 kmh on the sector between Habermatten and Eglisee. I did not have many sexy changes but here are a few of my best:

1m23s Schifflände line 8 to 11
1m06s Luzernerring line 3 to bus 36
1m26s Mortgartenring bus 36 to line 6
1m10s Mortgartenring line 6 to bus 36
0m42s Neubad bus 36 to line 8
1m00s Binningen Kronenplatz bus 34 to line 2

Unfortunately I did not have enough time to complete the challenge as I had to get to the airport for my flight at 17:05. However I did manage to visit 102 of 180 tram stops in 4h18m42s finishing at Aeschenplatz at 15:18.

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Last edited by Soup Dragon on 07 Mar 2010, 17:10, edited 1 time in total.
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Starkey7
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Starkey7 »

Ah wow, good work! Here is a map http://www.bvb.ch/liniennetz_2008_a3.def.pdf for anyone who wants to know what the network looks like. Something different, anyway, and it certainly will have improved your German (maybe).
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Soup Dragon »

Starkey7 wrote:Ah wow, good work! Here is a map http://www.bvb.ch/liniennetz_2008_a3.def.pdf for anyone who wants to know what the network looks like. Something different, anyway, and it certainly will have improved your German (maybe).
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Starkey7 »

Ich kann das verstehen.
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Soup Dragon
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Soup Dragon »

I just reviewed my route for this challenge and discovered that I actually visited 104 out of 182 tram stops in 4:18:42.
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Root »

Nice one, Anthony. Makes me want to do a Helsinki tram challenge. It wouldn't cost me anything. I have been meaning to do the Helsinki metro for ages but it's such a boring network (one line, two branches), I've never really found the motivation.
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Soup Dragon
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Soup Dragon »

I found some footage of the challenge on my video camera that I had forgotten I'd filmed, now uploaded to YouTube for anyone who is interested: Basel Tram Challenge
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Going Underground »

Soup Dragon wrote:I found some footage of the challenge on my video camera that I had forgotten I'd filmed, now uploaded to YouTube for anyone who is interested: Basel Tram Challenge
Makes we want to head straight to Basle for a challenge right now :lol: :lol:
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Starkey7
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Starkey7 »

You've inspired me to have another crack at the Bydgoszcz Tram Challenge.
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Mitchell&BrownLook »

Now Bydgoszcz is somewhere that I'm very keen to visit one day. Early October would be great Starkey. http://speedwaygp.com/en/venueselect2010/
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Soup Dragon »

We should add this to the list of potential destinations for a continental challenge. Bydgoszcz Tram Network
How on earth do you pronounce Bydgoszcz, I must admit I have never heard of this place before. Wikipedia has an interesting list of people born in Bydgoszcz, including Vivian Schmitt (born 1978) I didn't realise they had such details on wiki as this :shock:
Starkey7 wrote:You've inspired me to have another crack at the Bydgoszcz Tram Challenge.
This implies that you've already had a crack, if so how did you get on and what is the current un-official Bydgoszcz record time?
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Starkey7 »

Soupie,

Bydgoszcz is pronounced [BID gosh-ch]. The final "shch" sound is precisely as in "pushchair", for example. A delicious little tongue teaser, I reckon.

The current record time does not exist, because sadly I did not complete the network. I was actually aiming to travel the whole of every line, rather than merely visiting each stop. The end-to-end routing actually worked really well, but after three hours I found that route number 9 only starts running at 1pm, which would have meant a two-hour wait in the freezing cold. Moreover, I desperately needed a slash, so I gave up. I decided to retry in the Summer.

I covered all stops apart from those on the Łęgnowo and the Bieławy branches - so it was quite disappointing!
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Starkey7
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Starkey7 »

I completed the Bydgoszcz Tram Challenge on the 2nd of June in a time of 3:32'08". :D

http://www.zdmikp.bydgoszcz.pl/ufiles/tramwaje.pdf
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Soup Dragon
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Re: Basel BVB Tram Challenge

Post by Soup Dragon »

Starkey7 wrote:I completed the Bydgoszcz Tram Challenge on the 2nd of June in a time of 3:32'08". :D

http://www.zdmikp.bydgoszcz.pl/ufiles/tramwaje.pdf
Well done John, did Dorota join you on the challenge?
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