This town banned cars (except tiny electric ones)
2023 ж. 6 Там.
2 068 624 Рет қаралды
Zermatt, in Switzerland, bans all private cars and all gasoline cars. But if you run a business, you might be able to buy one of the special, tiny ones that are built right there. ■ Zermatt: zermatt.ch ■ Stimbo: stimbo.ch/
Camera: Martin Bäbler
Editor: Julian Domanski
Local production by Viven viven.ch
Thanks to Kevin Tedore for the suggestion
Milk float clip licensed from Reuters via Pond5.
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Thanks to Iris and Bruno for doing an interview in their second (or, more likely, third or fourth) language! I couldn't manage that...
amazing
Ello Tom mate
I was just about to say that - their English is fantastic! Wonder if they had English classes as a part of their curriculum at school or if they learnt it as adults.
Great work Iris and Bruno! Thanks for the video, Tom and team!!
@@l5468We learn english in school, third or fourth grade.
good to know tom in particular is expressly forbidden from owning a zermatt car
He cannot be trusted with one.
"If you are a person like Tom Scott, absolutely not. Anyone else? Maybe."
The sidewalks are safe!
💀
F tom is infamous
I’ve always thought a high-speed chase scene filmed in Zermatt with those electric cars would be hilarious.
Next Mission Impossible movie for sure. Tom Cruise has to run (he loves running) from the bad guys who are chasing him in a stolen Zermatt Taxi.
More like Johnny English!
There's is an chase sequence with electric cars in Westworld season 3 or 4. It feels like they are also only driving like 20 km/h. Feels super weird.
honestly probably not as exciting as you may think, as the cars only drive up to 25 Km/h (11-12mph) with very few exceptions like some police cars or ambulances
That should definitely happen!
They must have researched Tom's poor driving skills and long history of accident's before he arrived. Good on you, Tom, for accepting your personal ban so graciously.
He learned to ride a bicycle only recently.😆
Or in short words: We need more like him😂
They treat everyone the same like that. Not just Tom.
One time I was riding my bicycle next to the main road through town and I turned into a side alley. At that moment there was a big break in traffic on the main road and it got super quiet, so quiet in fact that I heard birds chirping and dogs barking in the distance. That moment sticks out to me. To think how quiet a city can be.
I live near a major highway in a rural part of Australia, and I literally can't sleep when it gets too quiet... My mind starts running through all the possibilities of why... Flooding, fires, fatal crashes, etc. And then I start to worry about it anyone's injured or if someone I know might have died. It's much easier to sleep when there's a constant roar of big diesel engines or the thundering of the "Jake" brakes.
@@tin2001 making it how that noises really deep in our minds that we forgot we start from old anchestors days with silent adn sound of forest...
As the saying goes: Cities are't loud, cars are loud.
@@GustavSvardFellow NJB fan?
@@Brent-jj6qi I'm glad to see NJB fans here
The great thing about this channel is you have absolutely no idea what will come next.
mostly something infrastructure related
But you know it will be interesting
Sadly from what I understand this series is ending soon and these videos won't be produced any more. We'll see what Tom wants to do next.
Too bad he is going to retire from making these videos soon. I've loved watching over the years.
unfortunately we do know itll end soon, end of the year i think than an indefinite break
I love the pride the Factory owner has when talking about his company.
He has a captive market enforced by government regulation. Of course he’s gonna be proud.
@@beefchickenexactly. I’d be quite excited to have a monopoly too.
@@beefchicken Companies like Club Car and GEM also exist, and could well sell their vehicles here, though…
+
He's probably so proud that he donates money to the lawmakers who keep him in business.
"It's handmade quality". You can hear how proud he is. Could have listened to that interview for hours.
In engineering, handmade means bad. There’s a reason the most accurately finished cars with the smallest panel gaps are Volkswagens, not Rolls Royces. If you want fine tolerances you want a machine.
@@HALLish-jl5mo Hmm, I don't disagree with your points although I do think in this case there are real benefits to the cars being handmade. It's much easier to consider how to repair and design the car accordingly. With the speeds at which these cars operate, hyperoptimisation in that direction seems overkill. In general, I think a blanket statement such as this is almost surely going to be wrong in some cases.
It’s the design philosophy behind it
right. after 30-50 years you have replaced every battery cell 5-8 times. i wonder what that will cost you. unfortunately most electric cars are disposable junk.
@@HALLish-jl5mo Tailor-made would be a more accurate and favorable description of his products. Volkswagen isn't building you a car according to your specific needs, they can keep their water-tight panels
The only (assumedly) petrol car I've ever seen in Zermatt was an emergency rescue offroader with tracks for wheels. Not just the cars are special there, but the buildings as well. They all have that signature chalet look because it's mandatory.
I like how proud the manufacturer of the little cars is. Very wholesome
"Its quality" 50 years ... Damn thats rare
I could listen to him talk all day. So soothing.
As they rightfully should be. It is a tiny niche, but there are more places where this could work if there was a will.
@@kindalost1 well lead acid batteries gentle use and simple construction helps with that but you won't ever see one of these glorified electric bikes on the highway
You would be smilling too, running a monopoly selling these little parts bins at 70 to 160000 dollars a piece.
Tom has managed to learn alot about himself with his YT channels, examples include; not having the G tolerance to become a pilot, loving the thrill of rollercoasters, not being allowed to buy a Stimbo car in Zermatt
Maybe he is winding down here on KZhead so he can start his taxi business in Zermatt and get his very own Stimbo. You can get in and say "Scotty beam me up!"
probably he could buy one, just not use it in Zermatt
@@Ludix147 not sure about guaranteed volume to Zermatt vs production capacity but if Tom is patient, surely.
He'll compensate by buying a V8 F-Type SVR with the 140K he wasn't allowed to spent on ze little Stimbo
You should see the car-free islands of Sweden. The west coast features islands that are either 1) no cars only golf-carts 2) not even golf-carts but wheel barrow is permissable and proper parking exists or 3) not even bicycles are allowed during the summer season. EDIT: And to add to this most of them are of higher population than Zermatt
Think of Heligoland where even bicycles are banned. Or the east frisian island without cars (even on Norderney, where cars are permitted, solely the drive from the ferry to your accomodation to unload and then to the central parkings are allowed)...
Why would a place ban bycycles?
@@Poldovico To keep traffic even slower and more "recreational-friendly". Muscle-propelled scooters are permitted though.
Are there taxis or busses? I'm thinking of folks living there who have difficulty getting around by walking or self-power. Illness, accident, age, etc.
no they have around 1500 people each. Yet those Swedish islands are quite small (~1 sqkm). This means that everything is within reach by foot.
I went skiing in Zermatt and I had no idea this was a thing until I got there. When I ended up skiing down the wrong side of the mountain, I was able to catch an electric bus back to near my hotel on my lift pass. It was incredible and I don’t think I breathed in an emission for the whole time. It’s so easy to get to by train as well. 100% would go back, although it’s expensive.
Noise pollution and its impacts are an underdiscussed topic, I'm glad Tom is bringing attention to it
It was one nice side effects of co v d shutdown a while back 😁 Being super quiet at night !
noise pollution in water is bad too :(
Just give up your rights and money. That will solve all the worlds problems. Climate change, terrorism, racism, noise pollution. Give up your rights and money to the state and it all will solved.
@@Quiet704this is a thing?
@@TomatoestDuck ; Yes, military sonars and engine noise travel very far and disrupt marine mammals.
That guy from Stimbo sounded like the most soft-spoken, gentle soul ever. So sweet.
I love Zermatt. Went there for my honeymoon last year and absolutely enjoyed it.
It's very cool to see a "car" company that is totally independent with handmade cars, especially nowadays. Just by looking at one you would guess they are mass-produced somewhere but no.
have a look at camper manufacturers, they operate in quite the same fashion all over the world as automation for low output is just not economical (yet). So they manufacture about as many cars as they have people employed (or if the vehicle is ten times as big they build a tenth of the employee number)
It's just so un-capitalistic
@@nsshingyeah, it’s kinda sad there’s zero competition for vehicles here and zero incentive for innovation. Luckily the rest of the world doesn’t operate like this or else we’d never progress anywhere.
@@justthebrttrksmall, efficient and quiet electric cars and vans looks like progress to me! The unusual local restrictions are in that sense a catalyst for innovation. I expect electric micromobility and cargo bike options also do well there. Cars have got bigger, pricier and techier over the decades but in many ways they have hardly changed.
@@nsshing thankfully
I was about to ask how the hell they pay 10 people with only making 10-15 vehicles per year, and then I saw how much they cost. Wild
They also probably repair some cars (minor stuff) they made bc they're the only ones in the business. They might also save a bit by making so much themselves. Maybe!
They cost that much but last 30-50 years so it's worth it ...
I think it's worth it, because they have jobs where they aren't just cogs in a machine. Much more fulfilling to be responsible for the full lifecycle of a car than to be responsible for a few steps on an assembly line 10,000 times.
@@davidioanhedgesis it? You can buy 10 small vans for the same price, they would last longer, require less repairs, would be more more modern (as in a 50 year old vehicle is always going to be more outdated than a 5 year one), and would have significantly more speed, power, and range. It doesn't seem to make a huge amount of economic sense.
Swiss cars like Swiss watches...
Here in Copenhagen (and possibly in other cities in Denmark), small vehicles just like this are used by the people who do all the maintenance of our parks and other walking and biking areas. They slip in, sweep the paths and collect garbage, paint, clean, and whatever else needs doing, and then quietly roll along. This really resembles what many big cities have started to do, where vehicles are banned in the innermost city because they're so crowded that you have no choice but choose between cars or people, and if you allow cars in, you inevitably end up with several kilometer long queues, and then there's not enough space for people. As long as you have proper public transport systems, there is no need for everyone to have their own vehicle, and when these systems are in place, many people never learn to drive or don't own a vehicle, because they have no need for it. And when you rarely do need a vehicle, there's always rental and share-car systems
The Island Juist in Germany is also completely car free! Only bicycles and horse drawn carriages (at walking pace) are allowed on the road, except for maybe a few exceptions. I went on a class trip there in 11th grade & it was very peacefull (and kind of weird) because of how quiet it was :-) !
I worked in Zermatt for three years, i have intimate knowledge of the Electros, loading guest luggage on and off the hotel taxis (they can handle quite a weight). They do go at a very quick clip though, and they're like banging diecast toy cars together when they crash. It always does look very silly when the police electro zips past, with coppers hanging off the sidebars of a milk float like prewar firemen.
That is an amazing image that you've described.
the cars they make also have shaper corners then a knife. that sort of stuff was banned 50 years ago in other places... i have lived in a car free city, no need to make it wierd like this. the fact they need those boxes and not a bike to get around is like something out of a strange horror movie im getting serius frankenstein junior vibes from these people, even the accent is correct 🤯
@@Hansen710 those boxes are not what the averge person there uses on the daily. Most of it is there to ferry turists, luggage and transport goods.
Whats it like for locals that regularly need a car for carrying things like groceries up hills to their house? I'd imagine there would be some kind of relationship and deals made to have taxis available all the time.
@@mattcrwisimple, they adapt their lifestyle to NOT need a car. you have a car (and probably live far away from stores due to a car-centric lifestyle) so you buy groceries in bulk. they live in a small community that doesn't allow cars to start with, so they buy fewer and more often, which isn't much of a hassle because the store is probably just a block or two away.
For those wondering, there are other (less expensive) towns like this in Switzerland. Saas-Fee is very similar, just in the neighbouring valley. And there's Bettemeralp, where it's so snowy they can't use electric cars... they use sleds!
electric sleds? horse-drawn sleds? i need details man
Not as romantic, Regular Card in Summer, Snow-Quads and stuff in winter, nothing with batteries.
That changed alot in the last ten years. Longtime it was sledges (on holidays we always lived close to the horse stables) and some slope preparation vehicules. Now it is all over with small transportion cars and loud motorsledges (but no private cars).
In Valais stp bro
I think it's funny you mention "less expensive" because these car permits are only for 3 years but the car is $160,000 and can only be driven 2-3 hours? Edit: 2-3 hours per charge. Am I missing something here or is my American just showing?
I love the fact that you make so many videos about Switzerland and cover the topic in hood detail! Thank you so much :)
Kudos to Tom for acknowledging that this is a luxury
In the past being able to afford a car was the luxury. Sadly some societies have become outright reliant on cars today for many things, making it harder to do without them. Still, the only constant is change.
True, but Depends on place of living, for some it is a necessity. Then again nobody has to buy a new car.
you want a car? SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS no company? NO CAR FOR YOU, ENJOY THE WINTER what a privlage wow...
@@faustinpippin9208 It's a tiny, dense town - you can easily get around by walking, cycling, or by bus, even in winter. Heck, you can drive almost all of the way there.
@@danepher Unfortunately, it's a necessity because we made it so.
Almost the exact same story happened in Mackinac Island, Michigan USA! The island was isolated enough, and the people who lived there didnt want the noise or pollution of "Autonomous Carriages," so they enacted a law banning them. To this day, the entire island uses Horse-Drawn Carriages, and the only two cars on the entire island are one for the single police station, and one for the single fire station.
I was about to say, they have motorized emergency vehicles, tho i think that island would be perfect for those small electric variants
Didn't Tom make a video on this island already?
Mackinac historian here. The law as written states "horseless carriages" are banned. This law was lobbied for by the horse drawn tour operators of the era afraid that cars would spook their horses. While the ban initially was just for the city, it soon spread to the state park and had to be approved by the board of commissioners. This has allowed for some unique situations to unfold, like the only state funded highway in the US exclusively designed for and used by non-motorized traffic (M-185)
I came here to mention Mackinac Island as well! That was where I learned how to ride a bicycle. My aunt runs a B&B on the island.
@@alexpaver5am I correct in thinking the year rounders can drive to and fro over the ice when it's frozen over? I am loosely related to the family that owns the Grand hotel and visited often and that's what I was told in childhood, once winter hits, all bets are off.
We lived in Switzerland in the sixties and always spent Christmas in Zermatt. There were only carriages in the summer and sleighs in the winter. When my brothers were coming back from ski lessons, they kept their skis on and grabbed onto the back of a passing sleigh so they could be towed back to our hotel.😂
Living the dream
Horse drawn?
@@sroberts605 Yup!
@@sroberts605 it’s a cool old school mode of transportation where you attach horses to the front
It would be nice if more cities had a big parking area somewhere and then a walkable downtown. Some places are trying to be more walkable but banning cars is difficult if you still need a car to get to the walkable area.
Watch it again. They have that. They have a parking area and a bus to take you to the walking area.
@@scottwilkinsnobody said Zermatt doesn't have that, OP is wishing more (other) cities do
A common solution (in the UK) is a 'park and ride' scheme, where there's a big car park on the edge of town, and frequent buses into the walkable part.
Oxford in the UK has tried to do this, to very mixed reviews.
@@robinbennett5994 Unfortunately, the implementation is very mixed quality, with some not running very often on Sundays/late or shutting overnight. I'd love to be able to leave my car on the edge of Bristol, bus in for a concert, stay overnight, bus out, but it's not allowed.
Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan has a similar horse drawn history, yet still relies on them for everything today.
My dad was born in the 1940s in England. They were still using horse-drawn milk carts. The horse would learn the route and automatically walk to the next house while the milkman made the delivery. When they switched to electric, though, the vehicle staid put before being driven to the next house. My dad asked his dad why they didn't just hire another driver to drive the vehicle to the next while the other one made the delivery. His dad explained it was because it'd cost more money to hire another milkman/
Funny to think that with self-driving vehicles, only now are cars getting to a place where they could conceivably match horses in this respect.
Same way how "don't drink and drive" has only become a thing once we had cars. Used to be that you just needed to stay on the horse and it'd bring you back home on its own.
I still don't understand why milkmen were a thing. Like... corner shops existed in the past, didn't they? How did the system even work? Did the people have to place orders in advance somewhere how often do they want how much milk?
@@panda4247 They still exist. You generally order what you want delivered daily in advance. You get the speak to the milkman when he comes round during the day to collect the money at the end of the week. Other than that, you communicate through notes left in the milk bottles..."No milk today, thank you." or "Two pints today please."
@@panda4247 It was a subscription for fresh milk, more or less directly from the farm. You'd wake up for breakfast and find as many bottles as you had ordered in front of your door, every day. It used to be a thing for centuries, until fridges became common enough that it wasn't profitable any more.
That’s a shame. It’s one of my favourite Pixar films
Me too.
What flim?
@@king_br0k Cars
Cars is bad movie
That's good, it's one of my least favourite pixar films
the air there is so clean its amazing
Citys arent loud, Cars are.
I know you're winding down, but if you want to contrast this in a not rich place, the Princes' Islands near Istanbul are also almost entirely electric. They do have private vehicles, often looking like two seat mobility scooters with plastic rain tents over them. There are some heavy IC vehicles for major hauling, but for the most part when you are walking around, it's a variety of electric scooters, buses, and tiny trucks going past.
@@Coldyham he meant princes' islands
I've been there before, and it's very calm and quiet.
Also Mackinac Island in Lake Huron
You mean like a golf cart?
Nothing is entirely electric. That power has to be produced by coal or fuel or natural gas away from there and sent there. So it's NIMBY.
I would like to point out that this is not something unique to Zermatt. There are other Swiss towns high up in the mountains which have taken the same approach, such as Saas-Fee. Up there, there’s a big parking lot at the end of the nightmarish twisting road, and after that it’s private cars for hotels and a big segmented one that functions like a bus.
I kinda wish I grew up in a minimal car town. My childhood was spent jumping from one city to the next, and I desperately wish I had the chance to just set roots in some small place where I could walk everywhere and hang out w/ close friends.
I can walk everywhere in my town but it also offers a road for those that need to travel to work remember when people used to do physical work roles ?
@ianhill20101 People who live mostly car-less do more physical work on the daily than those who don't. What are you trying to say? No gas cars means no physical jobs?
I grew up on a main road in the suburbs of a big city. I remember the noise of traffic past our house all the time. Would've been great to have grown up in a town/hamlet like this. Poverty sucks.
@@ianhill20101 What are you even trying to say?
i also like it when the city goes quiet, i used to live in this one smaller city which would do this around 10AM-12AM when everyone was at work and school (and not in a lunchbreak). walking in there around that time felt so serene.
A while ago I wrote a sci-fi setting where this was the norm, the towns - also in mountainous regions - were built with this very model in mind, of organizations sometimes having special permission but otherwise no, you got temporary usage permission or used public transit. It wasn't even supposed to be some utopian pipe dream or a perfect vision of the future, just a way a particular distant planet operated. A lot of people thought it was dumb and unrealistic and couldn't imagine such communities not having, I don't know, personal monster trucks for mountaineering? I'm glad to see that it's not only complete fantasy, but also a system which has functioned somewhere for 50 years.
50 years? Try for all of human history.
There are other towns like Serfaus in Tyrol, Austria, with a similar attitude. Serfaus is probably the smallest town (less than 1500 inhabitants) with a subway train, the Dorfbahn Serfaus.
I know you have an international audience and they don’t all have the same touch points as us, but the fact you needed to explain milk floats aged more more in the last five minutes than I’ve felt in the last few years.
i knew them from old comic books
There is a company that sells and hires out classic milk floats that is in the process of fitting Li ion to old floats, compatible with modern chargers. It is called Electric Milk Floats. They could take off as they are "tax, MOT, congestion zone and "T" charge exempt".
In our end of London we still have one.. we get milk and bread once a week (though they go past at least 3 times a week) .. they must be quiet because i've NEVER heard them make the delivery right below our bedroom.
Milk man does some good products these days. Milk isn't that much more than what you'd pay from local shops
How do the disabled people cope then - have to have lots of money for taxis or just stay indoors where no-one will have to see you?
The whole milk float idea seems remarkably sustainable and futuristic considering how old it is
Sometimes, old really is gold
@@tiepup @mrsmith9597 And is handmade, which drives up cost. Make a manufacturing line and that price could cut to 1/10th pf its current.
@@Alaric323 And would then take up 20x the square footage of a city, which would just be insane. There are balances for everything and cost vs requirements is one of them. No need, or want, for a manufacturing line when you're making less than 15 a year.
it is incredibly solarpunk somehow
They've made a comeback since covid with niche pricey bougie 'organic' product offerings....sadly the float on my street wakes everyone up at 1am twice a week despite being electric, very clunky & noisy af.
Sent over to this video by Tim Traveller. What an interesting system and it was lovely to see how welcoming they were to you Tom. The pride when the vehicle manufacturer said “handmade quality” was rather poignant I thought.
I love those cars. The lifetime and how they're electric makes me want one, as well as the fact that it is small
One would think that you would be in trouble driving such a slow vehicle in any regular town But they look fun to drive in
Haha! I accidentally drove in last year… I think there were roadworks and they completely forgot to enforce any checks, and I had no idea! It was only as we were driving in and getting a ton of scowling looks by locals did I realise something was up! After pulling over and embarrassingly saying to someone “I think I’m lost” that they clarified and told me I should really turn around and drive back before I get into trouble! So I did and we got the train in! Quite satisfying to know now that I must be in a small handful of “lucky” people who have experienced driving there! 😳
I had the same exact experience. I won‘t be able to forget the face of the receptionist when I asked her where I could park my car D:
That's hilarious 🤣
Let me fix that for you: Quite satisfying to know now that I must be in a small handful of “disrespectful” people who have spewed car exhaust there!
@@mammothemilbro how is that his fault, he turned around when he figured out what went wrong. Just because it's the Internet you don't have to be rude for no reason
Becareful bro cults can be dangerous to enter accidently
There is a town in Hong Kong called Discovery Bay that was originally intended to be a 'resort-ish' town. Cars are replaced with golf carts and buses and Taxis are still allowed
I used to live in DB. It was utterly bizarre to see it at first, but you quickly get used to it. The taxis were more like little vans that looked like small VW campers, not really cars - although there are these old red sided car taxis. Should be noted that the golf carts were actually extremely loud and give off a lot of fuel smell, so it definitely doesn't have the same "peaceful" vibe aha.
Taxis are cars
In Georgia close to atlanta in the US they have a town were everybody is driving around in golf carts
I also lived there many years ago and remember watching about 7 of them go up in flames parked next to each other from my balcony cos one of them developed an electric fault. They cost an absolute fortune as well
Same for an island in the Whit Sundays in Australia, only golf cars
It sure would be nice if my town was like that.
I dont know why, but listening to the factory owner, Bruno, i feel very calm, he has a soothing way of talking
There are actually several towns in the swiss mountaints where only small electric cars are allowed, like for example Wengen.
Saas Fee as well.
And of course normal vehicles and trains deliver all their goods to a boundary where they are collected by milk floats. Ingenious.
@@sideshow4417 & Stoos (sort of ... )
Braunwald (GL) has not even a road that leads to it, you need to take a Funicular to get to it.
Quinten Too, but it's literally impossible due to the Walensee
I had the same experience with Venice. I was so amazed how quite the night is over there, because there are no cars. Definitely going to visit this place, thanks Tom.
The taxis are expensive. When we visit Zermatt, which we have done at least 30 times, we use a taxi twice per visit: once to get our bags from the station to our rented apartment when we arrive, and once again back to the station when we leave. In between times we use the free buses when we’re in our ski gear, and walk otherwise. The whole town, ignoring some outlying areas, is about a mile long, so that’s fine.
Labour (thus taxis) is very expensive in Switzerland. The airport is not even 12 kilometers from my home, the taxi cost me about 50 Francs! The train is like 10 times cheaper.
@@gentuxable individual transporting you to somewhere will always be more expensiv than using an infrastructure that is made to transport a lot of people at a low cost.
@@thefistofshadow7392 Not necessarily. On the Isle of Wight, to get from Sandown airfield into Sandown costs £2.50 by bus, and around £5-6 by taxi. if there are two people you end up paying about the same, if there are three people the taxi works out cheaper.
@@gentuxablemaybe because it is train? Trains are insanely efficient. One person can drive train with 2k people
@@uis246 you're not getting the point. Of course the train is cheaper but i mean the taxis are way more expensive here in Switzerland than in other countries. How hard is that to understand? Put it this way, 5 Francs for 12 km (the price for the train) you can go for hours on a taxi somewhere else.
Having been to Zermatt, the quantity of these electric taxis and also buses is actually quite disruptive to the walking environment. The roads are narrow and these vehicles are constantly going by. I would say it’s much less pleasant than the vehicle-light or vehicle free “old towns” of many European towns, where there are truly few or no motorized vehicles. I mean, Zermatt is cool for other reasons, but the ban on personal vehicles isn’t all it’s hyped up to be IMO.
I guess the point is, given the narrowness of the streets, wouldn't everyone being allowed a personal vehicle make the situation even worse?
But then again, imagine how bad "normal" individual car traffic would be in these narrow roads.
@@michi9955i bet given the attitude there, not many would choose to own or use one
@@michi9955 In Europe the city centre is generally closed to traffic.
Would you rather have an equal number of horse drawn carriages with the added size and increased smell. The electric taxis are a good modernisation solution.
The repairability and longevity of these vehicles would be great things to copy on any new vehicle design.
The trouble with making things that last forever is that your customers only buy from you once. Great for people; great for the environment; bad for the shareholders.
I WANT THIS IN THE STATES SO BADLY!!! Awesome video Tom & keep up the oustanding work.
You're crazy. If it gets close to happening, you'll have lots of other issues to worry about, like your constituents who liked the way we used to do transportation.
There is a US city which has a whole lot of golf carts, with special golf cart roads and all. I forget who did a video on it, but if it wasn't Tom Scott, then I guess it was Not Just Bikes.
@@eekee6034Peachtree city? But it's just a route system with a golf cart/bike mixed usage. Most houses there also have cars for moving out of town. So not entirely car free, but have a dedicated low speed vehicle path network.
@@drill_fiend1097 That's the one, thanks. I like it because you can save a lot of energy by using the low-speed vehicles, but still have capacity and power of a car or truck when you need it.
been in Zermatt twice, in the 80's and in 2006. The views are astonishing... but it's a very, very expensive place, a real luxury destination.
That's how they afford this nonsense 😂
@miti4045 true but you'd be surprised at the amount of towns that could afford this yet focus on not solving the issue of cities not being walkable :(
Actually not as expensive as I would have thought. It was costly, but no more than many other resort places
I visited last year, food and lodging are comparable to the main US resorts, lift tickets are cheaper in zermatt as well.
@gollossalkitty it's not just about that though. Having your own vehicle gifts you true freedom to go anywhere you want. Without it you're stuck to premade destinations and would leave you paying high rates for the train, then a bus and then a taxi just to get to a location for a day out. Nobody would be able to afford that outside the middle and elite classes. So holidays for me but not for thee. The working class already have it so tough just getting by but a car makes shopping and getting to work so much easier and quicker. The UK are trying to do this, put a pay per mile charge on cars which would cost a fortune by estimates for the average person. That would price the majority of people out of being able to own a car, then we'd lose the freedom of being able to go anywhere we want at a time we prefer. It just wouldn't work and cause the economy to come to a crashing stop.
One thing that really surprised me is the lifetime of these cars. 30 to 50 years is incredible. Imagine just owning one or two cars over your lifetime. Edit: And yes, I know it's because they are small and probably very over engineered but I still absolutely love them.
they may last 30-50 years, but they likely travel the same distance as a normal vehicle would in 15 years in that time.
Dude... most of us here in Eastern Europe are driving normal everyday cars for 30+ years. Literally like every third car I see on the street are at least 25 years old. In smaller towns it's like half even.
Yes, the main difference is low speed so you don't need safety equipment and they're made from non-rusting parts and also MADE to be repaired !
@@imperialgamer272 So what? That's exactly what the use case is.
@@zusurs I feel bad that you have to suffer with such old, reliable vehicles. In the US we're fortunate to have cars like the Chevy Cruze, Chrysler 300 and GMC Acadia that don't burden us with a lengthy ownership experience.
The belgian post has an experimental branch where they have depots outside city centers. And from those depots a small fleet of electric bikes with trailers make deliviries to small to medium shops. Would be perfect for this town.
This is the platonic ideal of Tom Scott videos
I did a lot of Engineering for the Fiber Connections in Zermatt and it was a logistical Nightmare. We also had very special rules, one of them was of course to only use electric equipment. Another was how many buildings we could fit with fiber per year and a strict time windows. Overall it took us 5 years to complete it. Edit: Since this is such a heated topic, I want you to understand that Zermatt is a TINY Village in the end of a big Valley. there's only one way in and out. The People can vote to allow normal cars but they don't want to. It is a tourist Village and people come here because of the lack of cars and the view of the Matterhorn. It is very easy to get from one end to the other end of the village. No one is being forced here, if you don't like it, then you can move to the next town where cars are allowed again. If many people don't like it, they can vote to allow normal cars. This is a direct democracy after all and there's much more freedom than any of you could think of, if you've never been to Switzerland. Of course this System has it's drawbacks too and I'm not saying it's perfect. But this is just one town that collectively decided to go this way and I don't see how this should be a problem. All these things, including Budget of the municipal and more gets decided by the whole village at the "Gemeindeversammlung" wich is mostly twice a year. Every Citizen has the right to attend it and to vote, bring in changes, new laws and other stuff. A law like banning petrol cars can only be made at this event. So no, it's not someone at the municipal who decided it and enforced it. All people decide over this collectively!
Oh, so all is not rosy in a town with this much control over what you own and how you transport yourself. I wonder what other severe restrictions they have.
@@jamesengland7461 The system of democracy on Switzerland is localised. if the people didn't want it that way, they could vote for change...No place is perfect, & there are plenty of places in Europe still waiting for any kind of internet connection let alone high speed fibre....As for Switzerlands general attitude to rules.restrictions, they love them. Saying that i lived on a road in London where the council had an approved set of colours a private home owner could use to paint their doors.
@@zivkovicable Rules and restrictions themselves are not bad I think they are beneficial to society... but STUPID ILL THOUGHT OUT RULES AND RESTRICTIONS? Not so much and unfortunately we have too many of them!
I'd like to see a system that requires the removal of a rule in order to add a new rule... both must be approved.
@@TheBanana93 I look at Switzerland, generally a land of tule followers...Everything works. Unlike the UK. .
To an extent, this is the world that anyone lives in who doesn't have a driver's license. "Do you have to take the bus or a bike or a train or WALK?" "Yes."
Except that we, the ones without a car have to live in fear when walking or biking that some car kills or hurts us out of nothing. Edit: no wait actually literally everybody except the people who own the companys that sell cars suffer from cars not only the people who dont use them.
Or you can just hitch a ride with friends/family....
ughhh but walking is so beta grindset I HATE that..........
@@toni6194 lmao if you think the average person lives in fear of being killed by a car you need to see a psychiatrist.
@@louiscypher4186 They certainly do if they have to walk from A to B anywhere that has been designed for cars without properly considering foot traffic! Likewise cyclists. There are plenty of places where no such concern exists. Those places have proper footpaths, properly controlled crossings that drivers actually respect, and a whole hoste of other such features. Then there's a shockingly large number of places in the USA, and more than you might expect in Europe, that have None of those things... and the fear (in the 'low level constantly got to be aware of things oh watch out for that hazard' sort of sense, not, you know, crippling terror) is Very real there.
Great video as usual. Hopefully more and more cities around the globe will start becoming car-free! ❤
you mean stinky car free
Actually Zermatt didn't allow cars in the past but now they do because they're electric.
Tom Scott videos never get old
I went to Zermatt just before the pandemic, and Tom is right, it is such a peaceful town especially at night because there is no noise pollution. And as a bonus, it looks like your stereotypical alpine village - it really is a gorgeous location!
Having modern vehicles that have a lifespan of several decades is such an impressive concept to me.
It's quite easy when the vehicles don't have to go blistering speeds and their drivetrain is electric. Less engineering needed to keep them safe at their rated speeds.
The usual cars last as long, you just maintain them. I drive 1984 and 1989 cars. They are rattly and don't go as fast as they used to, but hey.
If u build to last ut works. Cars today are build for fashion. U cant make more revenue each year when u build to last
@@Mineral4r7snot fashion but I think more about mass production and cheap so people can afford and buy more
Same, especially since they’re electric. I hear about modern electric cars ruining their batteries in 5 years but here we have 50 year old Lead-acid milk floats driving around to this day, it’s incredible.
Tom: many towns want to switch to something more transit friendly and walkable Most towns I've lived in: haha time to spend £100m adding another lane so we can build another car centric housing estate on the edge of town with no other connectivity
This is also the case with Matheran, a hill station near Mumbai, India. IC engine-based cars are banned. It is served by a historical small-gauge "mini-railway" and within the town, horses and ponies are in regular use. If you want to drive there you can only drive till the parking lot which is halfway down the hill, and then you walk or take a pony.
Communist city.
$160K per car, Jesus Christ. No wonder the company survives on one sale per month
it's switzerland, minimum wage is like $4k per month...
@@nightowlnzab Many toyota's last that long. I have a 79 land cruiser that is still running perfectly with over 800k km on it . The price has more to do with the fact that its electric (which fetches a premium) and that its all hand crafted and not built at scale. Another concern is the locally created monopoly forcing you to buy vehicles from this company if you work there which doesn't help with the price either. Its really a shame because a low cost version of these vehicles mass produced globally would be very interesting
@@nightowlnzab All cars are expected to last this long. Is anyone buying a car expecting it to last only 5-10 years? Also, that doesn't mean you aren't getting maintenance on this thing constantly like any normal car. Feels like marketing rhetoric. 🤨
@@nightowlnzab Modern cars will easily last for 15 years (with maintenance of course) and small city cars start below $20k in Europe. So I think economically it does not make sense, only from a noise and pollution standpoint.
@@sanisidrocr If they import small Chinese electric cars the price will be maybe $30k, not $160k... Its expensive because its built in Switzerland at extremely low volume.
It’s not a one-off. In the neighbouring valley my home town of Saas Fee has a similar set-up with only elektro’s allowed in the village. We can drive to the entrance of the village but must then park in a multi stores carpark and then come in on foot/bike or Elektro. The swiss village of Murren also has a similar situation. There’s no doubt at times this can be a logistical challenge to get shopping and other larger loads from the car to the house but you find a way.
So does Wengen i think.
does it aply to trucks as well?
You forgot Braunwald.
The one thing I noticed about Covid, it was beautifully quiet.
Having a local manufacturer of these vehicles is awesome.
I thought this would be like in the 30s or the 40s and then they just decided to adopt electric vehicles in the last couple of years. When you said that this change was in the 80s, I was amazed. Imagine living in this village for your entire life and then the village decides to get rid of horses. In the 1980s, when the vast majority of the world had gotten used to cars and planes.
They had a good thing going and never changed it. The horses were part of the charm that made it possible to charge tourists extreme amounts of money. And they needed to keep being special, because if you were to build a parking garage in town (or worse, allow car traffic in most streets) the town would lose the charm and be no different to every other ski resort.
@@sys-administrator Bit of a misnomer; they refuse cars, so people driving up have to park somewhere; the next town over worked out a deal to let them park there and shuttle bus over.
@@sys-administrator They could have followed suit instead of accepting. They can be just as car free if they want to be.
@@sys-administrator they can ban that practice too if they want. They absolutely can do that, but I bet they make quite a bit of money from the parking fees.
@@elu9780 They certainly could. It would be very stupid economically to turn away that extra money though when the people showing up aren't coming to *your* town but the next one down the road.
Even with the electric vehicles and buses and taxis, peak season crowding has gotten to the point where Zermatt has considered other solutions. There is one ski resort in Austria that has its own U-Bahn system.
Which one in Austria? I’ve never heard of it :)
@@luisaloveshoney8 U-Bahn Serfaus.
I hope they never allow cars
High frequency trains and foot traffic are just about the only way to handle really high density crowds. There does come a point at which you just have too many people for the space available!
@@armadillito nice to see someone with their head on straight
Wow, this is absolutely amazing!
In Gent in Belgium in the 1960s there were also electric little vans to deliver milk. But they were very small (smaller than a normal car) and could not go faster than 10 km/h.
The noise thing: one german city (I think it was) lent into to banning internal combustion engines and added noise walls to deflect the sound of tyre noise. And they noticed the same thing. Cities aren't noisy, it's just the cars. And stuff can be done about it. The strong towns lot did a video on it.
I think the difference is more noticeable in towns than in cities as buildings are closer together and normally car noise only becomes a nuissance at 50+ km/h. I noticed that although it has more traffic Buenos Aires is a quieter city than Montevideo as avenues are wider and there are fewer motorcycles. A solution I like is Tokyo's use of median barriers and sidewalk bushes to attenuate traffic noise, given internal combustion engines will be with us for at least another decade.
I grew up around the same time as you Tom. And my part of the UK still has those kind of vehicles both as milk floats (as well as other drinks like Pepsi, Fanta, local mineral water) in pensioner communities like where my grandparents live and as library vans in my home village for people to rent books from. They're kind of adorable.
And here I was assuming that a 'Pepsi float' was just cola with a scoop of ice cream added! 😂
Milk floats disappeared from the town I grew up in decades ago. I'm still a little bit sad about it. ;( A small competitor company tried to take over when the big one quit, but they didn't last long. Someone did manage to start a milk float business years later, and I bought from them, but it wasn't the same without seeing the floats every day. ;)
In Brazil there is the Paquetá's Island where it its illegal to drive a car, now they change horses for electric cars also, to avoid mistreatment to the horses
I was in zermatt earlier this year and can say the lack of cars is actually magical. the town is insanely walkable even in the dead of winter
@@GH0STST4RSCR34Mthat part sucked a bit
I can only imagine how clear the air feels there.
No difference to a city with moderate and smart car traffic ;)
@@jevro too bad that doesn't exist for 99.5% of the world
@@jevro I think there would be one, as they are in the alps. :)
Yes, but also the higher you go car pollution's effects get worse. A city like Los Angeles at Denver's altitude would be a Crime against Lungs.
Good on Tom to point out that this town choose to do this and is able to do this for very specific reasons that can't be replicated elsewhere. However I would contend that this town *has* gotten rid of all "cars" because that usually means private vehicles. Working vehicles like vans or trucks aren't cars and there's going to be a place for them in the future regardless of how much towns/cities improve walkability and transit.
I think everyone would be fine with that, provided that they are in fact working vehicles, and not a glorified codpiece like most 'light trucks' that are currently circumventing regulations put on cars.
Sure, there would be a need to register vehicles and their purpose like this down does. But it doesn't matter if people are "fine with" working vehicles or not. Light rail is not taking people to the hospital, for instance. This town has gone as far on the path of removing road bound vehicles as is possible within the forseeable future.
It's not like it can't be replicated elsewhere though. It definitely can be. My own city could definitely use that, especially if more public transit is used instead of private cars.
This is the ideal goal, only commercial vehicles, if really needed - and all those are quiet, and non-polluting
Honestly, huge commercial trucks can be a big nuisance too. But they're less of a systemic issue than individual vehicles. Some places need just a bit of regulation to nudge the fret industry in the right way.
I was in Zermatt at exact time this video was published, very cool town!
Cities aren't loud. Cars are loud.
And motorcycles give me headache, as noticed on my trip to Montevideo.
I got a job at the end of a valley at where the rest of the valley was a state park, and went outside late one day and there was no noise. It was literally stunning to be in my normal life and not have that low level noise hum that is just always there. Seriously I think that constant noise is part of why we are so much more stressed and anxious now.
Even on vacations in nature you always have people running super loud cars or motorcycles for fun, and you can hear them from very far away. And in the city, it is absolutely horrible. It's just extremely sad how reckless, antisocial and selfish this society has become. And if you look around on youtube, everybody applauses.
@@eikobleicher5520we'll figure it out eventually! humanity is known to adhere to stupid and damaging things for "fun". lead pottery was all the rage in ancient Rome, and we survived that somehow
I used to live in a house that fronted one of the three main north-south arterial streets in my town. I used to love sitting out on the front porch at 3am. I couldn't figure out why it calmed me so much until the night I realized that was the only time without traffic noise. Ever since then I cannot stand the sound of cars
In old Europe people lived packed 10 to a house, and 300 to a block, and people do chatter and yell and snore. So seems humans since 1700 with growth of cities have been living with constant noise. On the farm is cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, kids, all making noise. In a village probably were 30 babies on one's block, so usually a few babies always crying in the background to be heard. . .. . .And a roaring fire making noise and putting out woodsmoke that would sting your eyes as people tried to balance the annoyance of the fire vs the coldness of 6 months of winter. . . . . . Modern city living in London probably aint that louder or more annoying than olden days. Humans have never really had utopian paradise and current world is probably closest we ll ever get.
Those of us who live in rural country sides know this. Boy do I hate going to loud cities
There's another town in Switzerland called Wengen which has exactly the same system. I stayed there on holiday and it worked perfectly, within the town you walk and to go anywhere else you use the excellent railways and cable cars.
Now a town, just a village. And groceries are expensive up there because almost everything must be brought by cable car. There's also the village of Rigi, which does have a service road but not open to the public. However, there's no electric car or bus up there. Some permanent residents brought a small utility car up there, as well as farmers who need cars and trucks in the pastures, but it's otherwise a funicular train that traverses the mountain.
@@gokudomatic Why do things have to go by cable car, can't they go on the train?
@@alexfrye6 maybe I mixed up some words by mistake. I meant that merchandises are transporter through the funicular trains. It is so in Rigi, and I suppose it's also the case in Wengen.
@@gokudomatic funicular = Zahnradbahn (like the train for up the rigi or the train going up to Kleine Scheidegg), cable cars = gondel. There are some places that require their resources to be brought up by cable car, like the Aescher Berggasthaus or likely mürren, you have to take a cable car to even get to the train and there is a second cable car in the village iirc.
There is quite a few places like this in Switzerland. Stoos is another carless town.
i was just there last week. Its such a fantastic place. Cool video
Avalon, CA on Catalina Island has strict vehicle size restrictions. It used to only be golf carts but now there are some original Mini Coopers and Honda 600s. There are a handful of permits for full sized vehicles but they only have a limited amount and the wait list for one is decades long. My cousins have a 90s F150 on the island and driving it through the tiny streets amongst the golf carts is similar in feel to driving an 18 wheeler in a "regular" city.
Not only dairies: In my part of the UK back in the 1970s a local bakery and a firm of dry cleaners both used small electric vans to deliver to their respective chains of shops, and council street sweepers had tiller-steered battery powered carts.
We still have milk deliveries here in Staffordshire, but they're using normal petrol or diesel vehicles. I remember the electric ones.
The Swastika Laundry in Dublin (founded 1926 as they liked to remind people) used electric vans.
Back in 2001 (I was 13 at the time), my dad and I toured all over Switzerland. We made a journal of what we saw and where it was on a map. I went to Zermatt then and when my dad told me they did not have cars I was a bit confused. It is a great place to visit. When I saw the title of the video I knew where it was right away, I'll never forget when my dad and I where leaving we saw a mountain goat up on a hill just doing its thing as our train was heading back down.
Publish the journal! Do a blog or something. That's high value information for travellers and you could get some money from ads 🙂
@@Llorx Or maybe, just maybe, he could do without the hassle and enjoy his memory. Not everything is about money.
@@Kosake82 ok
Wengen (also Switzerland) is the same. Saas-Fee in the next valley to Zermatt has no cars at all. There is a large carpark on the perimeter of the town, but no vehicles in the town centre.
I LOVE IT! I want to live in a town like this
It is not even the only place in Switzerland without cars, though it is the biggest. There is also Bettmeralp/Riederalp and Belalp, accessible only for agricultural/electric vehicles (under a certain weight) over a dirt road and by cable car, all in Valais - so the same Canton as Zermatt. In winter this has the added advantage that everything is accessible by ski. So in winter you can do your shopping by ski…
Im a huge car person, love driving and customizing. I wonder if I was born in this town, what hobby would I have had instead. Always interesting to think about how environment shapes who you are.
Work at the car factory or own the taxi co.
Profound boredom.
The cars manufactured by this company are customized.
The town view is fascinating!! Its like fantasy town!
The streets remind me of so many neighborhoods in Japan. You are allowed to own a car, but it's almost pointless. Many things you need are walking distance away. Public transportation is fantastic. Many people commute by bicycle. Buying a car is mostly a waste of gas money, parking money, and time actually.
Fun fact! I own a car here in japan many people here do
One thing Japan has going for it is a national law requiring you prove you have a place to park a car before you can buy one.
@ericreese7792 Well true, but there's ways around it 😏
@@mickeyprosThat's cap. I know no one who owns a car in Tokio
@@omegaPhix because literally people will btch and complain here about oh look a car is there for only 10 seconds 🤦🏾♂️
lmao at "the next town over has loads of parking and then you just commute over" 😂
I can think of at least 3 other villages in Switzerland that are car free like Zermatt which have similar little vehicles. Saas Fee is car free and has a massive car park as you reach it. Both Mürren and Wengen are above the town of Lauterbrunnen which has a very steep valley and those villages are only accessible by cable cars or railways and are therefore car free as well.
They have petrol vehicles rather than electros in Wegen though, everyone was puttering around in Piaggios when I was there.
Bettmeralp / Riedalp / Fieacheralp almost the same, except farming equipment and building equipment, those are petrol powered. There's other places, like Spiekeroog (an island off the German coast) in other countries as well. Spiekeroog has the advantage of not having steep inclines...
Yup, add Braunwald in Glarus to the list. Also only accessible by a furnicular (and a very windy road), the entire town is car-free.
The very last point is so crucial. When you are in the system... it's so normal. Love it.
The difference is so much visible in their demeanor itself. They are so patient while speaking,.so calm and happy. OMG
Tom, nice video! Zermatt however isn't the only example of this. There are at least two other villages in Switzerland - and probably many more - that do not have private cars and only have these small electric vehicles: Wengen and Mürren. They too outsource their parking to the village down the valley (Lauterbrunnen), and no vehicles can normally drive to these villages. It is different to Zermatt in that the villages are situated on the top of either side of two very large cliffs with only train and/or cable car access. Unfortunately not unique, even within Switzerland!
*Fortunately* not unique. I visited Zermatt in 2000, and when I saw the title of this video, wondered “what are the odds it’s Zermatt?”. One would hope that more places do this for the quiet and walkability.
@@kc9scott yes rather, fortunately it exists and is a good idea; unfortunately for Tom’s video, not a unique concept.
As of my visit in 2017, there are some diesel and petrol burning vehicles operating in Zermatt with very significant exhaust filtering. These are typically for applications such as earth moving & heavy construction(“bulldozer”), trash trucks, etc.
Free people dont ask and don't need kings permission slips to own private property like liberty devices aka cars and guns.
@@TheBelrick One of these "liberty devices" is not like the other, lmao. To live in a city built for the car, you have to pay down a $30,000 vehicle, thousands per year in insurance, more thousands per year in gas and maintenance, then tens of thousands in taxes to subsidize the transportation industry and repair the roads. Do you really consider yourself free?
@@TheBelrick the reality is that you are forced to buy a car in the US to have any sort of mobility. The coersion is there always, just in different ways and it is always dictated by the environment
@@Exgrmbl spoken like someone ignorant of history Cars grant people the freedom to travel vast distances in short periods of time Rulers want plebs to remain stuck in the same hovel their entire lives. See 15min cities for resurgence of dark age levels of oppression People WANT to buy and own cars. They are incredibly popular. Despite the propaganda you may have been brainwashed into childishly accepting.
@@TheBelrick and in Switzerland most households have a rifle stashed somewhere, as they have a conscription army and everybody who leaves is a reservist for some time after and has to maintain proficiency with their weapon.
It's the same thing in saas Fe just a few km from zermatt. I train on the glacier every autumn, and it's refreshing to not have any regular car in the town!
Hey Tom, just wanna say thanks for making this video :) It popped up in my feed while I was in Zürich wondering where to go. So I literally went to Zermatt just now, on a whim. I had a GA Travel Pass, might as well use it right? Can definitely recommend, the views are staggering. Noise polution is nonexistant. It was actually a bit of a 'good problem' because I couldnt tell if the electric vans were behind me. They were absolutely silent.
Other towns like Wengen and Mürren in Switzerland are also car free. Another reason I believe is to keep the old town charm for both locals and tourists. In the video, you can see all houses are similar and in the swiss style- no TALL hotels looming over everything! It's always lovely to pass these villages when I go hiking :)
exactly, they're also very strict when it comes to the planning, development construction of new buildings. they want to keep it stereotypically Swiss
And this is why we avoid Wallis like the plague
Local businesses do have ICEs there but they appear to be quite limited. Wengen still has no road to the outside world (inhabitants voted against it not so long ago) so anything needed is brought in by the cog railway - two trains to/from the valley every hour. Mürren has a road (they voted for it) but like Zermatt use is strictly controlled. The down side is that there is still construction and repair which needs heavy and bulk materials to be delivered so during daylight there is a constant drone of helicopters delivering concrete, bricks, timber etc.
"In a year we are building 10-15 cars" That really puts into perspective the scale of the town!
When only companies can own them, and they last 30-50 years you don't need many new ones ...
Yup, there aren't many towns with a population of 6000 that has its own electric vehicle factory.