Why are transfers so expensive?

A snowHead

Does anyone know? There must be some common factor, as all companies seem about the same. I'm trying to book for Geneva to Tignes, early April, return transfers for a family of 4, every website I try online quoting on comes up at over 600 euros. That seems an awful lot, an equivalent distance airport transfer in the UK wouldn't cost anything like that. From Geneva I can hire, fuel and park a car for the week for less than half that so I might have to do that. The 300 euro plus savings will be better utilised elsewhere on the trip! Unless anyone can suggest another option?

A snowHead

Well Tignes is a fair old hike from Geneva and with the Euro to CHF exchange being pish weak and the Swiss getting v protectionist re driving regs its no surprise. Add in that the minibus spends 6 months of the year doing diddly and prices will be high. I say vote with your feet and hire the car.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Real question is why are there no direct trains from Geneva to the French Alps?

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@Simonskis, yeah surely you've answered your own question there! Isn't it the market price being established by companies that see an opportunity to provide a service versus the alternative of you having to find an alternative? The 300 euros hike is surely the price you're paying for making it someone else's problem to transport your family.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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@rjs, There are mountains between Paris and Bourg st Maurice but there are direct trains. Changing trains is part of the railway ethos. It is just the way things are.

@Simonskis, Not sure if all the companies are about about the same. For example a quick glance at Altibus gives a transfer between Geneva airport and Tignes at 60 euros per person.

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Wow, didn't expect replies so quick, I guess plenty of others like me are getting excited for winter Very Happy

@johnE, thanks for the info, that's 480 so looking better. I presume that's a public coach, it seems I had been looking at private transfers so can understand the saving there. I'll do a little more research!

Does anyone know if the altibuses go direct, or call at the other resorts along the way? Worst nightmare as Tignes is at the end of the main road, if it went up and down to other resorts along the way!

After all it is free

Altibus stops at Moutiers, Bourg which is where people transfer to other resorts. Brevieres which is a satellite village of Tignes a mile off main road and onwards to Tignes. It is passengers to Val d'Isere who get the ride up to Tignes and back down again onwards to last stop Val.

Ben's Bus is a similar service at a similar price. Both can be recommended.

As for hiring a car, you pays your money and takes your choice but personally, it's a holiday, let someone else deal with the transfer day traffic jams and the possible bad weather. If my life never includes attempting to fit snow chains on a rental car that suits me fine.

@Simonskis, there was a thread on here last year about it, where some of the transfer companies explained their costs and how it really does just cost that much. Particularly for Geneva, all sort of permits etc are required. Unfortunately I can't find it, transfers come up so often it's a difficult term to search for.

I just got an online quote from a taxi comparison site for a return trip for 4 from Glasgow Airport to Lecht, which seems a similar UK equivalent journey, and the cheapest I got was £500.

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I think the title should be revised to "Why are ski transfers so expensive in France". I jump on a train from Munich Airport going into Austria and its under 80 Euro return for the whole darn group. Dolomiti Ski Shuttle from Venice I seem to remember is 39 Euro per person return. Swiss trains out of Geneva or Zurich have always seemed reasonable to me.

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When you look at the costs that transfer companies have to pay in terms of exorbitant French taxes, insurances, tolls, gas and wages, it is probably as good as it is going to get. Apart from the large transfer companies, most of the smaller ones also can only feasibly run the service during the winter season, so are also effectively only earning income for half the year. Once there are more than a couple of you, I generally recommend getting a car- gives you freedom as well as no waiting times

You know it makes sense.

Transfers, like everything else, are expensive because skiing is a relatively short season and businesses have to recoup their capital expenditure in a third of the year.
I'd imagine the transfer business is completely flat in the summer as most visitors bring their car, hire one or are on coach transfers.

We always find the cheapest way to get to most French resorts is fly to Turin and hire a car. The flights are so much cheaper and car hire reasonable. The transfer is longer but we love the drive anyway.

The only problem with crossing borders in a hire car is don't expect a new hire car if yours breaks down. I had a Hertz Italian car break down in Risoul. Hertz Italy didn't want to know as the car was in France. Hertz France didn't want to know as it was hired in Italy. My family piled in with friends and I hitched.

If you're on your own, hitching is a great way to get a transfer. Stand outside the car hire car parks with a sign with your resort on with fuel donation written too. You'll likely get a lift and make some ski buddies too.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Wonder what a cab to Nottingham from London would be?

A snowHead

ands it's not all French Transfer either... GVA to Chamonix €5 per person anyone!

As for the economics behind the cost of a transfer from GVA to Tignes, I'm not a "transfer operator" but possibly;
- the diesel and tolls both ways are the lowest costs yes both ways as possibly they can't be 100% certain they can back-load so will be charging you for the driver and bus going to GVA to get you and then take you back.
- cost of a driver for a day
- 1/100th of the annual vehicle costs
- there are another 5 seats that you're leaving empty - so €600 / 4 is 150 each whereas of the bus is at capacity then it's only €75 each.
- regulatory costs
- some profit

I suspect if an accoutnant were to calculate all of that then form your €600 there's not that much change!

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@cameronphillips2000, the last time I picked up a hitch hiker, on a dark and lonely alpine road, his opening conversational gambit was,

"Do you like spiders?"

Shocked

Never again...

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@Simonskis, 4*60 = 240 not 480. I quoted the basic return cost. My memory is that it is a direct bus from the airport to Tignes, but there is a possibilty of changing busses in Bourg st Maurice. The bus runs from the airport to the bus station in Bourg where you get another bus to Les Arcs, Val d'Isere Tignes etc. It drops you off at either Le Lac, La breviere or Val Claret.

As others have noted you are considering taking a taxi as opposed to public transport which is why your quotes are so high.

BTW if I need to get from Geneva to Les Arcs (I go quite often) I hire a car if I am going for only a few days. If I am going for longer I just drive from the UK.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

150 Euros per person return trip from Geneva to Tignes in early April sounds reasonable to me. The buses all stop running around that time, and this whacks up the transfer costs due to a large drop in supply and a consequently an excess demand for non bus transfers.

It is probably cheaper in end of March.

Very Happy

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600 Euro for 3 hours transfer for 4 persons sounds like a normal price indeed.
Innsbruck-Lech by private taxi (2 persons) is approx. 1,15 hour and costs 180 euro.

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@Simonskis, hire a car from the French sector of Geneva airport its a lot cheaper than swiss side, then avoid the motorway into france to avoid paying for a vignette, easily done nowadays especially with sat nav, you can then stop as and when you need to for a break to suit you in Albertville at places like McDonalds. As for fannying around with chains, I very much doubt this would be required in april, in 3 seasons in the alps I only had to fit chains twice, both times in January.!!!

try Ecarz, reasonable prices and free cancellation.

After all it is free

If you fly Ryanair then their car hire is by far the cheapest compared to others too.

If hiring bear in mind it's compulsory to pay for parking in Val Claret/Lavachet/Le Lac. You can however park further down the valley and bus it up for free. So you could drive up, unpack, go back down, get bus back and then the reverse at the end of the week. But if you don't want that faff add it to your hire cost.

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@terrygasson, I would be reasonably hopeful to need chains on summer tyres in Tignes in early april.

Swiss vs French side somewhat done to death. myself? we always hired Swiss. mind you, that was before they moved the car hire parking rolling eyes

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You would be daft to drive to Tignes on summer tyres without chains. if you hit a snowy day (which obviously you'd hope to do) you could be prevented by police from driving up. It often snows in Tignes in April.; that's why you are going there...

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@pam w, the police have better things to do than try to stop people driving in ice without snow chains. Usually, the conditions stop people driving without snow chains, not the police.

I rarely put snow chains on when driving up to Tignes. I do pack snow chains, and I have had to put them on when driving up to Tignes. The covered road area between Tignes les Boisses and Tignes Val Claret was where I got stuck. Just before the start of the covered road area, the road is quite steep and was covered with compressed snow and ice.

In April it is very unlikely that you will require snow chains. Even in snowy conditions it is unlikely.

Having said that, I would still pack a pair of snow chains just in case.

I'm assuming you're having to book a private minibus transfer? If you can find a company that does shared minibus transfers you'll make a saving, however you may have to wait at the airport while the others who've booked on to the same transfer arrive - not a problem if you're not fussed, some people would rather pay the extra just to get there faster.

Costs etc are high in France/Swiss at the moment, and once you've factored in staff wages, business taxes, licenses to operate in Switzerland, parking fees, fuel plus the general cost of keeping a fleet on the road as well as motorway tolls etc it gets pretty pricey to operate, and you'll have to pay some kind of premium if you're only booking half a minibus, as no company would willfully take a kick in the pocket just because you want them to - Any companies main goal is to make a profit, sometimes that gets forgotten.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

last time I was required by a gendarme to put on snow chains (before being allowed up a more or less flat valley road at about 1000m) the fact that I had four good snow tyres cut no ice at all...... snowchains, madame, or you turn round now and go back to Albertville. That was on the famous changeover day between Christmas and New Year, last season.

The slippery, melty, snow that tends to sit on roads after April snow showers is particularly difficult for traction - a good few inches of packed snow in January is easy in comparison.

If you have to put on snow chains on a drive to your ski holiday it is, of course, a cause for celebration. On the way home that week though, after the worst Christmas snow conditions in many a long day, a lot of people must have found it galling.

A snowHead

The market dictates the cost.

If no one were prepared to pay the price it would drop, if every seat was always taken the price would rise.

Most companies charge what they can get away with - don't believe that marketing/advertising propoganda that they put out there.

It's the simple economics of supply and demand.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I think those transfer prices might start falling soon. Last season Easybus launched from the EasyJet folk but only between Geneva and Chamonix. It was massively cheaper than the competition with the only downside being that they only went to Chamonix Rail station rather than door to door. Their timetable was still needing some work with over optimistic times for some times of the day. But, assuming last season's launch was successful I would expect them to start doing other resorts as well. They currently do a few transfers in the UK and Charles De Gaulle to Paris as well as Geneva-Chamonix.

Interestingly they are following the same pattern as EasyJet in that how much you pay depends on what time and day and how early you book. So popular transfers like Saturday are more expensive than weekday ones.

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@terrygasson, Oddly enougth of the times I have had to use snow chains to get upto Les Arcs half have been in April

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Will be interesting to see how the Easybus model holds up this year, now that they've been forced to relocate away from the Chamonix railway station; it's certainly stopped me using them for a couple of Xmas trips.

Their prices this season also look higher than last, although its hard to tell with dynamic pricing.

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@pam w, on the way up to the junction for Tignes and Val d'Isere there is a large lay by for people to put on snow chains. When the conditions are bad enough, there will be lots of people putting on snow chains there. The police sometimes supervise this.

The police rarely stopped me in the Alps. I did get some curious police near Calais who were Belgian, and said they wanted to look in the back of my van. As I was in France, I just let them have a look anyway. The customs officers in Switzerland would have a look sometimes. Believe it or not, customs officers at the Austrian Swiss border are 18 year old females! I did not think that was legal... (I think she was on the Austrian side when I was leaving Austria and going into Switzerland)

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Maybe one other reason is that the rates offered to tour operators are a good deal cheaper, therefore they have to over inflate to make up for this?

After all it is free

@snowdave, I hadn't heard they had to move from the railway station. On their website it still says the railway station and that's where I got them last March.

@MadMountainMan, their website says that but I assure you all the transfer companies are now based at the bus station. My MiL had an unexpected trip with Alpybus having arrived at the station, discovered the change and missed the Easybus. luckily there was an Alpybus at the bus station or SiL would have had an unexpcted drive to Geneva.

All something to do with the pedestrianisation of ave Michel Croz.

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@Bigtipper, how do you know how old the customs officers are?

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Why are transfers so expensive?

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