Zürich Hackathon 2014/FAQ

On April 24th we had a Google Hangout Info session: Wikimedia Hackathon 2014 which you can watch in this video:
 * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrITBYfBtOk

Emergency Phone Number: +41 79 8646121 (Manuel)

Zürich Airport
IATA Code ZRH.

Directly under the entrance hall is the train station located. Take the stairs down. Half way, on the first basement floor you will find ticket machines if needed - remember we will provide you with tickets from May 8th to 12th.

Take any train on platform 3 or 4 - they are all south-bound, brining you to the main station of Zürich (1st or 3rd stop, depending on train type).
 * Station Name: Zürich Flughafen
 * Website
 * (EN)
 * (DE)
 * (FR)
 * Access Map Zürich Airport (PDF)

Zürich Main Station
The main station is one of the hubs of public transport in Europe. Either if you come via Zürich Airport, from any other airport or by train from any other european desitination you will go through this station.

There are direct connections to Basel (1 hour, 4 trains / hour), Paris (4 hours, 1 train / 2 hours), Vienna (8 hours, 1 train / 2 hours), Milano (4 hours, 1 train / 2 hours), Budapest (11 hours, 2 trains / day). Most german and french cities can be reached via one change in Basel Bad. Bahnhof or Basel SNCF. All major swiss cities can be reached twice an hour directly.

The easiest way from Zürich Main Station to the Youth Hostel is by taking any train on platform 51 or 52 to Zürich Wollishofen. But there are also other options - like tramways to Zürich Enge and then further by bus, or a tramway to the lake and then a ship. The station has currently four areas: To get from the main hall (where you are likely to arrive) to Bahnhof Sihlpost just walk to the underground passage in the middle of the platform and follow the signs (to the right, if you look towards the main building / end of tracks). The passage ends right in front of the platforms 51 - 54.
 * platforms 3 - 18 - main hall overground - regional / long-haul trains
 * platforms 21 - 22 - Bahnhof SZU underground - commuter trains
 * platforms 31 - 34 - Bahnhof Löwenstrasse underground  in construction
 * platforms 41 - 44 - Bahnhof Museumsstrasse underground - commuter trains
 * platforms 51 - 54 - Bahnhof Sihlpost overground - commuter trains - right next to the main hall

If you hold a frequent traveller pass of any of the Railteam partner railways (eg. DB BahnCard 100, DB BahnCard Comfort, ÖBB ÖsterreichCard 1st class, ÖBB Vorteilscard Club) you can use the SBB Lounge.
 * Website RailCity Zürich
 * (EN)
 * (DE)
 * (FR)
 * (IT)
 * Plan (PDF)
 * Wikipedia (EN)

Public Transport Tickets
We will provide all of you with public transport tickets for the City of Zürich for May 8th to 12th. They are valid in all public tansport (ZVV and SBB): The ticket will be provided on a personalised letter which needs to be printed and brought along. Therefore we will send it as a PDF before you leave, so you print it at home and don't need to buy any tickets when you arrive in Zürich Airport.
 * train
 * tramway
 * bus
 * ship (only public transport by ZVV)

The ticket is only valid with a passport or ID card having the same name as indicated on the ticket.

Timetables
Trains are also in Google Maps but to calculate the easiest way from one point to another use these websites. They both incorporate the data of each other, so just choose whichever site you like better: Android: Öffi is the must-have app for almost all public transport networks in the world - SBB Mobile
 * SBB - Swiss Federal Railway
 * http://www.sbb.ch/en/ (EN)
 * http://www.sbb.ch/de/ (DE)
 * http://www.sbb.ch/fr/ (FR)
 * http://www.sbb.ch/it/ (IT)
 * ZVV - Zürich Public Transport Cooperation
 * http://www.zvv.ch/en/ (EN)
 * http://www.zvv.ch/de/ (DE)
 * ZVV Public Transport Map (PDF)

iPhone: SBB Mobile

Windows Phone: SBB Mobile

EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg
IATA Codes BSL / MLH / EAP

As some people arrive in Basel:

The Basel Airport has three nationalities and is seperated symmetrically in the middle into the EU and Swiss area. You can see that in the name and IATA codes.

For the easiest transport to the Youth Hostel in Zürich take the right exit (coming from airside) in the baggage claim area to Switzerland. Outside the swiss terminal side is a bus stop of bus line 50 runs frequently between the airport and the swiss station Basel SBB.

Tickets can be bought at the machine at the bus stop, there are two machines for CHF and EUR. If possible better book your ticket from home via the SBB website (see section "Timetables" above) because there you can book a single ticket from the airport to Zürich while the machine at the bus stop only sells tickets for the Basel public transport, requiring you to get another ticket at the station for your onward journey. The SBB website sells tickets online without registration, just a credit card is needed. You need to print the ticket on paper.

From Basel SBB take a train to Zürich, they run frequently (1 hour, 4 trains / hour).
 * Website EuroAirport
 * (EN)
 * (DE)
 * (FR)
 * Website Basel SBB
 * (EN)
 * (DE)
 * (FR)
 * Plan (PDF)

Bicycles

 * free rental in the city centre: http://www.zuerich.com/en/zuerich/naturaleza/Zueri-rollt.html
 * Rent A Bike has a station at the Zürich main station: http://www.rentabike.ch/ (commercial, only german and french website)

Youth Hostel
see http://www.youthhostel.ch/en/hostels/zurich

Facilities

 * court yard with wifi
 * Billiard table
 * bar
 * dining area - can also be used outside dining times for meetings etc.
 * lounge
 * three workshop rooms
 * one big hall with pin boards and flip charts - can be used with several groups at the same time
 * washing machine and tumble dryer
 * TV
 * power plug adapters (deposit needed)

Catering
The Youth Hostel will provide all the catering between May 9th and May 11th. The accommodation includes breakfast, so for any additional days you have booked you will get breakfast but will have to take care of the other meals by yourself.

Ingredients:

We have arranged that the YH will put english labels to all food so you will know if there are any special ingredients - like the type of the meat, cheese or flour.

Vegetarian / Kosher / Halal:

The food is not kosher or halal by definition but there will always be vegetarian food plus the dishes are labeled, so you can figure out what is suitable to eat.

As much as possible all dishes will be vegetarian and there will be side dishes with meat, so every participant can combine the food as they like.

Other dietary restrictions:

If you need vegan, gluten free or similar, please drop me a mail.

Coffee Breaks:

There will be a table in the main hall with fresh fruits, chocolate bars, crisps, nuts, soft drinks and coffee. It will be filled up all day and also available at night.

Lockers
All rooms have lockers for every guest. You need a 2 SFR coin as a deposit - insert on the inside - close and lock and take off the key. When opening the locker again the 2 SFR coin will be released.

All rooms have individual keys (magnetic cards) which we will hand out to each guest, so the rooms should be reasonably safe as well. Not to mention that crime rates in Switzerland are low in general.

Is there beer on tap?
Yes, at the bar next to the dining / lounge area, available all day.

Laundry
The Youth Hostel has a washing machine and a tumble dryer.

English
English is widely spoken in Switzerland. Every student learns English in school and especially in the cities you can get along with english everywhere.

As Switzerland has four official languages and areas where these languages are spoken exclusively (German / Alemannic, French, Italian, Rumantsch) English often serves as the Lingua Franca in swiss coporations or associations (eg. Wikimedia CH).

French
French is one of the official languages of Switzerland, 23% of the population are native french speakers. Zürich is centered in the german-speaking area of Switzerland though, so not everyone is able to speak french there but the odds are good to find people on the street being able to help.

Swiss french has some particularities:
 * Wikipedia: Swiss French
 * Wikipedia: Français de Suisse

German
German is one of the official languages of Switzerland, 65% of the population are native german speakers. Zürich is centered in the german-speaking area of Switzerland, so german is the main language used there.

Beware that spoken swiss German is actually Alemannic, so even german native speakers often don't understand it, if they are not from Switzerland or the bordering areas. Written swiss German is standard German.
 * Wikipedia: Swiss German
 * Wikipedia: Schweizerdeutsch

Italian
Italian is one of the official languages of Switzerland, 8% of the population are native italian speakers. Zürich is centered in the german-speaking area of Switzerland though and given the overall low number of italian-speakers it is possible but not very likely to find italian-speakers on the streets.
 * Wikipedia: Swiss Italian
 * Wikipedia: Lingua italiana in Svizzera

Can I pay with my credit card?
Credit cards or electronic cash cards (Maestro / VPay) are common in Switzerland. Not all small shops or restaurants have a card terminal, though. As long as you go to big shops or restaurant you should be safe. The restaurants normally put stickers on their front door indicating the cards they accept.

In Europe the cards use cryptographic chips and PIN. US cards instead mostly still rely on the magnetic stripe and signature.

Can I pay with Euros?
This is mostly possible but at a bad conversion rate. The recommended way is to withdraw some money from the ATM once you arrived in Switzerland - it is normally the most convenient and cheaper way to get local currency.

Where can I get groceries and supplies?
The main chains in Switzerland are MIGROS and coop, both visible with their orange logos. The quality is high but also the costs. The price level in Switzerland is generally much higher than in the rest of Europe. Both MIGROS and COOP are cooperatives, originally established to supply the farmers and workers in the villages. MIGROS still sticks to their tradition of not selling any alcoholic beverages, as part of their mission was to help to curtail alcoholism.

If you want to buy chocolate get Frey chocolate from MIGROS. It is their own brand, really good and reasonably priced.

There are three types (sizes) of MIGROS shops: M (small grocery store with mainly food), MM (food and household-supplies) and MMM (food, non-food, clothing, sport equipment).

Coop is by the way a long-term MediaWiki user for 400 users in all their IT departments. It is hosted in their headquarters in Basel but used by all IT staff all over Switzerland.

Can I drink my beer outside on the street?
Sure, why not, as long as you behave.

Local SIM Cards
The most spread mobile phone radio standard is 3G / UMTS. Fallback is GSM / EDGE on 900 MHz / 1.800 MHz. Mobile prices are (as everything else) quite high in Switzerland but quality and coverage are excellent. Train tunnels are equipped with nano cells which allows a seamless use of streaming services throughout train trips.

SIM Card: 19,90 CHF incl. 20 CHF credit
 * Swisscom NATEL easy smart

Swisscom Product Page
 * SMS: 0,15 CHF - max 2 CHF / day
 * Data: 2 CHF / day
 * (EN)
 * (DE)
 * (FR)
 * (IT)

Club Mate
Yes, we have ordered that.

Mountain Dew
Yes, we have ordered that. There is no Mountain Dew in Switzerland (I guess not in most of Europe) so we had to buy 192 cans (minimal amount for extra shipment), so please help us to drink it all up.

Beer / Alcoholic Beverages
You can get alcoholic beverages at the bar in the Youth Hostel, at any restaurant and in regular shops (but not in MIGROS - see above). There are no restrictions in buying / consuming alcohol.