Bye-bye postbus? Swiss News looks at the end of a monopoly and the first signs of competition for a hallowed institution--the Swiss postal bus.

When Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini borrowed German dramatist Friedrich Schiller's 1804 play and created the 1829 opera "William Tell", he crafted one of the classics' most stirring overtures.

And, if that wasn't enough, he added three little notes that formed the tone motif of the overture's andante in 'A' major--one you'll hear every, time you ride a Swiss postal bus through the winding roads of an Alpine pass.

"Dee-dah-do!"

As the private sector vies for a market share of Swiss postal operations, Rossini's immortal horn solo--along with the parent corporation's familiar shade of peach yellow--will remain a "protected" feature of the venerable Alpine heritage. Postal bus competitors must use other colour schemes, and this is already occurring.

But Philip Buhler, marketing head of the Swiss Postbus network in Canton Grisons and part of Canton St. Gallen, admits that the "official" post office and its new rivals won't differ greatly otherwise.

"They'll still be transporting mail and passengers just as we do," Buhler tells Swiss News from his Chur office.

Nor should passengers fear taking less-travelled routes out of service without extensive public hearings. That's a "must" in Federal Office of Transport (FOT) guidelines to promote a free and open market in this former monopoly domain.

Challenge in St. Moritz 

But the old monopoly is crumbling. Indeed, the first such case in Switzerland has already surfaced in Buhler's territory. It's the route that St. Moritz-based Engadine Bus wrested from the postal bus network in late 1999 to serve the upper and lower Engadine valley for a 10-year term. The newcomer's parent firm, Stadtbus Chur AG, planned the successful challenge. The plum: a takeover of one of the country's most scenic Alpine lines with connections to Pontresina and Scuol as well as Chiavenna and Lugano.

Stadtbus Chur AG's managing director, Andrea Muzzarelli, views the marketing task of his Engadine Bus subsidiary as simple: "Offering more service for less cost." It's a direct challenge to Postbus operations that he expects to see repeated "all over Switzerland" in the years ahead.

"Lots of postal-bus lines are coming up for bid outside the Grisons," Muzzarelli ,says. "There aren't many firms in the Grisons that could have competed against Postbus AG as effectively as we did. But there are a great many elsewhere in Switzerland. So I suspect we'll not be the last to bid successfully."

Muzzarelli insists that Engadine Bus offers its passengers a much better service than the postal bus--and at competitive fares. Its bid contained a number of features not normally found on postal buses: low-floor doors, air-conditioning, modern ticketing systems, ms well as state-of-the-art information schemes. These user-friendly touches typify new urban bus design and have won broad acceptance in cities like Chur.

Change--Slow and Steady

But will Engadine Bus's upset in the St. Moritz area be viewed as a wake-up call for Postbus AG? Will this force the privatised concern to review its strategy and rush a face lifting campaign for its fleet nationwide? Muzzelli doubts it--especially if management works according to its old public-sector rules.

"Yes," he says, "Postbus AG is changing. But it's doing it very slowly. I don't expect any 'overnight' reforms."

One explanation may be the incumbent's advantage of having tradition on its side. For good or for ill, the public seems unlikely to press Postbus to modernise after all these years. The familiar yellow carrier can bank on sentiment and nostalgia.

"It's like a pair of old but comfortable bedroom slippers," one source explains. "They may not be fashionable, but people don't really want to part with them."

Pressure to modernise Postbus AG's fleet seems more likely to come from the FOT in Bern Its experts award plus points to bidders promising technical innovation and user-friendly public service. Keeping up tradition wins few points. Still, Postbus AG's Buhler notes, 80 per cent of his firm's new buses come equipped with air-conditioning.

An Awkward Handover 

If Postbus AG's rivals--and the FOT--have learned any lessons from the first open bid on postal-bus routes, says Buchler, it's to give challengers more time after bid awards before start-up of their new service.

"Engadine Bus had only three weeks," he recalls. "That's really not enough, and they had some problems as a result that could have been avoided with a bit more time."

The FOT noted the awkward 1999 handover and is expected to ease its start-up schedule for future Postbus AG challengers.

In any case, these competitors must choose colour schemes other than the historic peach-yellow shade. As Buehler points out, the tone now rates legal protection--even if other carriers seem unlikely to test this in court. Muzzarelli seems content to grant his rival its beloved colour scheme. Like Stadtbus AG in Chur, the Engadine Bus fleet catches the public's eye with its red and blue vehicles.

Colour Matters

Does colour really matter to bus, train, or streetcar user? Perhaps it doesn't for the riding public. But long-time observers of Swiss public transit trends recall federal colour tests on vehicles during the 1970s. The testers found yellow and orange to be the safest colours for night travel. Yet, after a brief switch to orange, even the Bern Transport Authority relaxed its policy.

During recent years the industry has clearly put advertising revenue ahead of night driving safety, These days transit coaches--especially streetcars and train locomotives--undergo frequent repainting to showcase sponsors' commercial messages. The venerable postal bus, it should be noted, has never caved in to blatant outside advertising.

Its "dee-dah-do" horn warning raises another question. Are its three little "trademark" notes actually an item subject to legal protection? If so, do Austrian and German postal-bus have equal rights to the tune? Or do the rights really belong to the heirs of William Tell's composer Rossini--the intellectual property, owner from the start?

Muzzarelli, for one, has never considered such questions. Nor do they matter to him. He assumes his rival has trademark rights to Rossini's musical excerpt--a vestige perquisite of its former monopoly days. But times have changed. Future caterers to Swiss Alpine bus travel, he says, have an ear open to more vital passenger concerns.

Above all, Muzzarelli says, this means paying lower fares for a comfortable scenic ride. The ride may offer a sentimental journey for some. But it need not he a nostalgia trip.