WEBVTT 00:00.507 --> 00:06.843 The abolition of cash is being pushed forward in all areas of society. This also applies to public transport. 00:06.843 --> 00:12.044 The "Alliance Swisspass" – the Swiss industry association for rail and bus – wants to massively 00:12.044 --> 00:15.520 expand digitalization in the payment of tickets. 00:15.520 --> 00:23.253 A press release from "Swisspass" dated September 2, 2026, states that as part of investment and renewal cycles, 00:23.253 --> 00:31.085 the existing ticket machines at train stations are to be replaced by paperless and cashless machines. 00:31.085 --> 00:33.789 "Swisspass" does not commit to a timeline. 00:33.789 --> 00:42.351 When switching to cashless machines, an alternative must continue to exist for people who wish to pay with cash. 00:42.351 --> 00:47.445 Tickets can be purchased via the internet or smartphone as before. 00:47.445 --> 00:52.576 Anyone who wants to buy a ticket at the train station must load it onto a carrier medium such as the 00:52.576 --> 00:55.851 "Swisspass" or the newly launched "öV Prepaid Card". 00:55.851 --> 00:59.226 This is presented as a new option for cash payment. 00:59.226 --> 01:05.856 It is anonymous and can be topped up with cash at SBB sales points. 01:05.856 --> 01:09.320 But how attractive is this offer really? 01:09.320 --> 01:15.378 While previously the customer could conveniently buy their ticket directly with cash at the machine at their train 01:15.378 --> 01:19.171 station, they must now first purchase a card at a sales point. 01:19.171 --> 01:23.876 Since staffed counters are being continuously reduced, they must travel to the next city 01:23.876 --> 01:26.945 and expect long waiting times at the counter. 01:26.945 --> 01:31.532 If they load a lot of money onto their card, they carry a high monetary value with them; if they load 01:31.532 --> 01:34.445 little, they will soon have to travel to the city again. 01:34.445 --> 01:38.414 Is this really a fair alternative to direct cash payment? 01:38.414 --> 01:46.200 Or is it actually about making cash payment so unattractive that it effectively abolishes itself? 01:46.200 --> 01:52.429 According to "Alliance Swisspass", the expansion of digitalization is intended to reduce distribution costs. 01:52.429 --> 01:57.865 However, it is well known that rapid technological progress causes the devices used to become 01:57.865 --> 02:01.101 obsolete quickly and need to be replaced again. 02:01.101 --> 02:06.366 And the use of digital technologies with server farms, data centers, and high-performance 02:06.366 --> 02:09.918 devices requires a considerable amount of electricity. 02:09.918 --> 02:12.544 Does that save money? 02:12.544 --> 02:19.125 The industry association rejects the media's claim that there is a clear timetable for digitalization. 02:19.125 --> 02:26.545 It is not true that the public transport industry is planning an "infrastructure-free distribution" without 02:26.545 --> 02:33.921 ticket machines starting in 2035, as "K-Tipp" writes in its issue 14/2026 of September 2, 2026. 02:33.921 --> 02:39.265 However, clear facts show that digitalization is being implemented at a rapid pace. 02:39.265 --> 02:47.800 According to "K-Tipp", for example, the validators for multi-ride tickets are soon to be replaced by digital activation devices: 02:47.800 --> 02:52.860 "A first step in this direction is taking place in northwestern Switzerland and in Basel. 02:52.860 --> 02:58.812 There, 400 devices for validating multi-ride tickets will be removed next year. 02:58.812 --> 03:03.414 There will then no longer be any validators for paper tickets and cards, the director of 03:03.414 --> 03:06.625 Basel Public Transport records in the minutes. 03:06.625 --> 03:11.040 Instead of validators, 'activation devices' will then be installed. 03:11.040 --> 03:18.040 To activate a trip, you can only hold the 'SwissPass' or the microchip card up to the device." 03:18.040 --> 03:21.242 The removal of ticket machines is also in full swing. 03:21.242 --> 03:29.906 In the past ten years, the SBB dismantled 434 of a total of 1,453 ticket machines. 03:29.906 --> 03:33.007 So every third machine has disappeared. 03:33.007 --> 03:40.405 "K-Tipp" No. 15 of September 16, 2026 reports that since last May, cash payment has now 03:40.405 --> 03:44.242 been blocked on numerous remaining devices. 03:44.242 --> 03:47.703 The reason given is "protection against vandalism." 03:47.703 --> 03:51.929 This is written on notes that were stuck to the machines. 03:51.929 --> 03:57.804 SBB counter staff report in a conversation with "K-Tipp" of "hundreds" of blocked machines, 03:57.804 --> 04:01.882 especially in rural areas and in the agglomerations. 04:01.882 --> 04:10.812 However, affected municipalities surveyed by "K-Tipp" state that they have not recorded any noteworthy incidents of vandalism. 04:10.812 --> 04:16.359 The SBB is silent on this and gives "K-Tipp" neither information about the location and number 04:16.359 --> 04:21.125 of the machines nor about the damage they claim. 04:21.125 --> 04:26.535 Obviously, the dismantling of ticket machines with cash payment and paper issuance is 04:26.535 --> 04:30.226 being gradually pushed forward in the background. 04:30.226 --> 04:37.870 The supposed alternative of still being able to pay with cash is so cumbersome and unattractive that it seems 04:37.870 --> 04:43.343 only a matter of time before it too is rationalized away. 04:43.343 --> 04:46.460 Resistance is also forming against the SBB's plans. 04:46.460 --> 04:53.940 This is shown by critical reports and broadcasts – not only from alternative media, but also from the mainstream. 04:53.940 --> 05:01.501 How one can successfully defend oneself against the plans to abolish cash in public transport is also shown by the example 05:01.501 --> 05:05.843 of 78-year-old Berta Caminada from the canton of Graubünden. 05:05.843 --> 05:10.726 The trigger for Caminada was the timetable change last December. 05:10.726 --> 05:17.781 "Postauto Graubünden" had, on behalf of the canton, stopped ticket sales at the front with the driver. 05:17.781 --> 05:23.492 The pensioner did not want to accept that one can no longer pay with cash on the Postauto. 05:23.492 --> 05:32.070 That is why she launched the popular initiative "Cash payment for public services (anti-discrimination initiative)." 05:32.070 --> 05:43.085 Within just two months, a record-breaking 15,781 signatures were collected from all 100 municipalities in the canton. 05:43.085 --> 05:48.066 This, although only 4,000 would have been necessary for the initiative. 05:48.066 --> 05:53.665 The initiative aims to ensure that one can pay with cash, for example, on the post 05:53.665 --> 05:57.066 bus, at public parking meters, or in toilets. 05:57.066 --> 06:04.003 Digital means of payment should remain, but should not replace the possibility of paying with cash. 06:04.003 --> 06:08.081 Next, the "Bündner Grossrat" must decide on the matter. 06:08.081 --> 06:15.378 If no result is reached, the voters will decide on the future of coins in public facilities. 06:15.378 --> 06:21.742 The case of Berta Caminada shows that one can resist the abolition of cash and that a 06:21.742 --> 06:26.347 large part of the population wants to keep cash. 06:26.347 --> 06:34.324 But why is the preservation of cash of such great importance, and what threatens the population if they can only pay digitally? 06:34.324 --> 06:40.089 Hansjörg Stützle has been building a citizens' movement for a future with cash for ten years. 06:40.089 --> 06:45.636 He shared his message with the public in numerous lectures and on television. 06:45.636 --> 06:50.745 He has also launched a petition against the abolition of cash in the EU. 06:50.745 --> 06:55.924 He demands that with the introduction of the digital euro, the right to pay with cash also 06:55.924 --> 06:59.355 be guaranteed and enshrined in the regulation. 06:59.355 --> 07:04.331 He describes the danger of a cashless society as follows: 07:04.331 --> 07:09.696 "Every exchange can be monitored, controlled, restricted, and stopped. 07:09.696 --> 07:12.527 Every payment can be subject to fees. 07:12.527 --> 07:17.230 Does my money really still belong to me when it is locked up in the digital world? 07:17.230 --> 07:22.430 The consequences of a world without cash are very far-reaching, among other things because of the 07:22.430 --> 07:26.011 all-encompassing control, and affect every area of our lives. 07:26.011 --> 07:31.652 However, a free society needs a free means of payment that cannot be monitored and controlled. 07:31.652 --> 07:36.855 For everyone should be able to decide for themselves which data they reveal about themselves." 07:36.855 --> 07:45.644 In an excerpt from his podcast of June 19, 2023, financial expert Ernst Wolff comments on the digital euro. 07:45.644 --> 07:55.417 The EU's digital euro here stands as a proxy for any digital payment system without the alternative of cash payment. 07:55.417 --> 08:01.877 " For the central banks and the digital-financial complex behind them, it opens up possibilities to subject the 08:01.877 --> 08:08.222 population to their own interests that have not existed in the entire history of money until now. 08:08.222 --> 08:14.843 Since it is a programmable currency, the digital euro will be issued for specific purposes, tied to an expiration 08:14.843 --> 08:21.260 date, and individual interest and tax rates as well as penalty payments can be imposed on all users. 08:21.260 --> 08:28.948 It will be possible to tie its disbursement to conditions such as, for example, a climate or health certificate, to 08:28.948 --> 08:37.480 restrict its validity locally, regionally, or nationally, or to tie it to a social credit system modeled on China's. 08:37.480 --> 08:43.542 If one looks at the history of money, it has historically always had two fundamental characteristics: 08:43.542 --> 08:47.878 It was a universal means of exchange and at the same time a means of domination. 08:47.878 --> 08:54.400 Digital central bank money – such as the digital euro now announced – is primarily a means of domination, 08:54.400 --> 09:02.100 and indeed more effective and efficient than all the measures dictators have come up with in the past." 09:02.100 --> 09:09.644 Here again is a summary of the most important points on how the abolition of cash will affect your life: 09:09.644 --> 09:14.136 - You no longer have the possibility to pay anonymously and without a trace. 09:14.136 --> 09:19.722 Every exchange can be monitored, controlled, restricted, and stopped. 09:19.722 --> 09:27.214 - Banks and governments have unrestricted access to your accounts and can expropriate you at will. 09:27.214 --> 09:33.180 - Funds can be spent for specific purposes and tied to an expiration date. 09:33.180 --> 09:38.863 - Individual interest and tax rates as well as penalty payments can be imposed. 09:38.863 --> 09:44.489 - If you do not behave in accordance with the system, you can be punished by blocking your 09:44.489 --> 09:48.792 funds with exclusion from economic and social life. 09:48.792 --> 09:52.812 - In the event of hacker attacks on banks, your money is not safe. 09:52.812 --> 09:58.080 - If a bank goes bankrupt, your money is lost (total loss). 09:58.080 --> 10:02.813 - If the electricity or internet infrastructure is paralyzed, payment transactions are 10:02.813 --> 10:06.176 no longer possible and the economy collapses. 10:06.176 --> 10:09.964 Paying with cash on public transport is still possible. 10:09.964 --> 10:16.894 Take advantage of this opportunity, even if you have to take detours to do so. Pay for your ticket directly with cash! 10:16.894 --> 10:23.425 Use stamp cards at designers and take the time to queue at the counter to buy a "prepaid card." 10:23.425 --> 10:27.214 This is how you set an example for the preservation of cash payment. 10:27.214 --> 10:31.968 Talk to railway employees and your fellow human beings about the topic of "abolition of cash." 10:31.968 --> 10:37.382 Make it clear to those around you that the digitalization of money is leading us all into a future 10:37.382 --> 10:40.144 in which we can no longer live self-determinedly.