Bike Treks: "Personal transportation" by bike treks would seem to be almost forbidden by Switzerland's mountainous nature, but the Swiss National Railroads have thought up an answer even to this poser. They have instituted a Rail-Bicycle Service which, to the best of my knowledge, is unique. At any railway station you may hire a three-gear bike treks for as long as you like, be it one hour or one day or longer, at published rates and when you're through with it turn it back at any other station. You then pay, in addition to the rental, only a very small charge for the return of the bike treks to its home station. Insurance both against theft and against third-party liability is covered during the time you have the bike treks.
What, in practice, does this mean? It means that you may go by train to the top of some pass, any pass, for instance up to Goschenen, where the Ticino-bound trains finally stop climbing and plunge into the St. Gotthard Tunnel, hire a bike treks at that station and let gravity coast you back down, miles on miles, to some destination at a far lower level, presumably a resort on Lake Lucerne in this case, and then have the Federal Railways take over and ship the bike treks back to its lofty station of origin. This is a wonderfully exciting procedure as I know from having tried it out To coast effortlessly through Swiss scenery is a cyclist's dream.
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