Tü-ta-toe--Postauto
While any mention of the beloved children’s game tic-tac-toe would be met with a blank stare in Switzerland, the similar-sounding
enunciation of “Tü-ta-toe” would elicit a smile from most Swiss, young and old. It is the unmistakable call of the yellow postal buses as
they wind their way 
up or down a snaky mountain road, warning others of their approach. As far as public transportation is concerned,
the postal buses often go where no one else has gone or is likely to go: remote mountain villages huddled like
hunchbacks against impossibly steep slopes. At least that is the stereotypical setting for an encounter with a
postal bus. In reality, they are found in the lower-lying plains and the larger cities as well. They have always had
a dual purpose: to pick up and transport the mail from post offices all over the country and at the same time serve
up a few empty seats for travelers to get from points not found on the map to more civilized destinations.
The original postal vehicles put into service in 1849 were horse-drawn carriages, made famous by paintings of
wild-eyed horses being whipped along the treacherous mountain pass over the St. Gotthard, which separates the
southern canton of Ticino from the central and northern parts of the country. The famous horn melody, which,
fittingly, was lifted from the overture of Rossini’s “William Tell,” first echoed from the mountains in 1923. Today, the postal buses are
modern marvels of technology that have earned such a favorable reputation that they have been selected to also service several towns
in France, as well as the principality of Liechtenstein, the postage-sized country wedged between Switzerland and Austria. Today’s
postal bus is a business venture expected to turn a profit, but its three-tone horn is still a part of mountain lore and as familiar and
well-loved as the clanging of cowbells in the mountain pastures.
Two audio files of the famous posthorn can be found at
http://www.postauto.ch/pag-startseite/pag-ueberuns/pag-portrait/pag-posthorn-neu.htm
The main page for PostAuto Schweiz is found at http://www.postauto.ch/pag-startseite.htm
