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Switzerland: old challenges, new solutions

Posted: 31 October 2012 | Peter Füglistaler, Director, Federal Office of Transport, Switzerland | No comments yet

Public transport in Switzerland is of a high standard with frequent, punctual, clean and reliable services. But this does not mean we are resting on our laurels; on the contrary. We are working to ensure we can manage future demand and meet passengers’ expectations of an even better service. However, this is only possible if there is secured long-term funding.

As Switzerland is so small, public transport is perceived as a whole. Customers barely differentiate between long-distance, regional (urban rail, buses) and local services (buses, trams). In larger cities such as Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Lucerne or Basel, urban rail and sometimes even long-distance services play an important role alongside buses in local and agglomeration transport.

This is a sign of quality. It shows that the many different transport service providers work together seamlessly. All timetables are coordinated, which simplifies switching from one mode of transport to another. One important factor here is that customers usually only need one ticket for the whole journey. Season tickets valid on all modes of transport and across all networks are also very common.

Public transport in Switzerland is of a high standard with frequent, punctual, clean and reliable services. But this does not mean we are resting on our laurels; on the contrary. We are working to ensure we can manage future demand and meet passengers’ expectations of an even better service. However, this is only possible if there is secured long-term funding. As Switzerland is so small, public transport is perceived as a whole. Customers barely differentiate between long-distance, regional (urban rail, buses) and local services (buses, trams). In larger cities such as Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Lucerne or Basel, urban rail and sometimes even long-distance services play an important role alongside buses in local and agglomeration transport. This is a sign of quality. It shows that the many different transport service providers work together seamlessly. All timetables are coordinated, which simplifies switching from one mode of transport to another. One important factor here is that customers usually only need one ticket for the whole journey. Season tickets valid on all modes of transport and across all networks are also very common.

Public transport in Switzerland is of a high standard with frequent, punctual, clean and reliable services. But this does not mean we are resting on our laurels; on the contrary. We are working to ensure we can manage future demand and meet passengers’ expectations of an even better service. However, this is only possible if there is secured long-term funding.

As Switzerland is so small, public transport is perceived as a whole. Customers barely differentiate between long-distance, regional (urban rail, buses) and local services (buses, trams). In larger cities such as Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Lucerne or Basel, urban rail and sometimes even long-distance services play an important role alongside buses in local and agglomeration transport.

This is a sign of quality. It shows that the many different transport service providers work together seamlessly. All timetables are coordinated, which simplifies switching from one mode of transport to another. One important factor here is that customers usually only need one ticket for the whole journey. Season tickets valid on all modes of transport and across all networks are also very common.

Customer satisfaction with public transport in Switzerland is correspondingly high. But the better the service, the higher the expectations on the part of passengers, and of the cities and regions. To maintain this high standard, quality measurement criteria for public transport are becoming increasingly important. The Federal Office of Transport is currently working on a project to develop a Swiss-wide standard of quality measurement.

Looking to the future is equally vital. Swiss media frequently run the headline that ‘public transport is the victim of its own success’. Even at peak times, conditions on public transport are still tolerable. But trains, buses and trams are often full, and the times when you could always be sure of a seat are long gone. In view of the predicted growth in public transport, measures are urgently needed to ensure that we can absorb future transport demands. Timetables, whether for trains, buses or trams, are already so packed that no additional services can be added without expanding infrastructure. The railways alone need expansions worth between CHF 10 and 15 billion by 2030.

In many Swiss cities, new urban rail and tram lines are being built, and in some places bus routes are being replaced by trams. Railway stations, bus and tram terminals and interchanges are struggling to absorb the growing flows of passengers: space on platforms, stairways and in underpasses is limited and will need to be expanded.

Numerous cities and agglomerations are calling for significant increases in capacity and would like to see stations moved below ground. The high costs, however, mean that priorities have to be set.

The sticking point for the future quality of public transport is how the construction, operation and maintenance of this infra structure is financed. None of these three aspects can be neglected: financing infra – structure expansion without taking into account the associated costs of operating and maintaining it is unsustainable. Switzerland has set itself the goal of putting the funding of rail infrastructure on a new, sustainable footing: in future, all three aspects, namely expansion, operation and maintenance, will be paid for through a single fund. This means that infrastructure can only be expanded as long as sufficient funds are available for construction, operations and maintenance together. Switzerland already operates a limited infra – structure fund for certain tram and bus expansion schemes in agglomerations.

The advantage of these schemes is that the associated risks of infrastructure projects are not just passed on to the public: if more money in the fund is used for maintenance, less is available for expansion. In turn, ringfencing the money in this fund provides a certain security in terms of planning, as annual budget decisions by parliament are not needed. Parliament is expected to debate the new system of rail infrastructure financing in 2012, but the voting public will have the final say in about two years’ time.

However, even this funding solution will not alter the fact that the cost of public transport is set to rise. Around CHF 1 billion needs to be financed additionally each year. That means price rises for passengers, reduced tax deductions for commuters, and higher contributions towards infrastructure financing by the regions – all of which is needed for Switzerland to maintain its high standards, absorb growing mobility and continue to finance public transport.