4 in 10 have fare dodged on Swiss public transport, survey reveals
By Jan de Boer
Though people in Switzerland were once called the most honest in the world by a 2019 study in Science magazine, a new survey from Moneyland has poured cold water on that assertion. In the report, 40 percent of respondents admitted to fare dodging on public transport, while up to a quarter have stolen something from a Swiss supermarket.
40 percent have riden on public transport without a ticket
According to the survey of 1.500 people in German and French-speaking Switzerland, stealing and intentionally not paying for goods is more common than first assumed. To create the report, each person was asked whether they had intentionally stolen or not paid in a range of locations as an adult, with respondents allowed to answer "never", "once", "twice", "more than twice" or "often".
They found that the most common place for people to bend the rules is around public transport tickets. A whopping 40 percent of respondents to the survey admitted to fare dodging at least once.
"Just riding a few stops on a tram or bus without paying – the barrier to doing so is lower than it is for stealing from a store," Moneyland editor Dan Urner noted. This acceptability is reflected in the figures; at the end of 2024, over 1 million people were on Switzerland’s fare dodging register.
Workplaces and Swiss supermarkets popular places to steal
Interestingly, 29 percent of respondents admitted to swiping something from their own work. A quarter also admitted to sneaking through self-checkouts without paying. Coop was the most popular target for shoplifting (25 percent), followed by Migros (24 percent), Kiosk (21 percent), Denner (20 percent), Lidl (20 percent) and Aldi (18 percent).
Other notable figures include the 24 percent of respondents who took a shine to bath towels or toiletries in their hotel room and decided to swipe them, and the 20 percent of people who have stolen from friends and family.
Young people most willing to fare dodge
Generally speaking, people aged between 18 and 25 are the most likely to deliberately steal, with 58 percent of respondents in the age group admitting to it. One in 10 people aged 18 to 25 years old told Moneyland that they ride public transport without a ticket on a regular basis.
Across all situations, men were more likely to steal than women, while residents of German-speaking Switzerland were more likely to steal than those in the Romandie. For more information about the study, check out the Moneyland website.
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Jan studied History at the University of York and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Sheffield. Though born in York, Jan has lived most of his life in Zurich and has worked as a journalist, writer and editor since 2016.
While he has plunged head-first back into life in Switzerland since returning to the country in 2020, he still enjoys a taste of home at pub quizzes and karaoke nights.Read more