Zurich to introduce 365-franc annual transport pass: Will other Swiss cities follow?

The city of Zurich last Sunday voted through a popular initiative to reduce the cost of an annual public transport pass to 365 francs per year. We explain what happens now, and whether other Swiss cities are likely to follow suit. 

Zurich votes to introduce 365-franc pass for inner city public transport

With a clear 63 percent of the vote, the popular initiative “VBZ subscription for 365 francs” was passed at the referendum in Zurich on Sunday, September 28. The initiative calls for the cost of a second-class annual subscription for public transport in Zurich city centre (zone 110) to cost 365 francs per year for adults, and 185 francs for children and young people. 

With an annual public transport subscription currently costing 809 francs, that’s a reduction of 444 francs per year (nearly 55 percent). 

City council says discounted scheme will be hard to implement

The city council now has to set about implementing the scheme - although on Monday it was outspoken about its reservations. “The city council fully understands that the 800 francs for a public transport pass is not equally affordable for everyone,” the head of the Department of Industrial Enterprises, Michael Baumer, said at a press conference. “We respect the decision, but it also brings with it many financial and operational challenges.”

Baumer said the scheme would take at least two years to implement, and thereafter would cost the city approximately 140 million francs each year to keep going, money that it would prefer to put towards expanding the network. 

The question of how the discount would be applied still needs to be clarified, since the city council cannot dictate the price charged by the public transport operator, ZVV. Two possible solutions could be that annual subscription holders apply to the council for a partial refund of their costs, or that city residents all receive a voucher to the value of the discount. 

According to the ZVV, the city council now has one year to come up with a concrete implementation proposal for the municipal council. This proposal might then also be put to a referendum before it can be put into action. 

Are other Swiss cities going to introduce 365-franc tickets?

With the German Association of Public Transport (VöV) expressing concern about the vote and telling 20 Minuten “it would not be a good idea if the Zurich model became a precedent”, here’s an overview of what other Swiss cities have planned.

In Basel, a popular initiative (“U-Subscription for All”) was recently launched that calls for a 365-franc annual pass for the whole of northwestern Switzerland fare association area, that includes the whole of Basel-Stadt along with parts of Basel-Land, Solothurn and Aargau. Young people in the canton already benefit from a 365-franc ticket option. 

In Lucerne, the Green and Young Green factions announced this week that they would launch an initiative calling for a 365-franc public transport pass.

Geneva already has its own public transport discount - since the beginning of the year, certain young people under the age of 25 have been able to travel for free, while pensioners and disabled people get a half-price pass. City authorities have actually been overwhelmed by the popularity of the scheme, which has seen costs rise almost 15 million francs over the expected budget in the first six months alone. 

Bern is not currently considering such an offer, Watson reports; instead, authorities are focusing on combating rising public transport prices.