Public transport sector sees potential in rural areas

Public transport services have called for efforts to improve coordination between traffic managers and spatial planning authorities to boost offers in rural areas of Switzerland. 

The heads of two leading associations for public transport, LITRA and VöV/UTP, also urged the tourism industry to promote the use of trains and bus services outside of work hours. 

A study, presented to the public on Wednesday, found that public means of transport was popular in urban regions between the cities of Zurich, Basel and Bern than in more remote parts of the country. 

The researcher also noted differences between the language regions of Switzerland. Citizens in the French-speaking part of the country are more inclined to use private cars than people in the majority German-speaking part. 

The two transport associations hope to increase the share of public traffic to more than 23% in 2040. 

Latest figures from 2015 show public transport accounting for 13% of all traffic. The use of public transport has stagnated over the past decade, according to official data.