How do people in Switzerland get to work?

This was a particularly bad day on the train Keystone

Switzerland is famous for its railway system, but when it comes to commuting, how many people really take the train?

A day after the cabinet said it wanted to introduce a trial tax on mobility, swissinfo.ch takes a look at how the Swiss get to work.

In total in 2014 there were 3,901,350 commuters in Switzerland (the population at the time was 8,237,700). How these people get to their place of work has not changed much in recent years. The breakdown of different forms of transport was similar in 2000 and in the years in between.

However, the number of people commuting via any of the above forms of transport has gone up overall in recent years, meaning there are more vehicles on the roads and more people on trains and buses.

Below is a specific example of how many people commute by car, the most popular method of transport to travel to work.

It’s increases like this that have lead the government to consider a trial where drivers would pay according to how far they travel on main roads. And a system of different ticket prices for public transport could also be introduced.

Transport Minister Doris Leuthard said the country’s road infrastructure could not cope with peak traffic hours. Therefore, it was necessary to look for alternative options, notably to reduce rush hour mobility.

Critics say the system could make it more costly for commuters while the possibility to work flexible hours remain limited.

Does it make sense to change how people pay for travel?

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