Key facts
The tariff system for public transport in Switzerland, with its 250 different transport companies and 18 regional transport networks, is complex. The fact that there are two different tariff systems complicates matters further. While the so-called “national direct transport” is charged according to the distance travelled, the transport networks use the zones travelled through. By law, the providers are obliged to offer a single through ticket for a journey. This results in time-consuming and costly calculations and system maintenance. The public transport sector has sovereignty over the tariff system and it has the power to simplify it. The GITA (Grobkonzept eines integrierten Tarifsystems, “Initial concept for an integrated tariff system”) project, launched by the industry organisation Alliance SwissPass (ASP), is an important first step towards the harmonisation of the tariff system requested by the Federal Office of Transport (FOT).