Passenger transport performance


Transport performance

After a marked decline in 2020, transport performance in Switzerland rose again in 2021, in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, on the road, rail and cable car network 124.5 billion person-kilometres were travelled – 6% more than in 2020 but still 10% less than in 2019. Of the overall performance, four-fifths, i.e., 98.0 billion person-kilometres, were accounted for by private motorised transport (cars, motorcycles and private buses). This was nearly seven times the number of person-kilometres accounted for by the railways (14.3 billion). Human-powered mobility (on foot and by bicycle) accounted for 8.3 billion person-kilometres and public road transport (trams and buses) for 3.6 billion. Since 1970, the transport performance of motorised private transport and public transport has almost doubled.

Passenger transport performance
  Billion person-km (except aviation) Year Change from 2019 (before the pandemic), as % Change from 2000, as %
Total land transport performance 124.5
2021 –10 +22
Private motorised road transport 98.0 2021 –5 +24
    of which passenger cars 92.7 2021 –5 +24
Public road transport
(tramway, trolley bus, bus)
3.6 2021 –23 +5
Railways 19.3 2022 –11 +53
Cog railways and cable cars 0.4 2021 –23 –6
Human-powered mobility
(on foot, by bike)
8.3 2021 +2 +28
Aviation (scheduled and charter flights)
43.6 million passengers1 2022 –26
+27
1) Local and transfer passengers Sources: FSO – Passenger transport performance (PV-L), Public transport statistics (TP); FSO, FOCA – Aviation, scheduled and charter flights (AVIA_LC)

Kilometre performance

In 2021, private motorised transport realised a kilometre performance of 59.0 billion vehicle-kilometres. This corresponds to an increase of 6% compared to 2020 and a decrease of 5% compared to 2019, the year before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. For railways the corresponding value in 2022 was 209 million train-kilometres (+2% compared to 2021 / +4% compared to 2019). In the passenger air transport segment, the use of means of transport is usually expressed in terms of the number of flight movements (take-offs and landings). In the scheduled and charter flight segment, 355 915 flight movements were registered in 2022 (+86% compared to 2021 / –24% compared to 2019).

Kilometre performance in passenger transport
  Billion vehicle-km or train-km (except aviation) Year Change from 2019 (before the pandemic), as % Change from 2000, as %
Private motorised road transport 59.0 2021 –5 +24
56.7 2021 –5 +24
    domestic vehicles 49.1 2021 –3 +20
    foreign vehicles 7.6 2021 –17 +59
Railway 0.2 2022 +4 +48
Aviation (scheduled and charter flights) 355 915 take-offs and landings
2022 +113 –34
Sources: FSO – Passenger transport performance (PV-L), Public transport statistics (TP); FSO, FOCA – Aviation, scheduled and charter flights (AVIA_LC)

Statistical concepts

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