Passenger transport performance

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Transport performance

In 2017, a total of 134.6 billion person-kilometres were travelled on the Swiss road and rail network. Of this, around three quarters, i.e. 100.8 billion person-kilometres, were accounted for by private motorised transport (cars, motorcycles, private buses). Thus, their transport performance was almost five times greater than that of railways (20.9 billion person-kilometres). Human-powered mobility (on foot and by bicycle) accounted for 8.1 billion person-kilometres and public road transport (trams and buses) for 4.5 billion. Since 1970, the transport performance of motorised private transport and public transport has more than doubled.

What is transport performance?

Transport performance gives an account of the distances covered by persons (measured in person-kilometres). Transport performance depends on vehicle occupancy: a particular transport performance can be achieved with a varying number of vehicles. Transport performance is used to gauge the demand for mobility and the services actually provided by the transport system.

Passenger transport performance, 2017

	Billion person-km (except aviation)	Change from 2000, as %
Total land transport performance	134.6	+32
Private motorised road transport	100.8	+27
of which passenger cars	95.7	+28
Public road transport (tramway, trolley bus, bus)	4.5	+30
Rail transport1	21.3	+64
of which railways	20.9	+65
Human-powered mobility (on foot, by bike)	8.1	+24
Aviation (scheduled and charter flights)	57.6 million passengers2	+67

1) Railways, cog railways, funicular railways and cable cars
2) Local and transfer passengers, in 2018 Sources: FSO – Passenger transport performance (PV-L), Public transport statistics (TP); FSO, FOCA – Aviation, scheduled and charter flights (AVIA_LC)

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Kilometre performance

In 2017, private motorised transport realised a kilometre performance of 60.9 billion vehicle-kilometres (+28% since 2000). For railways the corresponding value was 198 million train-kilometres (+40% since 2000). 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, 471 872 flight movements were registered in 2018 (–12% since 2000).

What is kilometre performance?

Kilometre performance is the distance covered by vehicles in a year on Swiss territory (measured in vehicle-, train- or timetable-kilometres). Kilometre performance is useful for gauging infrastructure burdens and environmental impact.

Kilometre performance in passenger transport, 2017

	Billion vehicle-km or train-km (except aviation)	Change from 2000, as %
Private motorised road transport	60.9	+28
of which passenger cars	58.7	+29
domestic vehicles	50.3	+23
foreign vehicles	8.5	+77
Railway	0.2	+40
Aviation (scheduled and charter flights)1	471 872 take-offs and landings	–12

1) in 2018 Sources: FSO – Passenger transport performance (PV-L), Public transport statistics (TP); FSO, FOCA – Aviation, scheduled and charter flights (AVIA_LC)

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Statistical concepts

Definitions