Checks on Zug buses will be announced in future

In future, ticket inspections on buses in the canton of Zug will be announced. Zug Public Transport want to test the impact of the announcements.

Zug Public Transport (ZVB: Zugerland Verkehrsbetriebe) would also like to draw attention to the issue in a fun way, with a new campaign entitled ‘Buses are cool - fines aren't’(Busse sind cool – Bussen nicht).

In future, Zug Public Transport will be announcing ticket inspections more frequently - at least for a few days as part of an experiment. ‘The ZVB would like to test what happens if you announce the checks in a certain circle and within a certain time window,’ says media spokeswoman Karin Fröhlich. A study by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (Zürcher Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften) shows that bus passengers are much less likely to travel without a ticket (i.e. ‘black’) if they expect to be checked.

From early October, there have been stickers on the doors of Zug buses with the slogan ‘Buses are cool - fines are not’. The aim of this campaign is to raise awareness of the issue.      Photo: PilatusToday

How the whole thing works
The new campaign will be launched next year. On certain days, the ticket inspections will be announced. ‘We will use loudspeaker announcements and displays at the bus stops to clearly draw attention to the checks,’ says Karin Fröhlich. On other days, everything will remain as usual - without any special announcement.

The catch here: in both cases, the ZVB inspectors will not carry out any more checks than on any other day. ‘At the end of the day, we want to see whether the number of journeys without a valid ticket really decreases for one group, and whether passengers buy more tickets,’ says Fröhlich.

The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness
The experiment is part of a larger campaign. From October, stickers with the slogan ‘Buses are cool - fines aren't’ have been hanging on the doors of Zug's public transport buses. The aim of this one-year campaign is to raise awareness of the issue of ‘driving without a valid ticket’, as Karin Fröhlich adds: ‘It's a special campaign for us, as we have very consciously analysed and incorporated the psychological aspect.’ The campaign was not intended to be serious, but funny. This should not lead to more checks, however.