The municipal day ticket becomes a victim of digitisation

Municipalities and cities will only be able to offer day tickets for public transport until the end of 2023. Due to digitisation, the offer in its current form will be abolished.

Supersaver tickets and saver day tickets for Swiss public transport (trains, buses, ships, mountain railways, etc.) have led to a decline in sales of municipal day tickets (Tageskarte Gemeinde) in recent years, writes the public transport industry organisation Alliance SwissPass in a statement. At the same time, sales expenses have increased and sales no longer cover costs in many places. A digitisation of the day ticket had been examined, but rejected: "Due to the different interfaces and IT solutions, this would only be feasible with a disproportionately high financial and personnel effort," writes Alliance SwissPass.
 

Out of time: The "Day Ticket Municipality" is about to end because of digitization.                           Photo: Gemeinde Risch

The offer will therefore only be maintained until the end of 2023. The strategic partnership with the Swiss Association of Municipalities and the Swiss Association of Cities is to be maintained, however, and the  cities and municipalities will have a "new attractive offer" available by 2024, writes Alliance SwissPass. Analogous to partnerships with Coop or Swiss Post, municipalities and cities should also be able to sell public transport tickets at special rates. In this regard, various variants are already being discussed.