Principles of Successful High Quality Public Transport Operation and Development
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Principles of successful high quality public transport operation and development WP2: National Report Switzerland CHUR Directorate General for Energy and Transport No TREN/05/FP6TR/S07.58672/020002 10 March 2007 Milena Scherer Jost Wichser IVT ETH Zurich page 2 of 14 The national report document is an input to another document and does not have the status of an "official" PROCEED document. The views expressed in this publication have not been adopted or in any way approved by the European Commission and should not be relied upon as a statement of the Commission's views. The contents of this document do not prejudge the final form of any decision to be taken by the European Commission on the contents of the work programme or the launch of a call for proposals. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf is liable for the use that might be made of the information contained in this document. No one may make any claims from its content. page 3 of 14 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. National Framework........................................................................................................5 1.1. Organisational characteristics....................................................................................5 1.2. Legislation................................................................................................................5 1.3. Financing..................................................................................................................6 2. Why Chur? ......................................................................................................................7 3. Chur ................................................................................................................................8 3.1. Chur..........................................................................................................................8 3.2. Concession and organisation of public transport in Chur...........................................8 3.3. Network, infrastructure and performance of the city bus system................................9 3.4. Public funding, costs and revenues..........................................................................12 3.5. Market analyses, monitoring, marketing and information........................................13 3.6. Recent measures and results....................................................................................14 3.7. Main success factors ...............................................................................................14 page 4 of 14 1. NATIONAL FRAMEWORK 1.1. Organisational characteristics In Switzerland, the responsibility for tendering for regional public transport lies with the cantons. These are obliged to guarantee a basic maintenance of public transport in the entire canton in order to secure adequate economic development in accordance with urban and regional planning. The canton is the approval authority for transport services. The municipality is responsible for financing urban public transport and is involved in the tendering process as well. With public transport lines crossing local borders, good coordination with the adjoining municipalities is necessary. The planning of the urban traffic supply takes place in local responsible departments which in Switzerland mainly belong to the civil engineering office. These departments work closely with the traffic operators and cantonal authorities to plan and specify an optimal transport supply. Subsequently, suitable transport service providers apply. Planning the transport supply is often carried out by external planning offices. In cooperation with local agents, they develop a public transport supply that is responsive to the needs of the users. The public transport supply is adapted to the plans for settlement development as often as possible. 1.2. Legislation The cantons are regulated by higher-ranking legislation. In addition to the Road Traffic Act (SR 741.01), the Bundesgesetz über die Personenbeförderung und die Zulassung als Strassentransportunternehmung (Personenbeförderungsgesetz, SR 744.10) and the Verordnung über die Personenbeförderungskonzession, and the Verordnung über die behindertengerechte Gestaltung des öffentlichen Verkehrs (SR 151.34) apply. The Passenger Transport Act regulates, among other things, the following issues: equal treatment of handicapped persons in public transportation, timetables, compensations, tariffs and passenger transport concessions. At the cantonal and regional levels, the guidelines for public transport are formulated in more detail (e.g. the law requiring a humanitarian and environment-friendly city transport for the city of Chur, which covers the public transport supply including cycle times, tariffs and traffic management). The awarding of a concession for a transport service is regulated at the national level by the Verordnung über die Beförderungskonzession (SR 744.11). In principle, every canton and municipality is free to tailor the requirements set by the Federal Government. The concessions, typically granted for 10 years, are awarded on the basis of the following criteria (from appendix to SR 744.11, Art. 20 Abs. 2): Applications for concession have to contain the following information: • Name and address of the applicant and his company • An abridged version of the commercial register entry • Intent of the application, especially information about convenience and profitability of page 5 of 14 the transport service and its bearing on the concepts of relevant planning sources • Planned routes, including bus stops and distances • Map of the topography with routes and bus stops plotted • Information on whether the transport service is performed during the entire year or seasonally • Start date • Duration of the concession • Timetable and tariffs • Information on funding • Ownership structure of the vehicles • Information about accessibility and programmes for filling the needs of the handicapped • Sanction of the responsible cantons and municipalities A bus concession must also include a complete list of all vehicles with specific data. In addition, requests for automotive concessions have to specify designated vehicles and replacement vehicles as well as trailers (brand, type, age group, number of seats), unless they are not already used in licensed transport. Requests for trolley bus concessions must also contain: • A technical report containing information about the nature of the steady electrical systems and the vehicles • Classifications of the vehicles • Documents that show that the appropriate authorities in the affected cantons have granted the operational demands of the electrical systems 1.3. Financing The canton and the individual tendering municipalities set the amount of compensation for public transport. Usually, it is determined annually for the following year. The transport operator has to provide the supply using the compensation and the revenues, as well as other earnings (e.g. advertisements). In the cities under examination, the portion of the compensation covered by the canton varies from 10% to 20%. The municipalities involved, in particular the main city, cover the remainder. page 6 of 14 2. WHY CHUR? In its size category (20,000–200,000 inhabitants), Chur belongs to the most successful public transportation services in Switzerland. This is based on the results of the public transport test 2006 conducted by the group UmverkehR, where the following factors were investigated: basic interval, distance to the bus stop, average speed of the bus system, ticket prices, age of the fleet, infotainment and information, quality of interchanges and user-friendliness. Map source: www.worldatlas.com Figure 1: Geographical location of Chur. Schaffhausen and Lucerne are also considered as cities with a successful bus service. Lucerne Chur Schaffhausen Inhabitants of the catchment area 180,000 32,400 44,000 of the city bus Carried passengers per diem 130,000 18,000 40,000 Passengers per kilometre per 85,800,000 18,000,000 27,700,000 annum Annual compensation (millions 25.5 3.8 9.6 CHF) page 7 of 14 3. CHUR 3.1. Brief overview of Chur Chur is the capital of the largest Swiss Canton, Graubünden. Chur is located in the Alps, where the river Plessur discharges the river Rhein (see Figure 2). Although the city is located in the Alps, the topography of the settlement area is rather flat, which explains the high percentage of cyclists. The municipalities in the neighbourhood are: Felsberg, Domat/Ems, Haldenstein, Trimmis, Malanders, Churwalden and Malix. The city has about 32,500 inhabitants and 25,000 jobs. Most of the people work in Chur or nearby (90%), while about 2,000 people work in the local rural region and 250 commuters head for Zurich. Chur is important in the canton as a place for higher education. Map source: www.mapsearch.ch Figure 2: Geographical overview of Chur 3.2. Concession and organisation of public transport in Chur The bus operator of Chur (Stadtbus Chur AG) started work as transport operator in 1996. Before this, a transport delegate of the city provided urban public transportation. This service only covered the city. Today the catchment area includes the municipalities nearby. The assignment to render services for public transport is defined by the city and described in the page 8 of 14 city’s law for a human and environmentally friendly urban transportation (Gesetz über den menschen- und umweltfreundlichen Stadtverkehr, 661). The main aspects in this law are: • Introduction