The Swiss think tank Avenir Suisse has analyzed the speed of public transport in cities using 100,000 Google Maps data sets and comes to a rather sobering conclusion. The average speed does not even reach twice the speed of walking. Or to put it another way: you would always be faster on a bike and on an e-bike anyway.
"In Swiss cities, public transport is the mode of choice for many commuters. It is punctual, safe and fairly clean. But strictly speaking, it is not fast: it only outperforms public transport in German and Austrian cities by 0.5 km/h on comparable routes and does not even reach twice the walking speed," writes Avenir Suisse, adding: "Urban public transport is confronted with conflicting goals: A denser network of stops shortens walking distances, for example, but also reduces the travel speed of the means of transport. Swiss cities accept precisely this trade-off. It therefore pays to use public transport more quickly here than in Germany and Austria. Accordingly, Swiss cities achieve a head start above all on shorter and medium distances. Public transport is at least as fast in German and Austrian cities over longer distances. There are also more transfers in Switzerland than in our German-speaking neighbors. However, the waiting time per change is significantly shorter in Switzerland."
If you take the figures from the Federal Statistical Office, bicycles and e-bikes are clearly the fastest means of transport in urban areas. The BfS has calculated a speed of 12.8 km/h for bicycles, 14.6 km/h for e-bikes25 and 20.9 km/h for e-bikes45 - at all times, regardless of whether it is rush hour or not. On the one hand, this explains the increasing popularity of these means of transportation. On the other hand, the BfS data also shows the enormous potential that still lies untapped for bicycles and e-bikes. Only 9 percent of commuters use a bicycle/e-bike. 50 percent drive their cars. An astonishing figure when you know that half of all car journeys are less than 5 kilometers. In other words, over a distance that is actually perfect for bikes and e-bikes.
To the study by Aveinr Suisse: https://www.avenir-suisse.ch/publication/stadt-oev-entdeckung-der-langsamkeit/
Commuter mobility in Switzerland: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/mobilitaet-verkehr/personenverkehr/pendlermobilitaet.html
August 15, 2024