Swiss Public Transport Tops European Study: 94% Efficiency Rating from Commuters

Zurich, 1 December 2016. According to a study conducted by the PageGroup, Switzerland has the highest number of people who take public transport to and from their workplace (54%) compared with the European average of 34%. 94% of them rate the system as efficient, regarding on-time arrival, compared with a European average of 75% and ahead of neighbouring countries such as Austria (89%), Germany (77%), France (64%) and Italy (54%).

SWITZERLAND: EUROPE’S MOST EFFICIENT PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Swiss public transport users are significantly less stressed about the workplace commute than those who drive to work – 20% vs 32% respectively.

Commuters in the German-speaking region are less stressed than those in the Swiss Romande – despite spending more time commuting. For example, 17% of respondents reported who used public transport to travel to work in the German-speaking region reported commute-related stress vs 24% in the Swiss
Romande.

The average commute to work in the German-speaking region took 43 minutes compared with the Swiss Romande (38 minutes) and the Continental European average (42 minutes).

Almost every second employee in Switzerland is willing to relocate for a better commute. In the French-speaking part it is far more than in the German-speaking part – 57% compared to 34%, a significant difference of more than 20%.  

According to Xavier Chauville, “Many candidates are looking for employment packages that include some degree of flexibility related to their regular commute to and from work. In a very competitive market, some companies offer to count the time worked in public transport as part of the legal working time. Such factors can make a difference in the current economic environment where salaries are often capped.”

PageGroup

PageGroup is a worldwide leader in specialist recruitment which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (Stock Symbol: PAGE). Founded in 1976, it has been active in Switzerland since 2001 and operates through three key brands: Page Executive (executive search), Michael Page (middle to senior management) and Page Personnel (graduate and skilled employees). PageGroup has 152 offices worldwide including its’ three Swiss offices in Zurich, Geneva and Lausanne.

PageGroup Commute and Transport Survey

The PageGroup, “Commute and Transport Survey” covers perceptions about travel to work. It was conducted online in Q3 across Continental Europe and covered 12, 485 responses in Europe.  1558 of these responses were from people located in Switzerland – including 821 in the French-speaking region, 700 in the German-speaking region and 37 in the Italian-speaking part.