Mobility Pricing Act enters consultation phase

Switzerland would not be the first country to test mobility pricing. Today, anyone who wants to drive into the city of London has to pay a corresponding levy. This has significantly eased traffic congestion in London. Mobility pricing can therefore help solve traffic problems. In Switzerland, a theoretical impact analysis using the example of the canton of Zug has already shown that this works. In order for mobility pricing to be tested in practice, an appropriate legal basis is needed. The Federal Council has drafted a new law for this purpose and has now sent it out for consultation.

The law would allow cantons and municipalities to carry out pilot projects. The federal law, which is limited to ten years, is intended to allow the testing of novel pricing systems to influence transport demand and mobility behavior, both in private motorized transport and in public transport. The law is also intended to create the basis for the federal government to provide financial support for pilot projects. This is because the findings from these can be of interest throughout Switzerland, for example with regard to the acceptance of mobility pricing among the population, as the Federal Council emphasizes.

Responsibility with cantons, municipalities or organizations

The law distinguishes between pilot projects in which road users in the region concerned are subject to a levy and projects in which they can participate voluntarily. The implementation of pilot projects with a levy obligation is the responsibility of the cantons or municipalities. They must be approved by the canton in whose territory the project is being tested. The canton must obtain approval from the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). Projects with volunteers can also be carried out by interested organizations.

Various regions have expressed interest in carrying out a pilot project. DETEC is in the process of clarifying and fleshing out the project ideas submitted for this purpose with the interested cantons, municipalities and cities. Based on this, feasibility studies will next be carried out for some of these project outlines. This should clarify the question of which of the proposed pilot projects can be realized.

The feasibility studies are to be ready by 2022. They will run in parallel with the legislative process so that the pilot projects can start quickly as soon as the new law comes into force. From today's perspective, this is planned for the beginning of 2024.

First statements of the mobility associations

In a first statement, the reactions of the two mobility associations fall VCS and TCS differ. The VCS welcomes the Federal Council's approach and writes: "Mobility pricing is a great opportunity to make transport more sustainable. Appropriate pricing can reduce transport demand and encourage a shift to environmentally friendly modes of transport. The pilot tests are an important first step in this direction."

The TCS takes a different view, stating: "The TCS rejects the steering of mobility by price. Breaking traffic peaks through higher peak hour prices would be anti-social and would primarily affect people with inflexible working hours. The draft law for such projects sent into consultation today by the Federal Council goes in the wrong direction."

Source: Federal Government/rs

The consultation (here the documents) starts on February 4, 2021 and lasts until May 17, 2021..

Lively interest in pilot projects

In February 2020, the federal government contacted cantons and cities to gauge their concrete interest in a pilot project. Several ideas or project outlines were then submitted to the federal government. The cantons of Aargau, Basel-Stadt, Geneva, Jura, Thurgau (Frauenfeld), Valais and Zug as well as the cities of Bern, Biel/Bienne, Delémont and Zurich responded. The interested cantons, cities and municipalities were then asked in the fall of 2020 to specify their project outlines and ideas in view of a possible further deepening within the framework of a feasibility study, as the federal government writes in its media release.