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Ticket sales in public transport under pressure

FOT requires anonymous and non-digital travel on public transport

The Federal Office of Transport is clarifying the rules for ticket sales in public transport. Anonymous tickets should be available spontaneously from the end of 2028, while validators and ticket machines bridge the transition period. At the same time, the authority demands fair solutions for travellers without a smartphone and threatens supervisory rulings.
Anonyme Fahrausweise müssen bis Ende 2028 spontan erhältlich sein.
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THE KEY POINTS IN BRIEF
• The FOT interprets Article 54 paragraph 4 of the Passenger Transport Act and sets new requirements for public transport sales channels
• Anonymous tickets must be available spontaneously by the end of 2028, while validators and ticket machines cover the transition phase
• Travellers without a smartphone need alternatives without disproportionate extra costs by the end of July 2027

The Fed­er­al Office of Trans­port requires anony­mous and non-dig­i­tal trav­el on pub­lic trans­port. It sent a let­ter to Switzer­land’s licensed trans­port com­pa­nies on 13 July 2026. Alliance Swiss­Pass is now dis­trib­ut­ing the doc­u­ment across the indus­try. In it, the author­i­ty inter­prets Arti­cle 54 para­graph 4 of the Pas­sen­ger Trans­port Act. This pro­vi­sion has already applied since 1 Jan­u­ary 2025.

Anonymous travel on public transport becomes spontaneous by the end of 2028

Until now, a pre­pared tick­et suf­ficed, for exam­ple a mul­ti-jour­ney card for stamp­ing. In future, how­ev­er, trav­ellers must be able to buy their anony­mous tick­et short­ly before depar­ture. The FOT has set a dead­line of the end of 2028. Dur­ing the tran­si­tion phase, the com­pa­nies keep exist­ing val­ida­tors run­ning, pro­vid­ed cus­tomers use them reg­u­lar­ly. Like­wise, tick­et machines remain in ser­vice at busy inter­changes.

Anonymity does not depend on the means of payment

The FOT defines anonymi­ty close­ly along data pro­tec­tion law. A tick­et counts as anony­mous if the com­pa­ny can­not link the route to a per­son. Pay­ing by cred­it card changes noth­ing here either. The author­i­ty express­ly does not regard an IP address alone as per­son­al data. Sea­son tick­ets such as the GA trav­el­card may there­fore remain per­son­alised. Any­one hold­ing a per­son­al sea­son tick­et, how­ev­er, needs an anony­mous trav­el option. The com­pa­nies may not store the inspec­tion results in such cas­es.

Rules for non-digitals apply from the end of July 2027

Peo­ple with­out a smart­phone must also obtain a valid tick­et. The FOT does not require a spon­ta­neous solu­tion for this. Instead, a pur­chase up to 30 min­utes before depar­ture or a pre­pared tick­et suf­fices. The author­i­ty clear­ly prefers solu­tions clos­er to the depar­ture time, though. In addi­tion, those affect­ed must not incur dis­pro­por­tion­ate extra costs. A ser­vice sur­charge above the tick­et price would con­se­quent­ly be inad­mis­si­ble. Any­one fail­ing this require­ment today must make improve­ments by the end of July 2027.

Cash remains available at counters and for the prepaid travel card

Tick­et machines and dri­vers do not have to accept cash. Nev­er­the­less, the FOT rejects sys­tems that only accept per­son­al deb­it or cred­it cards. The author­i­ty con­sid­ers the pub­lic trans­port pre­paid card from Decem­ber 2025 suf­fi­cient. At staffed coun­ters, how­ev­er, trav­ellers must be able to buy and top it up with cash.

FOT threatens the industry with a supervisory ruling

The FOT leaves the actu­al imple­men­ta­tion to the indus­try. How­ev­er, it expects stan­dard­ised solu­tions that apply uni­form­ly across Switzer­land. These sim­pli­fy pub­lic trans­port use and at the same time reduce costs. In par­al­lel, the office demands low­er mar­ket­ing and dis­tri­b­u­tion costs in region­al pas­sen­ger trans­port. In the medi­um term, these should account for no more than ten per cent of rev­enue. If the indus­try miss­es the dead­lines, the FOT will exam­ine a super­vi­so­ry rul­ing case by case.

What does the FOT require regard­ing anony­mous trav­el on pub­lic trans­port?

The FOT requires trav­ellers to obtain tick­ets with­out the pro­cess­ing of per­son­al data on com­pa­ra­ble terms.

The trans­port com­pa­nies must enable spon­ta­neous anony­mous trav­el by the end of 2028 at the lat­est.

Non-dig­i­tals are peo­ple who do not want to or can­not buy their tick­et dig­i­tal­ly.

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Picture of Lea Gehrken

Lea Gehrken

Lea Gehrken is currently studying Business Communications (BSc) at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (HWZ) and, as managing director of the communications agency Crax AG, leads challenging projects at the interface of communication, strategy, and media relations. Her connection to mobility is multifaceted: as a public transport commuter between Bern and Zurich, as a recreational driver, through travel experiences with a motorhome, and as an enthusiastic racing cyclist. These personal experiences shape her perspective and flow into editorial work, communication concepts, and projects related to the mobility of the future. With a keen sense for trends and social developments, Lea Lisa Gehrken represents a new generation of communications professionals who think about mobility in a connected, sustainable, and human way. In doing so, she sometimes provides a conscious counterpoint to the “established” authors on the platform.
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