Public Transport Industry Association VöV Criticizes Federal Government’s Cost-Cutting Measures for Regional Transport

The Association of Public Transport (VöV) sees the savings targets decided by the Federal Council in the 2024 budget as not being feasible in terms of time. In a letter to the Federal Office of Transport (BAV), the industry association is therefore calling for the decision to be reconsidered. He announced this on Monday.

At the end of March, the BAV informed the transport companies in a paper about the effects of the savings targets decided by the Federal Council. This is also available to the Keystone-SDA news agency. The specifications also apply to regional passenger transport (RPV).

The originally planned credit amount for the RPV of CHF 1,101.6 million was reduced to CHF 1,079.5 million. This corresponds to a reduction of 7.8 percent compared to the loan for 2023. Compared to 2023, the RPV has 91.8 million francs less available. At the same time, the transport companies were asked to submit corresponding offers for the year 2024 by the end of April.

From the point of view of the VöV, the short-term adjustments to the specifications by the BAV contradict the planning security sought with the four-year commitment credits. On the other hand, short-term adjustments are not possible with serious planning, the association announced on request: “The adjusted RPV offers required by the BAV for the entry at the end of April were simply not feasible due to the time frame alone.”

Almost ten years ago, the VöV had demanded that four-year commitment credits be approved for the compensation of the RPV. The BAV then created a corresponding legal basis as part of the small revision of the federal law on passenger transport. The amendment was accepted by Parliament.

Short-term cuts in loans approved by Parliament – as is now the case for the 2024 budget – would contradict this. In addition, short-term savings targets are inefficient. This is because a large part of the costs would already exist and practically only variable costs could be saved.

From the point of view of the VöV, the savings targets can only be met by reducing the offer. “It is not clear to us how the requirements can be implemented without reducing the offer,” says the VöV. A reduction in supply would result in a drop in revenue and fewer customers. Ultimately, however, the orderers (BAV and cantons) would have to make decisions about the offer and be responsible for them.