152 million passengers carried with PostBus

Last year, PostBus transported 152 million passengers (previous year: 145 million). Across Switzerland as a whole, the number of routes increased from 877 to 882. The 2,274 Postbuses travelled 117 million kilometres on scheduled routes (previous year: 113 million).

The biggest increase in kilometres travelled was in the Zurich region (+17 percent) due to expansion as part of the timetable change in December 2015. PostBus also travelled significantly more kilometres in Western Switzerland (+8 percent), with services in the canton of Jura in particular seeing strong expansion. In terms of passenger numbers, the strongest growth was in the Eastern Switzerland region (+10 percent), followed by the Berne region (+8 percent).

Regional passenger transport is the core business of PostBus. PostBus also became something of a national and international talking point with the introduction of its two autonomous SmartShuttles in Sion. Since the start of testing in June 2016, the SmartShuttles carried 16,000 people through Sion city center, plus another 10,000 passengers during external operations in Switzerland and abroad, including the Gotthard opening ceremony and at Salon de la Mode in Paris. As autonomous buses operating on public roads, the SmartShuttles are among the first of their kind worldwide. They will carry guests at the CeBIT, the world’s largest IT trade fair, in Hanover between 20 and 24 March 2017.

As of the end of last year, PostBus employed 4,098 staff members (previous year: 3,915), or 3,578 full-time equivalents. PostBus is developing from the largest bus company for public transport in Switzerland into a fully integrated mobility provider that wants to accompany customers on their journey from start to finish with appropriate services. One example of this is the mobility app NordwestMobil, which was launched in 2016 in the Basel region and will be rolled out nationally in autumn 2017.