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ZVV night services are profitable and popular!
The night services offered by ZVV continue to grow in popularity. In 2002, the night lines (some still privately operated) carried on average 1500 people on a Saturday night. In 2003, when ZVV re-organised the services and added night S-Bahn trains, patronage rose to 4474. This climbed to 5432 in 2004. A record was reached on 7th November with 9371 passengers. Economically, the system is on sound footing. The night network lost 500'000 Franks in 2003 but payed its way in 2004 (farebox recovery for day services is 60% — also considered a good figure). The success is leading to overcrowding on many routes. Operators are using larger buses and longer trains to alleviate this. The high percentage of passengers without a ticket (5%, comapred to 1% for day services) is also a problem and caused in part by the difficulty of inspecting tickets on crowded vehicles. Additional revenue enforcement staff are being added. Saturday patronage is about 50% higher than Friday's. Night services operate on Friday and Saturday nights. To use the service, a regular ticket is required, in addition to which a supplement of five franks (valid all night) must be payed. The cantonal government requires that ZVV operates the night services without subsidies. The reduction of the legal blood alcohol limit for driving (from 0.08 to 0.05%), which came into effect on 1st January is expected to bring further passengers to public transport. Tagi
this item was added on
11.03.2005 (6989 days ago) |