How far do people in Switzerland travel every day? Why do they travel? And what modes of transport do they use? These are some of the questions answered by the Mobility and Transport Microcensus.
A statistical survey of the travel behaviour of the Swiss population is conducted every five years by the Federal Office for Spatial
Development ARE and the Federal Statistical Office (FSO): the Mobility and Transport Microcensus (MTMC). The MTMC contains information about
- the socioeconomic characteristics of households and individuals
- mobility tools (vehicles and public transport season tickets)
- daily mobility (trips on a given reference day)
- occasional journeys (day trips and trips with overnight stays)
- attitudes towards transport policy in Switzerland.
With a sample of more than 55,000 and a long list of questions, this is the largest national-level survey about travel behaviour.
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the survey had to be postponed from 2020 to 2021. The influence of the pandemic on the mobility behaviour of the population must be taken into account when interpreting the 2021 results, especially when comparing them with data from previous years.
The MTMC data provide the statistical basis for a variety of other, more in-depth analyses. Once they have signed a non-disclosure agreement, both private and public research institutes are able to access the data in anonymised form (please see ‘Contact').
Documents
Effects of the coronavirus pandemic on mobility behavior
A special analysis (without weighting) of the microcensus data from early 2020 and early 2021 was carried out (German and French).
Media
Contact
Federal Office for Spatial Development
3003 Berne
Swiss Federal Statistical Office
+41 58 463 64 68
verkehr@bfs.admin.ch