en Zürcher Verkehrsverbund

Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV)
Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV)
Overview
Locale	Canton of Zurich, Switzerland
Transit type	Rail; Light Rail; Bus; Trolleybus; Lake passenger liner; Funicular;
Chief executive	Dominik Brühwiler (director)
Website	zvv.ch
Operation
Began operation	May 1990 (34 years ago)

The Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV, Zurich Transport Network) is the largest public transportation network in Switzerland. It covers the canton of Zurich and adjacent areas. All modes of public transportation (rail, light rail, bus, trolleybus, lake passenger liner, funicular) within a chosen number of zones can be used freely with a ticket that is valid for a certain amount of time (one hour, 24 hours, 1 month, 1 year).

History

The system was established in May 1990 as a unified fare system with a coordinated local train network. Local train lines were prefixed with the letter S (S-Bahn) to form the Zurich S-Bahn network. A proof-of-payment fare system is in force on all ZVV vehicles. Fare gates are not used, but those caught without a valid ticket during a random inspection face a minimum fine of CHF 100.

Zones

The ZVV system uses an integrated a ticket network. The zones are numbered 110–184; the numbers 180–184 designates zones outside of the canton's border. Passengers purchase a base ticket for particular zones. Upgrades and extension tickets are available as supplements.

Trips by fast trains and regional trains by any operator, such as ICN, InterCity (IC), InterRegio (IR), RegioExpress (RE), regional (R) lines, and even international railways are part of the fare network as long as they stop within the fare network's borders.

The zone system approach has been adopted by many other fare networks in Switzerland, such as libero (fare network) in cantons of Bern and Solothurn, and OSTWIND in Thurgau, St. Gallen, Glarus, both Appenzells (AI and AR), and Fürstentum Liechtenstein.

For journeys just beyond ZVV's borders, some zones of the neighboring cantons' fare networks are combined within the extended fare network Z-Pass:^[1]

Aargau: Corridor A-Welle–ZVV
Thurgau/St. Gallen/Glarus: Corridor OSTWIND–ZVV
Schwyz/Zug: Corridor Schwyz-Zug–ZVV

Operators

The operators that make up the ZVV are:^[2]^[3]

Aargau Verkehr
Busbetriebe Bamert
Dolderbahn
Forchbahn
Luftseilbahn Adliswil-Felsenegg
Polybahn
PostAuto Schweiz Region Zürich
Schifffahrts-Genossenschaft Greifensee (SGG)
Schneider Busbetriebe
Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn
Stadtbus Winterthur
Südostbahn (SOB)
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB)
THURBO
Verkehrsbetriebe Glattal (VBG)
Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ)
Verkehrsbetriebe Zürichsee und Oberland (VZO)
Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft (ZSG)

Leadership

The current director of the ZVV is Dominik Brühwiler, appointed 1. January 2021. Dominik Brühwiler was Head of the Traffic Planning Department and Deputy Director for 13 years. Over 60 people applied for the position of Director and the Swiss Department for Transport picked him because of his past experience in the service.