The effect of structural changes in public-transportation tariff systems: a case study from Switzerland

In the spring of 2024, public-transportation providers in Switzerland introduced ”myRIDE”, a field test of a new fare system replacing all existing tariff options with a single unified pay-per-use model. The goal of the myRIDE project is to simplify the Swiss tariff landscape. From a transportation-policy perspective, myRIDE represents a nearly unprecedented behavioral experiment, allowing us to assess the effect of structural changes in the tariff structure. Using a unique consumption dataset of about 3400 market participants and 2700 randomly selected public-transportation customers (as a control group), we investigate the effect of joining the myRIDE tariff solution on public transportation expenditures and travel frequencies. Employing a difference-in-difference approach that accounts for the staggered enrollment of field-test participants, we find that public-transportation expenditures decreased by 13 % to 23 %. The reduction is even more pronounced among previous season-ticket holders, possibly due to myRIDE’s bonus structure which particularly targets frequent customers. In contrast, customers without a season ticket prior to the field test experienced a 1 % to 24 % increase in the number of trips; however, for most estimates, this increase is not statistically significant and tends to weaken over time.