Transport mode choice in alpine resorts in Switzerland

Mountain regions are under-represented in transport research, which tends to concentrate on urban areas. This study investigates transport mode choice in 22 locations in the Alps, using data from the 2010 Swiss transport micro-survey (hereafter: MRMT2010) which has detailed information from 68'868 people in a representative national sample who describe their transport behaviour on a reference day. The Swiss Statistical Office subdivides the territory of Switzerland into city centres, suburbs, outer suburbs, isolated towns, peri-urban rural villages, peripheral rural villages and “alpine touristic centres not included in a conurbation” (herafter: alpine resorts). We ascertained that there were 454 participants from alpine resorts in MRMT2010, living in 22 communes (Gemeinden). Analyses were carried out using SPSS. We found that people living in alpine resorts drive individual motorised vehicles slightly more than people living in other areas, and that walking was as popular in alpine resorts as elsewhere, with an average of 2.3 km per day. It is regarding public transportation that alpine resorts display a distinct profile: their residents cover 3.5 km on a typical day, against 11.0 for people living in city centres and 7-8 km for those living in other types of area. It is not known why mountain resort residents use public transport less than other residents of Switzerland. Our results suggest that it is not linked to insufficient coverage, nor to low overall levels of transportation.