To be able to travel through Switzerland on the motorway, you must purchase an annual vignette. Normally, this is sufficient, but some members of parliament believe this is not enough, which is why additional fees for transit travelers are being discussed.
The issue Switzerland sees is the mass of vehicles passing through, especially during holiday periods. This leads to extreme traffic congestion, such as up to 10 km of traffic jams at the Gotthard Tunnel. For travelers, an additional transit fee is to be charged when they travel through Switzerland “without a significant stay in the country”. This means: for transit travelers who do not plan a longer stay in Switzerland but are merely passing through. There would be no fixed price, as the transit fee would depend on the travel time. For instance, it would be higher during peak hours before holidays or at the beginning of vacation periods.
Whether the transit fee is compatible with the Land Transport Agreement must still be clarified internally in Switzerland and then with the EU. The transit fee is intended to help protect the Alpine region. However, implementation of this measure still needs to be evaluated. It also needs to be determined when a “significant stay” is considered to have occurred, as it raises the question of whether hours spent stuck in traffic would already count as such.
A scientific study is to serve as the basis for developing a pricing structure to ensure that the transit fee actually has a steering effect or leads to a change in traffic volume. Therefore, the price the transit fee will have cannot yet be predicted.
We wish you a relaxing journey and would like to inform you about the applicable toll regulations. Use our route planner to better plan your trip and see the associated toll products (such as the vignette or special toll). Purchase your digital vignette easily from home through us and avoid the hassle of sticking and later scraping off a regular vignette. Feel free to contact us with any questions via our email.
