Mobility subscription is ten times more expensive in Zug than in Zurich Zentralplus
If you live in a city apartment in Zurich, you get a free Mobility subscription when you rent it. That means: You no longer need your own car. Anyone who wants to take a trip can get into one of the 2950 vehicles that belong to the fleet of the car sharing provider based in Rotkreuz.
The ALG politician Stefan Hodel from Stadtzug thought the idea was brilliant. He asks the city council to also get an offer. And the same for all households in Stadtzug, not just for the tenants of a city apartment. “If Mobility makes an offer comparable to that in Zurich, the costs are very modest at CHF 20,000 per year,” he wrote in one postulate (Zentralplus reported).
Mobility requires 14.20 instead of 1.30 francs per household
Mobility is now thwarting his plans. The offer is ten times higher than Hodel expected. It should cost 200,000 francs a year to give the 14,000 or so people of Zug in the city of Zug a mobility subscription. Instead of 1.30 as in Zurich, that’s 14.20 francs per household, as in the offer emerges.
“We noticed that more people booked the offer than we thought.”
Mobility spokeswoman Sybille Theiler
“I was very surprised that we Zugers would have to pay ten times what Mobility in Zurich would have asked for,” says an audibly irritated Stefan Hodel when he reaches Zentralplus on the phone. “I would like to know how Mobiliy explains this difference – but there is nothing to be read about this in the offer.”
The people of Zug, the car freaks
The city council suspects the reason for the massive price difference to be the density of vehicles in the city of Zug. As a rule, “at least one, but often several private vehicles per household are available”, he writes in his reply. And further: “The price offer for Zug allows the conclusion that mobility does not suspect any significant customer potential here”.
In other words: so many Stadtzugers have their own cars that they do not even use any mobility offer. In addition, according to the city council – unlike in Zurich – there is enough parking space for private individuals everywhere, so it is much more convenient to have your own car than in Zurich.
In Zurich, Mobility has calculated too low
Specifically, Mobility expects that the introduction of a free offer would increase the number of subscribers from 1900 today to around 2900. Is that really the reason why the offer is so much higher?
“I am of the opinion that the high proportion of cars per household should be a reason to offer Zug residents a free mobility subscription.”
ALG municipal councilor Stefan Hodel
“We are currently in a test phase to see how such a package deal will be received,” explains Mobility spokeswoman Sybille Theiler. The offer for the Zurich properties was a first attempt. “We noticed that more people booked the offer than we thought. That surprised us positively and made it clear to us that we were budgeting too low or that the costs could not cover enough. Ergo, we have integrated additional parameters into the calculation for new inquiries, ”says Theiler.
In the present case, the target group is also not comparable 1: 1. In addition, the “Mobility for all” offer is only one component of a comprehensive collaboration with the Zurich property management company.
Can the Mobility car replace the private car?
Stefan Hodel is not surprised that the city council rejects his postulate in this offer. “However, I am of the opinion that the high proportion of cars per household should be a reason to offer Zug residents a free Mobility subscription.”
“In city traffic, buses and bicycles are the most sustainable modes of transport.”
City Council Zug
The city council looks different. He is convinced that those who die from Zug will not only be tempted to change their mobility behavior with a free mobility subscription. From his point of view, the most important factor for this is the truth about costs: “Every subsidization of transport in order to promote mobility”, it says in the postulate answer. This also applies to individual private trips in a Mobility car.
“In city traffic, buses and bicycles are the most sustainable modes of transport,” said the city council. He therefore wants to use the available funds specifically for the upgrading of footpaths and strolling paths.