Managing director Silas Hobi reveals new plans
“The idea of halving traffic is more relevant than ever”
Founded 30 years ago, the Umverkehr association helps shape the transport policy of cities such as Zurich, St. Gallen and Winterthur. Now he is also targeting the agglomerations.
According to calculations by Umverkehr Vice President Hanspeter Kunz, the average speed of a car in Switzerland is 16.7 kilometers per hour. The calculation goes like this: “According to Touring Club Schweiz, a car in Switzerland costs an average of around 10,000 francs per year,” writes Kunz in the current issue of the club’s “UmverkehRen” booklet. «This amount is divided by the available hourly wage. For me, I roughly estimate 650 working hours. Together with the 548 hours that a Swiss person spends in the car on average per year, that amounts to around 1200 hours. With a mileage of 20,000 kilometers per year (average in Switzerland), this also results in an average speed of 16.7 kilometers per hour.” You can do that with a bike without any problems. And if you factor in accident, health and environmental costs, you quickly come to the conclusion that walking is even faster than driving a car.