Following cuts to the network back in December 2023, the Zurich Transport Authority (VBZ) has confirmed that public transport services in the city will be re-expanded by the end of this year. The chronic shortage of VBZ workers, the main reason for the cuts, has now eased enough to restart services.

Worker shortage at Zurich Transport Authority has eased 

Since December 2023, travellers in Zurich have had to deal with a slimmed-down timetable every evening. When the change was announced back in October 2023, VBZ admitted that due to a shortage of staff and a rise in the rate of sick leave - blamed by the unions on the “additional stress” placed on drivers - they were no longer able to maintain as many bus and tram services.

Now, the company confirmed that it has managed to improve the worker situation via new recruitment and training campaigns, especially measures targeted at prospective employees over 50 years old. "In addition to posters, advertisements, social media and media contributions, the information day for interested parties also meant that the VBZ was able to fill the training classes very well," the statement read.

Evening bus and tram schedule returns to normal from December

As a result, all changes to the public transport timetable in Zurich will be reversed from December 15, 2024. This means that bus lines 31, 32, 33, 46, 69, 72, 75 and 80 will run every 10 minutes until 10.30pm every weeknight (midnight on Fridays and Saturdays), two hours longer than previously.

From after the cut-off, bus lines will run every 15 minutes. Tram line 15 will also begin to run at 7,5-minute intervals again, lengthening to 10 minutes by 10.30pm.

VBZ is not out of the woods yet

However, VBZ conceded that this will not be the end of staff shortages at the company, noting that non-paid absences are still much higher than they were before the COVID pandemic, and many of their employees are approaching retirement. Therefore, the company concluded that they will continue to intensively train and offer jobs to new staff.

Thumb image credit: Michael Derrer Fuchs / Shutterstock.com