Tram CityTransportation Planning in Zürich, Switzerland

Norman W. GarrickUniversity of Connecticut

The Model T

http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1800-1919/1915-Ford-Model-T-b-nf.jpg

From 1909 to 1927, the Ford Motor Company

built 15 million Model T cars, transforming

the economic and social fabric of the world

http://www.modelt.ca/background.html

Vehicle Miles Traveled or

The World After the Model T

Ref for VMT ---- http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2007/vmt421.cfm

1908The Model T

1930sThe Great Depression

1940-45World War II

1956Highway Bill

1973First Oil Crisis

1979Second Oil Crisis

1949Housing Act

1992ISTEA

Post 2005 ???

Before-World War 2

After-World War 2

Ref for VMT ---- http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2007/vmt421.cfm

Did the increase in traffic change our cities?

Or did we have to change our cities and townsto allow for this extraordinary increase in traffic?

Often we focus on how the increase in traffic changed our cities

But it is also important to understand that themassive increase in traffic in the after-war period

would have been impossible without an equally massive restructuring of our cities

After the Model TTransportation and Urban Living

In Zürich, Switzerland

250 cars per 1000 people

25 cars per 1000 people

Motor Vehicles per 1000

Pre-World War 2Zürich had an extremely low level of motorization

Motor Vehicles per 1000

From 1945 to 1980Zürich motorized at an astounding rate

3X more than 1945

50X more than 1945

Motor Vehicles per 1000

Post 1980Zürich’s increase in motorization stalled dramatically

Zürich Pre-World War 2

Zürich’s Streetcar Network 1909The current network is twice as large

Source: Die Disziplinierung Der Stadt Moderner Stadtebau in Zürich 1900 bis 1940 by Daniel Kurz

Zürich was not spared modernist thinking

Source: Die Disziplinierung Der Stadt Moderner Stadtebau in Zürich 1900 bis 1940 by Daniel Kurz

Luckily the old city remains largely intact

Source: Die Disziplinierung Der Stadt Moderner Stadtebau in Zürich 1900 bis 1940 by Daniel Kurz

Zürich streets were modified to better accommodate cars

Zürich 1945-1980

Population of Zürich

Mit Autobahnen Die Städte Retten?(With Highways the Cities are Saved?)

1954 A federal commission organized to address traffic in Switzerland

According to George Kammann in ‘Mit Autobahnen Die Stadte Retten?’“This commission quickly reverted to a single-minded focus on the building of a national system of Autobahns to match that of Italy, Germany and the United States. “

One major idea was the building of freeways through the center of all major Swiss cities, including Zürich

Autobahn over the River Sihl in Zurich

Direct Democracy in Switzerland

At first these plans seemed to have the support of the cities.

But as planning progressed during the late 50s and early 60s, opposition to freeways in the cities grew substantially.

This sounds exactly like the scenario playing out in the USA at the time.

The key difference – the Swiss tradition of direct democracy, which required popular vote on any significant project or change to public policy.

1962, No to Subways for Zürich1962 voters in both the City and the wider Canton of Zürich, rejected plans for the subway system. In the city the margin was a resounding 61 to 39 %.

Concurrent with the reject of the subway, there was also a great deal of public criticism about the general direction of transportation planning in the city.

These plans included the proposals for the three major expressways that were designed to intersect in the form of a giant Y in the center of the city. These highway plans were defeated in a later referendum.

1973, Again with the Subways?

In 1973 the city was once again back before the voters with a new plan – this time for a joint subway (U-Bahn) and commuter rail (S-Bahn) system.

1973, Once again Nein to the Subways

Once again this system was designed as a plan to partly replace the city’s system of surface trams. And once again the voters shocked the politicians by voting down the plan – this time by a 57 % to 43 % margin.

Reasons the Subway was Rejected

1. Subways would facilitate excessive growth of the city or in the language of the era - the Manhattanization of Zürich.

2. Subways would improve longer distance travel (especially for people coming from the suburban towns) but would disadvantage people traveling shorter distances in the city.

3. Replacing the surface trams with a subterranean system would free up road space for cars and thus attract more cars to the center city.

1970sThe Peoples Initiative for the Promotion of Transit

The rejection of the U-Bahn/S-Bahn plan encouraged the anti-subway activists to develop their own transportation proposal in opposition to the government’s plan.

This “People’s Initiative for the Promotion of Public Transit” represented an important shift and was based on the realization that it was hard to argue against something with nothing.

The People’s Initiative was important in getting people to understand that the opponents of the subway plan were not against transit, but just against the specific type of transit proposed, and the consequential intensification of the city.

The People’s Six Points Initiative

The People’s Initiative was largely based on the idea of giving transit priority over automobile traffic. It drew on the experience of the Swiss cities of Bern and Basel.

The Zürich plan was based on 6 points: 1)Give absolute priority to buses and trams, 2)Create exclusive transit lanes and traffic signal priority, 3)Increase frequency of transit service, 4)Expand the transit system, 5)Improve interchanges between lines, 6)Improve the stop areas.

The People’s Initiative 40 Years Later

“Frequency is Freedom”Jarrett Walker

What Makes Transit Useful(from Jarrett Walker’s “Human Transit”)

1. It takes me where I want to go2. It takes me when I want to go3. It is a good use of my time4. It is a good use of my money5. It respects me in the level of safety, comfort, and amenity it

provides6. I can trust it7. It give me freedom to change my plans

Only

Trams, Busesand

Ferries

S-bahn network not shown

1992 – The S-bahn, Zürich and the Suburbs

S-bahn Network

Canton Zurich +

660 square miles1.4 million People

http://swisstrains.ch/

City of Zürich

Frequency is Freedom

Tram stops, cars wait

Zürich’s HegibachplatzElegant New Style Intermodal Hub

Trams, S-bahn, Bus

Transit stops always come with crosswalks

Transit Priority on the Langstrasse

How much does all this cost?Total Expenditure in 2011 = 918 million CHF

State Subsidy

Subsidy = 38% of Total Expenditure

From 1.Kanton Zurich2.Cities and Town in Kanton

Subsidy is 250 CHF per Capita

For Operating….

Metering of cars entering the city

Parking Policy

Max in city center 0.08 spaces/1000 sq. ft (0.50 spaces/1000 sq. ft in secondary

centers)

The Prime Tower complex, which includes the tallest building in Switzerland, at 36

stories, and over 700,000 sq. feet of space, opened in 2011.

It has only 250 parking spaces.

Network of Neighborhoods in Zürich 1998

Access by Foot

Network of Neighborhoods in Zürich 2008

Access by Foot

The official approach to transportationin Zürich today is a direct descendant of the 1970s People’s Initiative

It is the opposite of the approach taught in most schools Some city officials refer to it as

Supply Driven Transportation Planning

One Reason for Supply Driven Planning

Cars require 10 to 30 times more space than other modes

Motor Vehicles per 1000

The result of supply driven transportation in Zürich?

Norman W. Garrick

norman.garrick@gmail.comwww.engr.uconn.edu/~garrick