Uber wants to expand into Switzerland’s mountain areas
The car hailing service Uber that currently operates only in cities has set its sights on Swiss Alpine and rural areas as well.
In a recent interview with the Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Jean-Pascal Aribot, head of Uber Switzerland, said the company “would like to expand further into the rural areas. For example into the Alpine regions.”
That would be a major leap for the ride-hailing company, which operates only in Switzerland’s nine urban areas — Zurich, Zug, Winterthur, Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, and Lucerne.
The reason Aribot wants to ‘uberise’ rural areas is because public transport there is not as dense as it is in the cities.
While populated rural and mountain regions in Switzerland are served by Postbuses — a network of 936 lines that span almost 17,000 kilometres of country roads, no matter how narrow and winding — it is true that buses don’t not run as frequently as they do in urban centres.
READ ALSO: Why PostBuses are true Swiss icons
This means that relying exclusively on the local transportation system is not always a viable option — a situation that Uber wants to exploit.
Aribot said he already contacted Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) about his expansion plans, but has not yet been in touch with the PostBus company.
Controversial company
Since its arrival on the Swiss market in 2014, Uber’s ride has not exactly been smooth.
It has been criticised for failing to pay its drivers proper wages and meet its social contribution obligations, as required by Swiss law.
Because of these labour law and social security issues, in the past Uber was even banned in Geneva for a while, and had to pay retroactive social security and driver compensation.
It also faced various restrictions in Zurich.
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In a recent interview with the Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Jean-Pascal Aribot, head of Uber Switzerland, said the company “would like to expand further into the rural areas. For example into the Alpine regions.”
That would be a major leap for the ride-hailing company, which operates only in Switzerland’s nine urban areas — Zurich, Zug, Winterthur, Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, and Lucerne.
The reason Aribot wants to ‘uberise’ rural areas is because public transport there is not as dense as it is in the cities.
While populated rural and mountain regions in Switzerland are served by Postbuses — a network of 936 lines that span almost 17,000 kilometres of country roads, no matter how narrow and winding — it is true that buses don’t not run as frequently as they do in urban centres.
READ ALSO: Why PostBuses are true Swiss icons
This means that relying exclusively on the local transportation system is not always a viable option — a situation that Uber wants to exploit.
Aribot said he already contacted Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) about his expansion plans, but has not yet been in touch with the PostBus company.
Controversial company
Since its arrival on the Swiss market in 2014, Uber’s ride has not exactly been smooth.
It has been criticised for failing to pay its drivers proper wages and meet its social contribution obligations, as required by Swiss law.
Because of these labour law and social security issues, in the past Uber was even banned in Geneva for a while, and had to pay retroactive social security and driver compensation.
It also faced various restrictions in Zurich.
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