© KEYSTONE/VALENTIN FLAURAUD
The majority of the Swiss did not wear masks on public transport on the first day without an obligation to wear them. A significant minority, however, continued to wear the mask on Friday morning.
The transition to not wearing a mask was done calmly, commented CFF spokesman Daniele Pallechi, asked by Keystone-ATS on Friday. The lifting of the obligation did not, however, prevent several users from continuing to wear the mask, he added.
An observation shared by BLS and PostBus. In the Postbuses, between a quarter and a third of the passengers still wore the mask in the morning, according to PostBus spokesperson Urs Bloch.
Unaware of lifting
In French-speaking Switzerland, many passengers continued to wear the mask. It is obviously a day of transition, said François Mutter, the spokesperson for Geneva Public Transport (TPG).
A survey of controllers indicates that on the urban network, 15 to 20% of travelers were still wearing the mask on Friday, at the start of the day. And on the regional network, half of the people were not aware of the new rules and they wore a mask, noted Mr. Mutter.
The number of masked people on buses, trams and trains decreased over the morning on Friday. Users gradually removed their masks when they noticed that the TPG staff were no longer wearing them.
Half and half in Lausanne
As for Public Transport in the Lausanne region (tl), wearing a mask depended on vehicles and attendance. “At rush hour, we noticed on certain lines and on the m2 in particular that almost half of our customers had chosen to keep the mask”, indicates its spokesperson Alexandra Gindroz after having surveyed her colleagues in the field. .
The phenomenon has not escaped users. “My bus is rebelling. Mask rate of 80%”, one could read on Twitter.
In German-speaking Switzerland, the transition to transport without a mask seems more clear-cut. In Lucerne public transport, for example, 90% of users have dropped the mask, according to its spokesperson Sämi Deubelbeiss. About a third of passengers still wore the mask on Zurich public transport.
Regarding the impact of the lifting of measures on the use of public transport, which lost many customers during the pandemic, it is still impossible to draw a conclusion, report the companies.