How Alliance SwissPass is digitizing revenue distribution in public transport with motiontag

Alliance SwissPass is responsible for coordinating and developing public transport in Switzerland – and thus also for the fair distribution of revenue from flat-rate tickets such as the GA travelcard, the day ticket, and the Swiss Travel Pass.
Until 2023, this distribution key was calculated using paper questionnaires and online surveys, which were time-consuming, expensive, and methodologically limited.

With the introduction of the tracking app “myJourney,” developed by MOTIONTAG, this traditional method has been completely replaced by an automated, continuous, and user-centered solution for collecting real travel data.

• The GA travelcard allows free travel throughout the country. But which transport companies are actually used and to what extent? This information is essential for the distribution of over CHF 2 billion in annual revenue – and thus for the financing structure of public transport in Switzerland.
• The previous survey methodology was insufficient to reliably map multimodal routes, first/last mile connections, or underutilized regions.
• The goal was to create a transparent, data-based process – while maintaining data protection and high user-friendliness.

Using MOTIONTAG technology, the myJourney app automatically records all public transport journeys made by participating GA customers via smartphone. It uses modern sensor technology, GPS, Bluetooth beacons in vehicles, and machine learning.
The system recognizes:

• Means of transport used (including bus, tram, train, cable cars)
• Boarding and alighting stops
• Transfers and multimodal route combinations
• Realistic behavior patterns over a four-week period

Recorded journeys can be viewed, validated, or supplemented by the user. The app runs in the background to save energy, is multilingual, and is fully GDPR-compliant.

With “myJourney,” Alliance SwissPass achieves a new level of data collection quality:

• Collection quality of over 96%
• Less than 1% of trips require manual correction
• Greater coverage of local transport → Shift in revenue in favor of smaller transport companies
• Continuous data delivery for 160 transport companies
• Reduction in personnel costs while accelerating data processing

Tracking completely replaces traditional surveys and thus provides the new basis for calculating revenue sharing in national direct transport (NDV) – i.e., for all interregional flat-rate tickets that are valid on multiple transport companies.

The collaboration between Alliance SwissPass and MOTIONTAG will make digital-based revenue distribution in Swiss public transport a reality – efficient, fair, and future-proof.

What began as a pioneering idea is now a productive system with high data quality and broad acceptance—and a model for other European markets.