A new study by Avenir Suisse has revealed which cities in Germany and the wider DACH region have the fastest and slowest public transport services.

Berlin and Stuttgart have the fastest public transport services

A comparison of 20 cities in the DACH region has found that Berlin and Stuttgart are the two German cities with the fastest public transport services.

In the capital, the average speed of public transport recorded over a standardised distance was 9,61 kilometres per hour, and in Stuttgart 8,46 km / h. 

Other German cities considered in the study included Augsburg (7,72 km / h), Freiburg (7,53 km / h) and Ulm (7,59 km / h). The average speed of public transport recorded across the included German cities was 7,85 km / h. 

The study by Avenir also considered the amount of time that passengers had to wait for their next connection which changing transport, from U-Bahn to bus for example. In this department, Stuttgart reigned, the city where commuters wait an average of just 4 minutes and 22 seconds for their next connection.

Buses and trams in Ulm have passengers waiting the longest, an average of 7 minutes and 7 seconds for their next connection.

Swiss public transport efficiency puts Germany to shame

While German public transport may be pretty speedy, the federal republic was put to shame by performances from Swiss cities. Topping the ranking, the buses and Bahns in St. Gallen were the speediest across the DACH region, at 9,3 km / h. Biel / Bienne (9,2 km / h) and Lucerne (8,8 km / h) followed.

While Berlin came in fourth place overall, Zurich (8,6 km / h) and Bern (8,5 km / h) exceeded Stuttgart’s performance. Geneva let the Swiss cities down however, proving to have the slowest public transport of the cities in all three countries, with passengers travelling at just 7,2 km / h.

Avenir Suisse concluded that transport providers should make faster journeys a priority by expanding bus lanes in cities and creating more S-Bahn connections for longer routes. With walking to stations and stops taking up a significant chunk of journey times, the report also suggested that public transport better integrate with “last mile” services like e-scooters and ride-share schemes.

DACH cities with the fastest and slowest public transport

Here are the 10 cities in the DACH region with the fastest public transport (in kilometres per hour):

1. St. Gallen (9,3)
2. Biel / Bienne (9,2)
3. Lucerne (8,8)
4. Berlin (8,6)
5. Zurich (8,6)
6. Bern (8,5)
7. Stuttgart (8,5)
8. Winterthur (8,3)
9. Vienna (8,1)
10. Linz (8)

And here are the slowest:

1. Geneva (7,2)
2. Freiburg in Breisgau (7,5)
3. Graz (7,6)
4. Ulm (7,6)
5. Lausanne (7,7)
6. Salzburg (7,7)
7. Augsburg (7,7)
8. Lugano (7,7)
9. Innsbruck (7,8)
10. Basel (7,8)

For more information about the study, check out the official website.

Thumb image credit: TobiasTropper / Shutterstock.com