Public transport in Zurich

Public transport in Zurich is available for four main modes of transport—boat, bus, train and tram—assisting residents of and visitors to Zurich move around the 88 square kilometres (34 sq mi) of Switzerland's largest city and beyond. In 2015, over 300 million trips were made annually on public transport in Zurich, a city with a population of around 450,000. This figure excludes the Zurich S-Bahn, which had annual ridership of 208 million in 2023. Zurich Main Station (Zürich HB), meanwhile, is the largest and busiest railway station in the country.

Public transport is extremely popular in Zurich, and its inhabitants use it in large numbers. In 2010, a microcensus discovered that 32% of Zurich residents used trams or trolleybuses regularly (of which 60% used at least those two modes), while 26% depended on a personal vehicle. Fewer than half the residents owned a car or a motorcycle. About 70% of the visitors to the city use the tram or bus, and about half of the journeys within the municipality take place on public transport.

The Zurich model approach to public transport is highly regarded. The city has the world's best on-time performance for public transport, with one of the highest frequencies of service. A network of around 4,000 sensors monitors all traffic, to negate potential delays, and sends information to computers programmed to generate algorithms which change signalling around the city accordingly. When any vehicle approaches one of the city's 400 junctions, sensors buried in the road surface recalibrate signal cycles to give priority to the trams and buses. This efficiency means cross-city journeys on public transport can be completed in thirty minutes or less, even when including transfers.

Founded in 1896, Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) is wholly owned by the City of Zurich. It owns and operates buses, trams and the city's Polybahn and Rigiblick funiculars. The entire VBZ network is operated on a proof-of-payment fare system, meaning if passengers do not present a ticket when asked by an inspector, the passenger will be liable for a fine. Fares and fines cover around half of the system's operating and capital costs.

The S-Bahn is operated by Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV), not VBZ. ZVV, established in 1990, is the largest public-transport network in Switzerland. All modes of public transport within a chosen number of fare zones can be used freely with a ticket that is valid for a certain amount of time (one hour, 24 hours, 1 month, 1 year). The zones in the canton of Zurich are numbered from 110 to 184 (downtown Zurich is fare zone 110). Zones 180 to 184 are those outside the borders of the canton. Passengers purchase a base ticket for particular zones; upgrades and extension tickets are available as supplements.

As part of Zurich's plan to be net-zero by 2040, several upgrades to the public transport network were announced in 2024.

Although in the canton of Zurich, Zurich Airport (Zürich Flughafen), is located in Kloten, a municipality around 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of Zurich. As of 2025, it is served by 66 passenger airlines from around the world. A ten-minute train ride brings passengers into Zurich.