Accessibility: Success or failure of business locations

The quality of accessibility is one of the key drivers when it comes to the competitiveness of business locations. It influences not only how companies choose their locations, but also how attractive a workplace is for skilled workers.

Mobility is thus becoming a crucial factor in economic development – and an increasingly critical location factor. Since Switzerland's transport planning mostly relies on dogmatic approaches to traffic diversion and reduction, the country is jeopardizing its prosperity.

Professionals decide based on quality and travel time – not the straight-line distance.

Countless location analyses show that for talented individuals, the question of how quickly and easily they can reach their workplace is often more decisive than wages or real estate prices. Studies indicate that the willingness to commute depends heavily on door-to-door travel time. After about 45 minutes, the interest of many skilled workers begins to wane; after around 60 minutes, a noticeable "contagion rate" sets in – meaning an increasing likelihood that a job offer will be rejected or that a position won't even be considered. While this threshold is somewhat higher for highly qualified individuals, they too draw clear lines.

The quality of the transport modes is particularly important: Intercity connections are clearly preferred, followed by suburban rail systems, while buses and trams are rated significantly lower due to longer distances, stops, and multiple transfers. Transfers are generally considered a loss of convenience. Every additional change of transport mode disproportionately reduces the attractiveness of the location.

Companies need large labor market areas.

For companies, the calculation is simple: the greater the pool of skilled workers reachable within an acceptable travel time, the better the chances of attracting qualified employees. Accessibility thus becomes a strategic resource. Data models show that accessibility via public transport and private motorized transport can develop very differently – and that traffic bottlenecks, gaps in service, or poorly coordinated systems can drastically reduce the pool of available talent. Furthermore, locations that displace or unilaterally restrict private motorized transport for purely political reasons permanently diminish their attractiveness as a business location.

Public transport as a key for knowledge-based activities, alternative mobility as a complement

Knowledge-intensive functions and services, however, favor public transport – not least because work is possible during the journey. Accordingly, the following are crucial:

• Direct connections or at most one change of direction

• short waiting times

• high clock frequencies

• a high-performance local distribution system (S-Bahn, tram, bus)

Without such qualities, locations quickly lose their appeal in competition with better-connected regions. New forms of mobility – e-bikes, e-scooters, on-demand shuttles – improve the quality of the "last mile" and facilitate access to train stations or neighborhoods. They can optimize travel time and comfort, but they do not compensate for the structural weaknesses of the overarching transport systems. Accordingly, they act as accelerators, not as compensators. With the introduction of future, interconnected, and fully autonomous driving modes, hybrid transport systems will emerge, combining the advantages of public and private transport. However, this development continues to be rigorously ignored by policymakers and planners – to the detriment of Switzerland as a business location.

More than infrastructure: Mobility policy shapes location development

Locations that strengthen public transport hubs, expand multimodal networks considering all modes of transport, and systematically enable and manage transport hubs (for rapid changes between modes) create advantages over regions that fragment mobility, dogmatically dominate it, or organize it inconsistently. At the same time, it is clear that without functioning rail lines, shortcomings in road and bus services cannot yet be compensated for. However, it is virtually certain that future mobility systems will shift these boundaries again.

Accessibility is not a nice-to-have, but a success factor.

Accessibility determines how many companies locate there, which jobs are created, and whether regions can retain skilled workers. Therefore, for the future of successful business locations, fast connections, smart timetables, and optimal transfer points are just as important as innovation parks, universities, or tax models. Mobility remains—especially for knowledge-based ecosystems—one of the most valuable assets in the competition for business locations.