Swiss Flow

The year is 2042. As a result of the “Green Wave” of the 2020s and the rise of the Green Party in Switzerland, private transport is now taxed at such a level that it has become the preserve of the rich, or those who need it for professional purposes, who receive subsidies. Advances in technology have allowed the creation of a modular but seamlessly integrated transportation system. Thanks to a national digital currency, along with the involvement of the old Swiss Federal Railway (SBB) in the nationwide transport network, traditional Swiss reliability has extended to every part of life. However, the idea of punctuality has largely become a thing of the past, replaced by an effortless flow from A to B, available to everyone, on demand.

Context:

• The “Green Wave” of the 2020s had a profound impact on Swiss politics. 


• Transportation has been seamlessly integrated into the Swiss Mobility System (SMS), and is now managed by a single state-owned organization. 


• All transport services are streamlined and hyper-individualized.

•  For the sake of security and efficiency, the public has voted to grant the state full control over their personal data. 


• Digital currency is used to join up all private and public services.

Maya is 67 and lives in the outskirts of Zurich with her husband Magnus. She has two adult children who now live with their respective families in Bern. Maya has a life- long passion for the arts, and her only income now comes from giving private piano lessons. Although some of her fellow
tutors now teach remotely, through digital channels, Maya still prefers to commute every day to her city-center studio, or travel to her pupils’ homes. Wealthier clients,
in particular, still prefer one-to-one tuition, and are able and willing to foot the bill
for it. However, most novice pianists now take their first steps digitally, picking
out a simple tune under the watchful eye
of a tutor who may be hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away. 
Over her two decades as a piano tutor, Maya has built close ties with her clients, and she loves the way face-to-face interaction enriches and inspires her day-to-day work. 


Business was brisk for many years, but now her financial situation is looking increasingly shaky. Earnings are up and down, the rent for her studio is increasing and in-person tuition is increasingly seen as a luxury, which is eroding her customer base.

Looking to save money, one of the first expenses that Maya cut was car ownership. Not only was it financially unsustainable; it simply didn’t make sense as public transportation improved. Now, as she rides the quiet electric tram into downtown Zurich, Maya has come to appreciate her newfound hours for reading, listening to music or just sipping a cappuccino from the buffet on the tram. Nevertheless, from time to time, she still misses the solitude, independence and feeling of power that she only got from driving a car. Driving wherever she wanted took her back to the freedom she knew in her youth, when nobody could tell her what to do, or make her feel guilty.

Maya’s son, Mark, is an ETHZ computer- science graduate who now works at the state-owned SBB. He is passionate about big-data analytics, and has played an important part in developing the operating system that combines the multiple data points that are now gathered from practically every Swiss citizen, day in day out. These include people’s GPS location, speed of motion, average travelling time and calendar, as well as the various transportation modes they use, such as autonomous micro-buses and e-bikes around city centers, self-driving cars for the suburbs and trains for inter- city journeys. The system even integrates airport data, such as arrival/departure gates, flight delays and the ratio of local passengers to tourists, in order to estimate and anticipate demand for different transportation systems. It also connects to autonomous aircrafts, which are now permitted for medical emergencies and limited private use. By combining all these data sources, the system manages the country’s mobility needs, predicts and solves a wide range of problems and helps to provide new insights into
how individuals move around, within the city and beyond.

By the year 2040, SBB was far more than a provider of mobility infrastructure. It
was Switzerland’s most important integrator for all public services, and a wide range of private ones as well. At the same time, other mobility providers such as ride-hailing services, scooter companies, exoskeleton rentals and semi-car-ownership services
had moved upstream. However, they also integrated SBB data points to build train rides into their calculations, or consider the location of city buses, metros and trams.
All now offer trip-based pricing covering the entire route from A to B, relying on a micro- payment concept. Competition is now con- fined to dimensions such as overall seamlessness, reliability, and a platform’s ability to match passengers’ preferences with
the features offered by different vehicles.

This integrated system helps to inform both policymakers and the design of societal interventions, so they can offer incentives for people to act in line with community, political, economic and environmental goals. Such behavioral influence was willingly granted to the state through a highly-contested nation-wide referendum in the late 2020s, under the banner of “Societal Policy”. Those opposing argued against unrestricted surveillance and policing, and the resulting loss of personal freedom. Those in favor convincingly defended the benefits in terms of a safer society and a more efficient and productive lifestyle.

One example of people making life- style changes is Maya’s daughter, Francisca. She used to take the microbus to pick
up Gina, her seven-year-old daughter, from school. However, since she started using
the SMS, it has become crystal clear that taking an e-bike, while certainly slower,
is far better for her mental and physical health – which she tracks through her
many wearable devices. In fact, the SMS can instantly provide reliable estimates of the temporal, social, environmental, physical and mental impact of alternative means of transportation, allowing Francisca to choose the one that’s best for her. For several months she really struggled to make a change, even though she fully understood the benefits. Her problem was that she loved riding on a warm, cozy bus; wrapping up for an exhausting winter bike ride just didn’t hold the same appeal. However, MedSana, Francisca’s health insurer, recently reduced fees for those committing to moderate regular exercise. Now, she uses the e-bike for school runs more often – but on a frosty morning, or after a late night, she still takes the lazy option.

On certain days, Francisca’s new routine is disrupted by the crowds attending a town-hall meeting at a nearby government office. During these events, the social
impact of her occupying two government employees’ spots on the microbus is too high, while the cost of a private mobility vehicle is exorbitant. Therefore, she and Gina usually pass the time at a local playground, saving themselves a tidy amount of M-Francs (“mobility-francs”). Gina usually argues that this saving would be best allocated to the purchase of an ice-cream.

M-Francs were originally introduced by SBB 15 years ago, as a pilot built on block- chain technology to allow customers to buy tickets and everyday products at train stations. A few years later, the Swiss National Bank – seeing how popular the pilot was with local firms – overcame its initial reluctance to roll out the “Digital Franc” (as
it was then known) on the same platform. However, a few badly managed advertising campaigns led to public ridicule of
the German connotation of the D-Franc. SBB itself was new to the concept, but
still did its best to shore up public trust in digital banking. By then the public had become accustomed to the idea of the “M-Franc”, and its use in branches of
the well-known Migros retail chain gave
it a higher profile nationwide.

SBB pays Maya 1000 M-Francs on January 1 every year. These payments are allocated directly to every Swiss resident based on age, family composition, economic situation and the general environmental status of the country, in order to offset high transport costs and redistribute the pro- ceeds of high taxation. Maya’s savings and business accounts are now directly linked to her personal M-Account, which is in turn connected to her personal identity.
All payments and financial transactions in Switzerland now utilize M-Accounts,
which feature orange branding in an echo of the long-gone printed pay-slips that only older generations can still recall. M-Francs can be exchanged instantaneously and
are accessible at any time, at any location.

Maya made her first M­Franc payments in 2028. At first, she was skeptical
about the new technology, preferring to
use currency that still retained some link with hard cash. However, since her clients were starting to ask if they could pay with M-Francs, and she already used the SBB app with no problems, she slowly started to switch over. When the new currency had first appeared, and was receiving extensive media coverage, she had had several discussions with Mark and Francisca about it. Mark, naturally, was extremely upbeat, and helped her get started, while Francisca shared her nagging doubts. Now, however, M-Francs have become a part of Maya’s everyday life.

As SBB further integrated other services and the “Societal Policy” referendum passed into legislation, Maya became more and more anxious about the idea of tracking everyone’s information, which was an inevitable consequence of the system. However, her misgivings turned to excitement when she discovered that she could actually “follow” her children’s journeys, thanks to the integrated GPS tracking. In itself, location tracking was nothing new. But by utilizing the data aggregation of transactions, speed of movement and non-relatable body movements, Maya’s digital assistant would
now alert her if either of her children was in danger. In autumn 2036, for example, Francisca stumbled and fell while getting off a self-driving microbus carrying
heavy shopping bags. This event immediately triggered a notification in Maya’s smart headphones that included the number of
the bus, the mobility operator and the
exact location – as well as a rough outline of Francisca’s health condition, based on her wearables’ sensor data. As it turned out, apart from a few painful bruises, Francisca
was fine. Her fellow passengers immediately stopped the bus to make sure she was OK, and it was less than a minute before her mum called to check on her. In the meantime, other buses were re-routed to the passengers that the bus involved in the accident was scheduled to pick up. Not only were
they saved from any delay, but they didn’t even notice the change.

Furthermore, Mark’s and Francisca’s accounts are synchronized with those
of their families to ensure a preset range of data is constantly shared. This constant, real-time information sharing makes them feel safer and more in control. For their part, their kids are much more relaxed, since they don’t have to worry about telling
their parents about every little unexpected change to their schedule. Everyone’s calendars are in sync and up to date, all
day long.

However, not everyone is happy being a cog in the machine. Mark’s son, Gerard,
has just turned 14, and he’s utterly sick of being watched and controlled every second of the day. What he wants is a little more privacy – on his first secret dates,
for instance. So he sometimes asks a friend to carry around his smartphone so he can evade his parents’ surveillance for an hour or two.

Like most inhabitants of Zurich, Maya relies on SBB on a daily basis. In practical terms, whenever she needs to move from A to B, she simply requests a ride via voice control. This triggers the SBB app, even if Maya’s phone is not to hand. Ruedi, her personal virtual assistant, automatically organizes her trip based on her location, time constraints, preferred traveling style (e.g. eco, standard, leisure or turbo) and order history.

When SBB first introduced this technology 10 years ago, Maya had her
doubts. She wanted to talk to a real life person, not some invisible robot. And besides, couldn’t she just book tickets herself? Today, however, she chats away to Ruedi without a second thought. He greets her in the morning, talks to her via the inter- face of any vehicle she uses and thanks
her at the end of every journey. What she really likes is the way he gets to know her a little better every day. For example, he’s recently learned that every other Tuesday Maya leaves her house at 8:00am instead of her usual time (7:00am) to
meet her friends at the book club. He also knows that she enjoys cycling to the station on sunny mornings; the sunshine helps to wake her up. So whenever the weather forecast is good, an E-bike is delivered to Maya’s front porch half an hour before she usually leaves. However, what Maya really loves is the choice. She can choose the design and features of every bike for every journey – or even ask Ruedi to pick a color that coordinates with today’s outfit.

While these benefits have made life easier for Maya and many like her, not every- one has done so well. As artificial intelligence replaces humans, the wider economy is suffering, and unemployment among highly educated workers is on the rise. This is especially true for professions where people performed routine tasks – such as doctors operating x-ray machines, or lawyers scanning paper contracts. Such changes have triggered significant turbulence within Swiss society, and have led
to the “Wednesday protests”, where disgruntled workers gather in city squares to chant their demands for “more humans, fewer machines”. Others reluctantly concluded that they had no choice but to silently accept the new reality, and gradually became more and more accustomed to machines and human-machine relations – even romantic ones, in some cases. As a result of higher unemployment, more people stay home on traditional working days.
With fewer workers, more transport options available and travel spread throughout
the day, rush-hour traffic congestion is a thing of the past.

Maya, who’s always been careful with her money, generally travels on “Discount mode” – as Ruedi well knows. To see her mother who lives in a remote retirement home in the mountains of Graubünden
this forces her to take the train to the nearest station on the countryside. This is new to her since she sold her beloved car. En route, the carriage windows keep her occupied with history and background on the peaks, lakes and villages she passes. On her arrival in Graubünden, where traffic is sparse and demand lower, Maya has a three-minute wait until her autonomous pod – ordered by Ruedi in advance – arrives to carry her the last 22 kilometers. Private pods are pricey, but there’s just no other way.

When autonomous flights first appeared, some dreamt of automated quadcopters that they could board in the outskirts of any city to reach remote rural locations – like Maya’s mothers home in Graubünden. But while they are now common in the Middle East, only the very wealthiest Europeans can afford them. In Switzerland, they travel between specially built hubs on demand, reaching most major cities in less than half an hour. Given the energy demands of air travel and strict regulations to avoid visual pollution, the hop from Geneva to Zurich now costs more than a return flight to the United States 20 years ago. Therefore, the market is modest – but it is still perfectly integrated into the digital mobility universe.

Overall, Maya is very content with the service provided by SBB. Since the service
is backed by the government, she’s confident that it’s 100 % reliable. She also enjoys the level of customization to her environmental, financial and personal preferences. Nevertheless, she sometimes fears that she has lost a part of her freedom. When she says some- thing like this, her children accuse her of being selfish and old-fashioned – so she generally keeps her feelings to herself. It’s probably better that way, after all.

Opinions: 

“I’m happy about seeing a response to climate change and using price to change people’s behavior to shared and more sustainable means of transport, while retaining flexibility.”

– Elizabeth Weirich Benet, Student

“I would absolutely hate the idea of being controlled all the time, and would probably still want to have a private bike to stay independent.”

– Hanna Basche, Student