Swiss bus fleet inventory from 1940s through 2022 to track technological innovations and their impacts

Data regarding the development of a country’s bus fleet over recent decades is seldom available. Nevertheless, possessing such data would inform many potential applications, such as an evaluation of the effects of bus technology advancements, not only on the environment bus also on the comfort for passengers, changes in their mobility or changes in working conditions and occupational exposure of bus drivers. This database highlights the technological evolution of the Swiss bus fleet from 1940 to 2022.

The data was collected through a comprehensive mapping study and verified by contacting Swiss bus companies and consulting experts from the Federal Office of Transport, and the Swiss Public Transport Union. Vehicle approval forms were used to improve the quality of technical data. Buses were classified by model and, for each model, 58 technical characteristics such as suspension, engine and soundproofing were documented in a database. A latent class analysis (LCA) was carried out to classify the buses according to their technological characteristics, including gearbox, suspension, and engine.

The technical database includes 891 bus models, classified into four generations and different types based on latent class analysis. The results highlight the predominance of thermal buses in the Swiss bus fleet and the emergence of hybrid and electric buses since 2010. This inventory documents the evolution of bus technology, its impact on the environmental sustainability, and potential implications for driver occupational exposure.