Three Swiss cities are ranked among the 10 smartest in the world; Swiss Post launches its digital letter service today; and more news in our roundup this Wednesday.
Three Swiss cities are ranked among the 10 smartest in the world
Zurich retained its top spot in the IMD Smart City Index 2026, ranking first among 148 cities.
Geneva maintained its third position, while Lausanne climbed to the seventh place, according to the report published on Tuesday by the IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC).
The WCC defines a ‘smart city’ as one “that strikes a good balance between its economic prowess (jobs and business activity included), applied technology, environmental concerns, and inclusiveness. The end goal? To facilitate a high quality of life for those living there.”
Swiss Post launches its digital letter service
Today, Switzerland’s postal service is introducing a digital letter – that is, a secure system that allows users to send and receive letters electronically via the Post or ePost app.
Those who don’t want to receive mail sent digitally will continue to get physical letters.
In such cases, the postal service will create physical letters from electronically submitted ones and deliver them via traditional mail.
Physical delivery to the mailbox will include the costs of printing, paper, postage, and the envelope – 1.45 francs for a ‘B’ mail and 1.65 francs for ‘A’ mail.
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Commuters in Switzerland will pay higher public transport fares
From December 12th, when the new public transport timetable will go into effect, train, bus, and tram tickets will cost 3.9 percent more, on average, than they do currently.
This increase “is necessary in order to guarantee the long-term supply, quality and investment in public transport,” Marco Lüthi, Chairman of the Strategic Council of SwissPass Alliance said on Tuesday.
“The costs of equipment and personnel have risen sharply and energy prices have remained high,” he added.
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Swisscom raises its prices, starting today
Customers of the country’s largest telecom will have to dig deeper into their pockets from April 1st.
Mobile and internet subscriptions will each cost 1.90 francs more per month, while TV and fixed-line contracts will be 90 cents more expensive.
The reason for these hikes is to offset Swisscom’s “continuous investment in the development and maintenance of its network and IT infrastructure.”
These are all the other changes you can expect this month:
READ MORE: Everything that changes about life in Switzerland in April 2026
If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at news@thelocal.ch
