Lucerne City Council rejects initiative for the project idea "CityLink".

An initiative calls on the city of Lucerne to create the conditions necessary for the realization of the private "CityLink" project. After thorough examination, the City Council concludes that CityLink will not deliver the promised benefits. Therefore, in its view, the associated risks cannot be justified. To further develop the quality of life and attractiveness of Lucerne, the Council considers continuing its existing strategic priorities from the tourism and mobility strategy to be the right approach. The City Council therefore recommends rejecting the initiative.

In detail

In June 2025, the private interest group CityLink Luzern submitted the popular initiative "CityLink Luzern – for a city of short distances and a solution to the coach parking problem." According to the group, CityLink Luzern aims to free Lucerne's city center from coaches. This would create the conditions for revitalizing Schwanenplatz, Kasernenplatz, Löwenplatz, Landenberg, and Brüelmoos. The project proposal envisions the construction of a cable car from Ibach to the old town, running over the Friedental valley, and then continuing through a tunnel to the old town.

Little benefit, more traffic, no solution

Cable cars are generally an attractive means of transport for young and old alike. However, as tempting and original as the construction of a cable car from Ibach to the old town sounds, upon closer inspection the project idea proves to be neither practical nor conducive to the sustainable development of Lucerne as a tourist destination, according to the city council.

The coach bus regime is proving effective

With the introduction of the new coach parking regulations in spring 2025 – a 100 Swiss franc stopping fee and new rules for boarding and alighting – the number of coaches in Lucerne's city center has noticeably decreased. In the first season under the new regulations, 56 percent fewer coaches stopped at Schwanenplatz. The city council intends to flexibly adapt these operational measures to the market situation as needed, thus implementing improvements quickly, rather than investing considerable effort in a project with an uncertain outcome and high risks.

CityLink creates the wrong incentives

The CityLink project is banking on tourism demand similar to that experienced by Lucerne before the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the bus stops and parking areas for tour buses were operating at full capacity. Since then, demand has decreased significantly. The existing 55 coach parking spaces and 20 bus stops have never been fully utilized in recent years. This is intentional: a reduction in coach traffic aligns with the "Lucerne Tourism Vision 2030" and the needs of the local population. Lucerne aims to develop as a sustainable destination and reduce the proportion of group day trips. Furthermore, tourism development should be aligned with maintaining the quality of life for the local population. With a total capacity of 5,000 people per hour (2,500 per hour in each direction), the area around the train station in the old town would be overloaded. The successes already achieved – including a better distribution of tourist flows – would be negated.

Little benefit for Lucerne

The CityLink project promises to remove tour buses from the city. However, the city council assumes that a large number of tour buses will continue to drive into the city center regardless of the parking spaces in Ibach, because private parking areas, for example in front of hotels, will remain, and a driving ban is not feasible. As an isolated parallel system, the cable car also offers little benefit to public transport users. The cantonal hospital is already well connected to the bus network – and will be even better connected with the expansion of public transport links from December 2026. The Ibach industrial park will also receive new bus service at the end of 2026.

Contrary to the mobility strategy

Both the car park and the coach parking areas in Ibach will increase traffic on the Seetalplatz–Ibach–Sedel–Maihof road system. During peak hours, this system is already unable to handle any additional traffic. Furthermore, the Ibach area is unsuitable as a location for a transport hub, as envisioned by the federal government, cantons, cities, and municipalities. Such facilities should be built not on the outskirts of cities, but in sub-centers, to minimize car journeys from residents to the transport hub and facilitate transfers to public transportation.

From the city council's perspective, the CityLink Lucerne would simply be another parking facility with an expensive cable car connection to the old town. They doubt that the Ibach parking garage would be used by those who currently park their cars in central parking garages like Altstadt, Schweizerhof, or Löwencenter, as long as sufficient parking spaces are available there. Therefore, the CityLink would likely lead to an overall increase in car traffic, which would contradict the goals of the city's mobility strategy.

High financial risk for the city

The construction of the CityLink cable car can only be privately financed if the investment generates a return. So far, the initiators have not published a business plan demonstrating the economic viability of the operation. Recent events clearly show how dependent the tourism industry is on global events, without being able to influence them. If the project fails during the operational phase, the city will most likely have to take over the infrastructure and operation or finance its dismantling. The city council therefore considers the financial risk for the city of Lucerne to be high. Furthermore, with CityLink, the city of Lucerne would have to forgo the current parking and stopping fees of approximately 1.8 million Swiss francs per year. In addition, it would lose the planned revenue from the building lease for the properties in Ibach, estimated at 360,000 Swiss francs per year.

Hardly approvable

The planning approval process for the construction of a cable car, with its various procedures at the national, cantonal, and municipal levels, is very demanding and complex. The city council therefore considers its feasibility of approval to be critical. It does not want to focus on a project that is associated with such significant and numerous risks under planning law, while simultaneously blocking other developments and tying up important resources.

The city council acknowledges that the initiative committee has developed a fundamentally creative idea. However, the CityLink project is not suitable as a solution for managing the flow of tourist and tour buses in Lucerne. The goals of CityLink can be achieved more quickly and easily with operational measures that can be implemented immediately.

The report and proposal are expected to be discussed in the City Council on September 17, 2026. The electorate is expected to be able to vote on it in February 2027.