The Council of the EU adopted its negotiating position on 23 February 2026 authorising Austria to amend its 1958 bilateral road-transport agreement with Switzerland so that regular bus and coach operators will be allowed to pick up and set down passengers inside a defined strip of territory on both sides of the frontier. Until now, so-called cabotage—domestic carriage conducted by a foreign carrier—was forbidden because passenger transport is an EU exclusive competence; any relaxation therefore required Brussels’ consent. Under the draft mandate, cabotage will be restricted to the Vorarlberg districts of Bludenz, Bregenz, Dornbirn, Feldkirch and Landeck on the Austrian side and to the neighbouring cantons of St Gallen, Thurgau and Graubünden in Switzerland. Operators will still have to run a genuine cross-border leg, but can serve intermediate stops, giving commuters and visitors extra timetable options and permitting carriers to improve load factors and reduce dead-heading. For mobility managers the change removes a regulatory headache: corporate shuttles or contracted bus services that cross the frontier each morning will, once the amendment enters into force, be able to collect staff at several stops rather than only at the first one beyond the border. This should shorten journey times, lower costs and support employers with dispersed workforces in the Lake Constance–Alpine Rhine region. The measure also dovetails with Switzerland’s objective of shifting traffic from private cars to collective transport; Bern has signalled its readiness to mirror the Austrian amendment in Swiss law once the EU legislative process is complete. The European Parliament is expected to examine the file before the summer, meaning the new rules could apply in early 2027.
