BERN - Drivers filling up this week are getting a small reprieve. The latest figures from the Touring Club Switzerland put the national average for a litre of Unleaded 95 at CHF 2.11, three centimes below the yearly high reached just over three weeks ago in mid-September.
Unleaded 98 shows the same pattern, down three centimes to CHF 2.22 a litre. Diesel drivers see the largest relief: CHF 2.40 a litre on average, six centimes under the year's peak. The TCS data suggest the upward march that defined the summer has paused, for the time being.
Relief, but not a trend yet
Three to six centimes does not remake a household budget, and nobody in the market is calling this a turning point. Pump prices follow crude costs, refinery margins and the franc's exchange rate, all of which have swung repeatedly this year. The autumn has already taught drivers that a quiet fortnight can end with a jolt.
Even with the dip, motoring remains markedly more expensive than at the start of the year, and the alternatives are not getting cheaper either: the GA travelcard passes CHF 4,000 in December for the first time. For households weighing car against rail, the sums on both sides of the ledger keep climbing.