My annual Zone 10 card was CHF 675. That is a 25% discount vs the monthly rate. If you compare that with the CHF 48 for 10 x 24 hour Tageskarte, and only use these to go to work for 47 weeks, that's a 40% discount.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to take a one year loan from your Bank if you don't have the means?
That is the main reason I got the annual card. Less renewals, and the credit card sized ticket stays in my wallet near the beer vouchers which I never leave at home.
My employer also gives me CHF 250 in REKA cheques against the annual pass. If I manage to use those it is an even deeper discount.
Meanwhile, in London, the annual season ticket for the daily commute of my previous job is now £600 (approx CHF 1440), and for the equivalent journey (i.e. across central London) I would be paying £928 (CHF 2230).
It's possible... personally, I still think its the Rositgraben!
The first trip I wrote about I didn't even have to buy a ticket for the unintentional trip from Nyon-Geneva-Nyon. The second trip was a "self control" train (the one with the eye sticker).
Can someone enlighten me how (or if at all) one can purchase a multiple zone Tageskarte (say zones 10/21) at the ZVV automat. All I could figure out was a 1hr-valid ticket (from Zone 10 -- flughafen, for instance) which costs 3 CHF. For twice, you have a full tageskarte if bought from a human ticket vendor.
What time does this requirement start? The only other info I could find about this was http://www.vbz.ch/vbz_opencms/opencm.../ZVVnighttime/ , which doesn't explain this, or whether you need it for all tickets (e.g., I've got the zone 10 Netzpass, my partner has the 9am pass, do we still need to pay the Zuchslag?
That page also suggests this is for travel Friday-Sunday. So if we're travelling a bit late on Wednesday (say) do we need to worry about this?
For the nighttime additional ticket, refer to the yellow timetable for clarity. I believe trams and busses don't normally need them but the trains will.
I gather that (1) the night network operates Friday night, Saturday night, and nights before most holidays and (2) the CHF 5 night surcharge only applies when using the night network which includes 6 S-bahn and 39 special night bus lines (number starts with an "N").
I have travelled quite late on other occassions using the regular tram and bus, and no surcharge applied.
On Wednesdays the transport operates in normal working hours - the night trains and buses operate outside these times on specific days (as explained in other posts) and therefore atrract the surcharge - even if you have a 24 hour ticket or a 9 hour pass (which expires at close of business the same day) you need the extra ticket for these special services.
Some people seem to have got luck and others less so with the ticket inspectors. The important thing to note is that while you're not supposed to travel on local transport or the trains with the big yellow eyes without a ticket, you actually can on the other trains, e.g. IRs. You just buy a ticket from the conductor. I don't know if the full range of discounts is available or if there's a Zuschlag, but you're not doing anthing wrong. I see people do it on my commuter train every day. No bother, no bollocking.
Just on the issue of the GA purchase. It might be good for people to know that if you don't need it any more, you can cash in the difference (they might not give you 100% back mind). That's what I'll be doing when I move.
Have you run into this: your normal train route now has bus replacements due to railway repairs, and you can take another route, which is longer but consists of trains only, but it is more expensive.
Can you use your normal monthly pass, or weekly pass whatever, that is only valid for the normal route? It seems to me that this is fair, as your journey is longer and you are only going from the same A to B.
Is the monthly or annual pass discounted if you have the half-tax card? I got one as everyone seemed to say it was worth it, but if I end up getting monthly passes then it seems as though that was a waste.
As an aside I have also seen people with single cards with 10 1 hour Zurich fares on them that they have to validate, what are these called in German? I didn't have much luck explaining what they were in English the other day. TA