Ive never travelled in ch before, unfamiliar with the train system but have researched the station locations etc.
Is there a discount when buying tickets in advance compared to buying on the day (at a desk or ticket machine (if possible) and what websites do people recommend if so.
Also from experience (any), would a day pass work better? Are seat reserved or is it more casual…
A rudimentary web search returns the traintimes website but i’d be curious to know peoples experiences
2 night stay, to visit family.
Thanks and thankyou
Ive since discovered the sbb mobile app for getting accurate times. I believe on this occasion day pass may not be worthwhile compared to buying return ticket.
However, a curiosity remains re: the ticket machine/desk vs buying advance. Is it possible to pay by cash at all for trains?
There are some advance purchase special offers available but in general it is not cheaper to buy in advance. Most ticket machines will take cash and give change. An App such as Fairtiq is a great idea as all you have to do is activate your journey before you start and stop the app at the end. It will calculate (there have been discussions as to whether it always performs this function perfectly, I have no complaints) at the end of the day whether or not to charge a day ticket price or individual journeys). Because the public transport system is so good there are often multiple connections available - it may be worth repeating the search with a slightly different end-point to see what it offers.
You can get super saver tickets on the app in advance. They are cheaper, but you are tied to that one specific train, so it’s very inflexible. Other than that, there is no advanced savings.
“SuperSaver” tickers are available from the SBB App (or the counter). The further you buy in advance the higher the discount. You find them on the app when you see in planning “% from CHF12.34” (the amount will differ). These tickets MUST be used exactly as shown, you have no flexibility, you cannot change trains or connecting points. Very limited refund ability. Here you can also buy regular and day tickets. The tickets are stored digitally in the app and you show the digital to the conductor who will scan it.
Also, using the app, you can simply hop on the train/bus/whatever and select EasyRide. Deselect it when you alight and the app will calculate the fare. Should your fares on a day’s journey be higher than a day ticket, you will pay the lower of the two. This is identical to the Faretiq app mentioned above (in fact the SBB app uses Fairtiq’s software).
Seat reservations on SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) trains are optional for most domestic routes but recommended for busy or panoramic trains; they cost about 5 CHF per person. You can book them via the SBB Mobile app or website shortly before travel.
Depending on where you’re living, this might surprise you:
In Switzerland an SBB ticket could be a point-to-point ticket, zone ticket. When the train ride doesn’t extend beyond the local bus network (the canton, plus a few km to surrounding cantons for some bus lines) it’ll be zone ticket by default - you can choose explicitly the ticket you want in the app or in the ticket machines. Bottom line, always check the ticket what you bought, the validity period is printed on it.
Zone tickets are usually much cheaper but they are valid only a short time 1h, 2h. Point-to-point tickets are valid 5am-to-5am. Zone tickets let you ride anything within these zones, bus + train.
You can travel multiple times on the same ticket until it’s valid, even on the point-to-point ticket (when you buy a return point-to-point ticket, you can spend your day traveling in a loop, if it’s one way only, you’d need to teleport to the start site to use it again)
There are local trains, regional trains RE, intercity trains IC, etc, but you don’t bother about that, there’s only one ticket for all of them.
There are 1st and 2nd class tickets.
There are daily pass tickets, monthly pass tickets, and regular annual pass tickets. This let you ride any public transport through the whole Switzerland, so called GA network - easy to google out. In practice it just excludes funiculars in the mountains, all regular bus and train lines are covered.
On top of the standard ticket options, of course there are discounts and promotions:
A point-to-point discount ticket, usually called by the app a “super-saver-ticket” is valid only on the specific departure of the train, it’s not 24h ticket! You can find these tickets in the SBB app, there’s no rule if and when they appear for purchase.
Daily pass super-saver. It’s a daily pass, except cheaper. It can be spot only in advance, the more in advance the cheaper it gets. Caveat regular daily pass bought in advance can be refunded prior to the date if you change plans, super-saver can’t.
You can also get a Saver Day Pass in advance, valid for a full day and until 05.00 the following morning - if you know well in advance when you will be travelling these can be good value
Aye, but if I buy a super saver day pass for a trip, all the connections have toi be made, technically. I guess it will be well signed. 3minutes just seems a bit tight. Thanks for the reassurrance,
Edit I’ll see if another journey has a more relaxed changeover window. The return journey allows 5mins.
One additional comment: From time to time Coop/InterDiscount offer special price day tickets valid for sale for limited time and travel for a short period. I believe the current offer is CHF59 for 2nd class. An upgrade to 1st is CHF25.
