If this is correct then my previous comment might only apply to Basel.
So if I buy a "ZVV Single Ticket" Meilen to Zurich Airport which has on it "Meilen to Zurich Airport Zones 110 121 140 141" I can ride within those 4 zones as much as I like for the duration of the validity i.e. two hours and before the two hours is up I'd need to exit the train?
Correct. Except it will not show "Meilen to Zurich Airport"(*), but only the Zone numbers. It is the very first sentence of the already quoted paragraph of the ZVV Tarif regulations https://www.zvv.ch/zvv-assets/abos-u...ZVV_T651.8.pdf
There is no clause that traveling backwards is forbidden (Like in Basel ).
I just checked: Same rules about validity of single tickets for a A-Welle tickets and a Z-Pass A-Welle-ZVV tickets as for a ZVV ticket. You can travel back and forth and do as many stops as you like. In that case the ticket is valid till the time printed on it. If the most direct, non-interrupted, non-backwards traveling, journey between A and B takes more time than the ticket is actually valid, than it is valid till the end of the journey.
T651.20
https://www.a-welle.ch/fileadmin/sei...rei_Juni20.pdf
T651.30
https://www.zpass.ch/dam/zpass/Tarif...nhang%2011.pdf
(*) It does on a mobile tickets bought on the SBB app. It does not on a paper ticket or punch card.
Actually my ticket was from Dietlikon to Baden, because I already have an annual travel card that covers the zone 110 and all neighboring zones.
In this link the company ZVV says that "For as long as your [single] ticket is valid, you can travel as often as you wish on all types of transport in your selected zones." so my interpretation of this is that it is okay to use a single ticket to go and return, even if it says "Dietlikon → Baden". Or am I missing something?
I love the efficiency of the Swiss public transportation system. However we all must admit that it is quite complicated for the user to understand precisely what to pay. Yes, you can always pay more to cover yourself. But when you go to the supermarket to buy 1 kg of apples, you don't pay 1.1 kg to cover yourself. From a programmers point of view (I am a programmer) the ticketing system here looks like they make the users (us) deal with a low level back end instead of making a simple and easy to use front end.
First, are you sure it is Dietlikon, with an "L", and not Dietikon, w/o an "L" ?
A ticket Dietlikon-Baden should include Zone 110, whereas a ticket Dietikon - Baden would not.
Next, as you cross from the ZVV network into the A-Welle network, some special rules apply. If you travel from Zurich to Baden (and in the other direction) The Dietikon - Baden ticket + a ZVV 110 is only valid if the train stops in Zone 154. A non-stop train Baden-Zurich or Zurich-Baden can not be used with this ticket combination. You would need one single ticket covering all relevant zones. This is different within the ZVV network where you could use a non-stop Zurich-Winterthur train if you have a Dietlikon (with "L") - Winterthur ticket plus a Zone 110 ticket (It might be cheaper to buy a 4 Zone extension).
Other than that, as already said, a single A-Welle-ZVV Z-Pass ticket is valid till the time printed on it. You can travel back and forth as many times as you wish. In addition the special exception mentioned above with the most direct journey from A to B where the ticket is valid till you reach your destination.
Compared to C++14 or C++20 the ZVV and SBB is super easy. You just have to read the Tarif regulations (linked in the above posts).
If the A to B and the zones is on the mobile ticket, does that mean that you *can't* travel in the wrong direction?
In the canton of Zurich , if you have a valid public transport ticket (which means up until the last minute of its validity, and not one minute longer) then you can travel feely within the zones you have bought, hop on, hop off, up and down all the lines (trains, trams, buses, ships, cable-cars) running through those zones, as many times as you like. You must disembark before the clock ticks over ending that last minute.
Therefore, it is very easy to go out to do a quick shop at lunchtime, and get back to the office within the validity of a one-hour ticket. These tickets are called "single", but I believe that is just historical nomenclature.
Here, we don't even have return tickets lasting, say, 2 hours. A "return" ticket here always lasts for 24 hours. It is no longer referred to as a return ticket, but as a daycard (Tageskarte). This is very handy to go out in the city one evening, and then use the same ticket all day the next day, until 23 hours and 59 minutes have gone by, and then hop off.
According Tarif 600, Chpater 3.1.2 https://www.allianceswisspass.ch/de/...feVorschriften the condition and rules of the Verkehrsverbund (transportation system.) also applies to mobile tickets.
The answer for ZVV, A-Welle, and A-Welle-ZVV Z-Pass is:
You can't as there is no wrong direction . Only the zones are relevant, not the start or destination on the ticket.
The disadvantage of such a system is that everyone needs to pass via the driver. You will have noticed that in Zürich that you do not have ticket sales on board, and that you can use any door to enter. Imagine that everyone getting on a Cobra would do so through the front door at Hbf...
The system is set up in that way to encourage people to buy an annual pass. And in the cities most people do that. (I believe that in Bern it is even as much as 90% of the population).
With an annual pass you do not have to think about the right ticket anymore...
And with the new easyride functionality of the SBB app you are covered for trips outside of the area your pass covers.
I would never thought about that. Actually I visited Basel a few times and I assumed that it works "logically". I'm so lucky I was not checked.
In Vaud or Geneva a timed ticket lets you ride anything in any direction within the zones you paid for.
This is simply wrong.
If you buy a 1-hour ticket in Zurich, you can travel as much as you like during that hour.
Proof:
"For as long as your ticket is valid, you can travel as often as you wish on all types of transport in your selected zones."
I just want to thank all of you for the great detailed replies...
I love the questions (and especially the answers) about the intricicies of transportation ticket validity.
I wish you all a happy holiday!