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| What I said is that once you get Swiss Id papers, of one kind or another, you can then buy a full year HalbTax, DemiTariff, Half Fare card for 150chf.
Unlike the one that my mother got, this one is like an ID card and has my photo in it and is renewable online at the end of the year. I just wanted to point out that one can get a slightly more expensive version that lasts the whole year. If one only needs a months worth, then by all means go for that one instead and save the 50chf. | |
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And my point is that on both occasions I mentioned (when I was newly in the country, and a year later when my brother visited last), we were both able to buy the CHF150 one year card, with the photo-card, without being asked to show any kind of Swiss papers (they asked to see ID, and were happy in each case with a UK passport). In my brother's case, the guy selling it to me was quite clearly aware that he was a non-resident (he prompted me, when I gave my address to have it delivered to, that perhaps my brother's name might not be on the letter box, so he needed my name as part of the address), and was still happy to sell it.
I've just had a play with the SBB website to buy a half fare card online, and the options for entering personal details certainly allowed you to enter an address outside Switzerland, and the online shop accepted reference numbers from German, French, Italian and a bunch of other non-Swiss ID formats, which seems to imply to me that there is no residency requirement.
Of course none of this stops officious jobsworth types refusing to sell a full Halbtax card to non-residents at other stations, even if it isn't prohibited by the rules.