I'm trying to figure out if I should pay 2990 CHF/year for a GA or 670 CHF/year for a U-Abo within the greater Basel area (TNW) plus the 150 CHF/year for the SBB Halbtax card. My daily commute is within the TNW area and would thus, be covered by either the GA or TNW option.

TNW + Halbtax costs 2170 CHF/year less (180 CHF/month) than a GA. To make the GA worthwhile, I would have to travel for leisure for (on average) more than 360 CHF/month at regular fares (which would cost me 180 CHF the with Halbtax card). That sounds like a lot of train travel.

I figure that in my situation a GA would not make sense; I'd have to travel almost every week-end to make it worthwhile. Am I correct? Opinions? Thoughts?

Hi,

If you're only making the occasional trip outside the TNW zone, then it probably works out with just U-Abo and Halbtax.

If you are making daily commutes (e.g.) to Zürich then a GA will make sense.

HTH.

Nick

U-abo and halbtax makes more sense in your case. I have a similar thing for Zug.

I agree with the others. I did a similar calculation on coming to Zurich and decided that it was a lot of money to be spending per month on days out at the weekend to make it worthwhile. I would not normally spend that much.

For me, it has been the right decision not to get the GA. I have travelled weekends with work on occasions, and if I have had a busy week, I am sometimes too tired to be bothered doing a major trip somewhere over the weekend. If I had the GA, I would be feeling guilty about having spent all that money and not using it!

Also, in my first year, I really wanted to explore my immediate surroundings first, so that I knew where to take friends when they visit. I might get the GA one year perhaps when I decide to have a Switzerland year and really explore the rest of the country. Even then, I am not sure I would get the full value from it, but psychologically I like the idea of just being able to jump on a train and not think how much it is costing me.

I had thought about being nerdy and making a little database to record how much money I spend on travel, but to be honest, because I have decided to explore my immediate surroundings first, it isn't an issue. I am clearly not spending that much money.

kfc.

I'm actually trying to do a trip every weekend and even then the annual GA (abonnement général in French) doesn't make sense unless you're staying overnight somewhere and can't take advantage of a day card (carte journalière in French, Tageskart in German). CHF 360/month sounds like two round trips to Zurich per week.

The day card offers unlimited travel after 9:00 on a weekday or all-day on a Sat or Sun. I think it's usually CHF 57, but it's CHF 39 from Oct 27th to Dec 9th. (Students and those under age 25 pay only CHF 11 with a reservation form!)

The web page isn't available in English, only the three below:

French
http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/fr/reisemarkt/...um-halbtax.htm

German
http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/...um-halbtax.htm

Italian
http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/it/reisemarkt/...um-halbtax.htm

Thanks for your input. It confirms what I thought.

This is correct, but I read in the SBB magazine a few months back that after Dec. 9th this year, the standard day-card prices are going up, to 65 CHF I believe.

Correction:

I asked about this at my local station. The CHF 11 special applies only to groups of at least 10 qualified people and the reservation form must be submitted three days in advance.