Hello all,

I will be flying into Zurich on the 13th of January, then plan on taking the railway to Bern. I have never been in Switzerland before so I am hoping someone can give me some advice!

Not only will I be traveling from Zurich to Bern when I arrive, but I will be using public transportation daily to get from my apartment to the school I am teaching at. I would also like to to a few trips outside CH, probably to France and Germany. Which pass would be best suited for me I have been leaning toward the half fare card.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

There are two direct trains to "Bern Hauptbahnhof" from "Zürich Flughafen" at Minute 13 and 43. Traveltime 1hout and 22minutes.

As we don't know how long you're staying and how often you plan to travel outside Bern it's not possible to give any advise on Travelcards. Please get this information from following sites:

http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

http://www.bernmobil.ch/Seiten/aktue...d=1213&lang=de

As of Dec 11, 2011, they no longer sell tickets in the intercity trains. Prior to that, SBB would sell a tkt on the train with an additional CHF 5.00 (or so surcharge).

Now they check more regularly and are happily handing out fines for not buying the tkt before boarding, specially from zurich airport. I was away for a while (3+ months), ran down to catch the train knowing I will be sold a tkt on the train and was unpleasantly surprised on Dec 14th.

I ended up calling the SBB number on the ticket, complaining that there are no signs indicating change of policy, it is an international airport, no sign upstairs where the ticket machines and the esclators are, it is winter, tracks are cold and people only go down there when the train arrives and having a small tiny sign on the platform (per their claim that there are signs on the platform but I did not see it, even though I took one set of escalators to Sector D and walked back to Sector B/C)) is "not effective" to say the least, etc. etc. They reduced the amount by CHF 60.00.

So, make sure you have a valid tkt before boarding the train. The tkt machines at the airport are both multi-lingual and accept foreign credit cards.

Welcome to CH.

Check out the rest of the stuff in the Sticky on Public Transport in Switzerland where a couple of other 'catches' are mentioned.

You can actually buy the train ticket online on www.sbb.ch and just print it out and show it on the train. That saves you having to queue at the ticket desk.

One would need to access the SBB ticketshop, set up an account and then purchase a paperless ticket.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/ticketshop/b2c/


Try their SuperSavers for a cheaper single ticket.

http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and...r-tickets.html

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you don't actually need an account. I don't have one and buy tickets online from time to time. Having an account saves you having to re-type all the small stuff, but it's not a necessity.

Hi Miss Kris,

Just sent you a PM!

Enjoy your time in Bern!

Kind regards
Mary

As others have said, it's hard to give advice about half fare cards or general abonnements without knowing your precise plans...

But to help you figure it out...

Use the sbb site to work out the cost of your daily commute (note, it automatically assumes you have a half fare card). Then either work out how much you will spend a year (and compare to a yearly GA), or how much you will spend per month (and compare to a monthly GA). Then make your choice. There you go!

I have a GA (monthly, it's a little more expensive but I can't afford a lump sum... and this way after the first 4 months I could cancel it if I wished). I find that not only is it cost effective (for me), but also it saves time and stress. No need to worry about having bought a ticket, ever! It also means that I don't find myself sitting there thinking 'I'd like to go to such-and-such... but can I afford the train fare?'...

Oh, and about buying the ticket online... if doing this on a mobile phone, make sure you don't confuse the online ticket you should print out and the ticket you can buy on mobile phones. I was on the train the other day and someone had purchased an online ticket on their mobile, but a printable kind, not a mobile phone ticket, and hadn't realised the difference so hadn't printed it out... the inspector was not happy because he couldn't scan it.