As I read through all the information about ways to discount travel in Switzerland, I am left with a few questions, as you might imagine!

My husband seems to think that we need a residency permit to purchase such cards as the ZVV monthly pass or the Half-Fare Card. Is that true? I haven't seen any such mention anywhere about that.

Also, we arrive mid-month (2 weeks from now - hooray!). Do the monthly passes cover 30 days from purchase or stick strictly to the calendar month?

No, you do not need residency to get the half fare cards or monthly pass.

And the validity is whatever date you want (they can even change the date for you or sometimes will refund the difference if you want to trade one in earlier than the expiry date).

Thank you swisspea!

Ps. You can go to the sbb/zvv ticket office at the airport and get it all sorted out on arrival.

If you have a rough idea of your itinerary they will even make suggestions for the best options...

We will need photos of ourselves, yes? (We are bringing some.)

Yes, you might need a passport style photo.

Dear ETH Frau:

Welcome to Switzerland. Make sure your pictures are NOT 2"x2" (U.S. standard) as they will be refused in Europe.

EU standard sizes (in inch / mm) for pictures:

1.4"x1.8" / 35x45mm (1st preference)
1.2"x1.6" / 30x40mm (2nd preference)

Thank you for the sizing info. I will measure ours!

There is one photo booth near the SBB Service Center on Level -1, so you don't need to measure at all.

Have a look here (Airport Center & CheckIn 3):
http://www.zurich-airport.com/passen...896.1406786539

Information about Half-Fare Travelcard and Online Forms:
http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and...ravelcard.html

Info on ZVV Travelpasses:
http://www.zvv.ch/en/tickets/tickets...v-networkpass/

I think you do need a residency permit for the annual half-fare card. The info is here (http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and...ravelcard.html) and says you need a passport or ID card from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy or Liechtenstein.

There is also a one month half-fare card for non-residents, but it's almost the same price as the one year card.

Only if you want the half-fare travel card combined with a Visa Credit Card.

An ID card from CH, D, A, F, I or FL is not a permit.

You don't need a permit for the regular half-fare card but you need to show them your ID or passport. So the OP needs to bring her U.S. passport and a picture.

It's possible that they've changed the requirements, although i purchased a yearly half tax in 2006 with a US passport, before i became a Swiss resident. It might be that you can use either a passport (from anywhere) or an id from Switzerland or neighboring countries.

It's worth checking.

I made my half fare card few months ago. Your passport and a picture is enough. you don't need a residency card (I didn't have mine at that time yet), but you might need an address so they can send you the card.
Another possibility is to make an agreement of where to pick up the card if you don't have an address yet (done that before as well as I was new and my name wasn't in the letter box yet, the card was returned to sbb and I got a call). So I picked up my 3 year half fare card on the sbb station where I purchased it.

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vvn_riessa

When I came here I brought 2" x 2" pictures from my home country and ZVV/SBB centers had a cutter and they cut picture to the size they wanted. Other than visa, picture rules are not so strict and for permit migration office will take picture and fingerprints by their own.

Keep in mind that annual ZVV pass is 25% cheaper than buying it every month. (http://www.zvv.ch/en/tickets/tickets...v-networkpass/)

Half tax card gets cheaper for longer duration.(http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and...ravelcard.html)

By this year end prices of public transport/passes will increase slightly so better to buy annual passes now
GA and Half tax getting more expensive

We took pictures right when we got off the plane at zrh. They use those pics for 10 years. That same zoned out pic is now on my GA.