Best ways to save money on Swiss public transportation in 2024
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Swiss public transportation is expensive, there is no denying it. Compared to neighboring countries, it often feels extremely overpriced. And it is also sometimes complicated with many tickets and systems.
However, there are ways to save money on public transportation in Switzerland. In this article, we will go over multiple tips that will allow you to save money on Swiss public transportation.
Swiss public transportation
In Switzerland, we have a good public transportation network with:
- Trains
- Buses
- Trams
- Boats
Cable cars are also part of the public transportation, but they are different in that most passes will not give you free access to them. At most, you will get a 50% discount on them by having a day pass, for instance.
The Swiss public transportation system is generally of good quality and is generally on-time. On the other hand, it is expensive, especially for occasional users. In fact, it is so much expensive that people without a general travel pass regularly take the car instead because it can be much cheaper (if you already have a car).
One other issue about the system is that it is very fragmented. Like everything in Switzerland, each canton has a different system. Some cantons have simple systems and some cantons have very complex ones. In many places, you will also be expected to pay cash (buses for instance in many places), which is highly inconvenient.
There are two classes in the public transportation system. First class gives you slightly more space in the train, but the main advantage is that you have fewer people. So, you often have a better chance of finding a set in first class and can generally be quieter as well. However, first class obviously costs more. So, since this article is about saving money, I will only cover second class tickets.
One thing worth mentioning is that children under 6 travel for free on the Swiss public transportation network. So, you can enjoy many trips at a lower price when they are young.
In this article, I go over the main ways we can use to save money on public transportation.
Local passes
If you are a frequent user of a given region or a trip, you can usually get a local pass. Depending on the canton, they will have wildly different systems, but these passes are typically worth it if the trip is part of your commute or your habits.
For instance, if I have to go to Fribourg from my village, I have to pay 7.80 CHF (one-way) for a 15-minute bus ride. So, I need to pay 15.60 CHF for the round trip. The annual plan for this trip is 1062 CHF. So, I would need to go 68 times per year (less than 6 times per month) for the plan to be worth it. And this plan also has the advantage of not having to purchase a ticket each time.
In my canton, there is also an option to pay for a flexible plan for 100 days a year. This is great for people with part-time work or some days at home. In this case, the plan costs 545 CHF for the same trip. I would only need to go 35 times per year on this trip for the plan to be worth it. Not all cantons have this option, but it is starting to become more and more available.
In some cantons, you also have cheaper passes depending on when you take the train. For instance, there are some cheaper passes if you only travel after 7pm on the night. And there are also sometimes some cheaper options if you only travel after 9am during the day.
Unfortunately, each canton has a different system. But in general, these local passes are great value for frequent users. If you frequently commute over multiple cantons, you will likely need a general pass (GA Travelcard). Because combining multiple local passes is usually pricier.
Supersaver tickets
If you reserve your train ticket in advance (on the SBB website), you can get a Supersaver ticket. These tickets are up to 40% cheaper than standard tickets. If you can book a few months in advance, the savings can be excellent.
However, it is important to know that these tickets are only valid for the exact connection. This means you cannot take another train than the one you planned the trip for. Often, this is good, but if you miss your connection, you will need to buy another ticket.
Combine tickets
When you are going from one city to the other, you can also combine the train ticket for that journey with a local ticket for these cities.
For instance, if you book a trip from Fribourg to Zurich on the SBB website, you can then get an upgrade for the city of Fribourg and/or Zurich. In this example, it would only cost 5.80 CHF for each city. This could be great value if you need to take trams in Zurich.
As usual, you still have to compute whether this is worth it. If you are only going to take a single small bus in Fribourg, it is not interesting, but multiple buses would be a good deal. And it is important to note that these upgrades are not available with Supersaver tickets.
Saver Day Pass
Saver Day Pass are daily passes for the entire public transportation network. You can buy them for any day in the future (but not for today). And the more in advance you buy them, the cheaper you can get them.
You can only buy a day pass for a specific day. The price of the day pass is as little as 52 CHF if you do not have the half-fare card. And if you have it, you can find deals for as little as 29 CHF, but these deals are quite rare (only on Monday apparently), typically, you will get 39 CHF.
If you can plan multiple months ahead, the saver day pass can be an excellent deal. But if you are late, they are really not that interesting. If you buy a day pass on the day of your trip, it can still be appealing (if you have multiple connections, for instance), but you will not save much.
Day pass for children
Children between 6 and 16 can get a day pass for only 19 CHF. This allows them to use the full public transportation network at a superb price. If you have a long trip planned, this can easily be worth it. And it is one great way to alleviate the fact that children start to pay at 6 years old.
Children’s Co-Travelcard (companion card)
If you are often traveling with your children, you can opt for the Children’s Co-Travelcard. This card lets the child (from 6 to 16) travel for free on the entire train network. The condition is that the child must be accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket. And it also works on most of the bus and tram network. But it does not act as a full GA.
This Travelcard for children only costs 30 CHF per year. So, it is a great deal if you use the train often with your children!
Municipality Day Pass
For a long time, we have been able to get day passes at municipalities. These day passes are like a general pass on the entire public transportation of Switzerland. Until 2023, they were great deals, but the system has changed and is now significantly worse, although it could still be appealing. This system is almost the same as the Saver Day Pass, but you can get it cheaper if you are not too early. If you do it very early, this will not get you any cheaper deals than the Saver Day Pass.
You can only buy a day pass for a specific day. The price of the day pass is 88 CHF if you buy it less than 10 days in advance, and 52 CHF if you buy it more than 10 days in advance. If you have a half-fare Travelcard, you can get it for 59 CHF, respectively 39 CHF.
To buy them, you need to go to the office of your municipality and ask for tickets for the day of your trip. Since the recent changes, you cannot reserve them on the phone, you have to go to the office.
If you are planning a lot of travel on the same day, these cards can be attractive if you can get one at your municipality. But they are not great at the last minute. And the price without half-fare is not that great.
Swiss Travel Pass
The Swiss Travel Pass is like a general pass but with a limited number of days. This is great when traveling in Switzerland.
It is important to note that that Swiss Travel Pass is only available to non-residents. So, it can be a good deal for people living abroad and coming to visit Switzerland for a few days.
You can get it in multiple variants at different prices:
- 3 days at 244 CHF
- 4 days at 295 CHF
- 6 days at 379 CHF
- 8 days at 419 CHF
- 15 days at 459 CHF
For long trips in Switzerland with public transportation, these passes can be a great deal. And it is good to know that children under 16 can travel for free if one parent as the Swiss Travel Pass.
Half-Fare Travelcard
The Half-Fare Travelcard is a special card that lets you get 50 percent off on most public transportation. Contrary to its name, you do not get a guaranteed 50 percent discount. Indeed, on some short trips, you will get significantly lower discounts.
The Half-Fare Travelcard currently costs 190 CHF for the first year and 170 CHF starting from the second year. If you are between 16 and 25, you can get the youth card, for 120 CHF the first year (and 100 CHF from the second year).
This card has generally great value if you are an occasional user of public transportation, but not enough to justify a monthly or yearly pass. You can try to estimate how much you would pay without the card and with, and see whether this is interesting for you. For instance, my wife often uses the buses to the next city and occasionally the train with my son, and it is great value for her.
Half-Fare Plus
In 2023, SBB unveiled the new Half-Fare Plus plan. This plan sits somewhere in the middle of the Half-Fare and the GA Travelcard. However, it does not include the Half-Fare Travelcard. So, you must first buy the Half-Fare card before you can opt for the Half-Fare Plus plan, which is weird given its naming.
The system is a bit odd. It is basically a prepaid card for the Swiss public transportation system but with a bonus. You deposit some money and then, based on how much you deposit, you get a bonus that you can use during a year. At the end of the year, if you have money not yet used, they will reimburse it to you. But the bonus money itself is not refundable.
There are 3 different plans:
- Half-Fare Plus 1000: You deposit 800 CHF and get 200 CHF as a bonus
- People under 25 deposit 600 CHF and get 400 CHF extra
- Half-Fare Plus 1500: You deposit 1500 CHF and 500 CHF as a bonus
- People under 25 deposit 1125 CHF and get 875 CHF extra
- Half-Fare Plus 3000: You deposit 2100 CHF and you get 900 CHF as a bonus
- People under 25 deposit 1575 CHF and get 1425 CHF extra
So, the more you deposit, the more bonus you get. But which plan should you choose? You will need to estimate your yearly expenses on public transportation and use that number to decide. I have computed which is best based on each level of yearly expenses:
- From 0 to 380 CHF, you should use nothing
- From 381 to 800 CHF, you should use the Half-Fare only
- From 801 to 1700 CHF, you should use the Half-Fare plus the Half-Fare Plus 1000
- From 1701 to 2600 CHF, you should use the Half-Fare plus the Half-Fare Plus 2000
- From 2601 to 4895 CHF, you should use the Half-Fare plus the Half-Fare Plus 3000
- From 4896 CHF, you should use the GA Travelcard
An issue with this plan is that you cannot use it at ticket vending machines or in offices. You need to buy all tickets from your app or on the SBB website to use your Half-Fare Plus. And there is no interest on your cash, so you may be losing out compared to keeping that cash in an interest-bearing account.
The Half-Fare Plus plan is a good way to save money without buying a GA Travelcard. However, I wish they had done something simpler. And I wish we did not have to predict our public transportation needs for the entire year to choose which of the plans they use.
GA Travelcard
The GA Travelcard is a special plan that will provide you with access to most of the public transportation in Switzerland. So, once you pay the GA Travelcard, you will not have to pay for tickets anymore. There are some exceptions, like cable cars, where this would only give you half-fare price. But in general, trains, trams, buses, and boats are included.
As of August 2024, here are the prices for the GA Travelcard:
- 3995 CHF for adults
- 1720 CHF for children
- 2780 CHF for youths (16-25)
- 3495 CHF for 25 years old
- 3040 CHF for seniors
- 2600 CHF for disabled individuals
- 2860 CHF for the second person in the household
As you can see, this card is not cheap. So, you have to calculate how much you would pay with and without the card to see whether it is worth it. Generally, if you are going every day by train to the office, this is quickly a significant gain. But if you are only going some weekdays, it may not be interesting. And for small trips or bus trips, there are often cheaper alternatives.
You can also pay monthly, but this will be pricier, so not appealing if you are looking to save money. And you can also get a monthly GA Travelcard, for 420 CHF. This is only valid for one month. This can be great if you are planning a train holiday in Switzerland, for instance.
Another advantage of the GA Travelcard is also convenience. Some people prefer the GA Travelcard even when it is not cheaper because they do not have to take tickets for each trip.
Overall, the GA Travelcard is good for saving money if you are a heavy user of the public transportation system. But if you are only an occasional user, it will be far too expensive.
A cool tip if you have a GA is that you can deposit your GA when you do not need it. If you are leaving Switzerland, for instance (or not planning any usage), you can deposit your GA and you will get back the days you deposit. You need to deposit it for at least 5 days in a row. And you can deposit up to 30 days per year.
Night GA for young people
If you are below 25, you can get a night GA Travelcard for only 99 CHF per year. This GA Travelcard works in the same way as the standard GA, but you can only use it from 7pm to 5am during and from 7pm to 7am during the weekend (and holidays). If you are often traveling during the night, this is the cheapest way to use Swiss public transportation.
Get a pass with your hotel stay
In some regions of Switzerland, you can get free public transportation with your hotel stay. For instance, in Vevey, you can get free buses in Vevey and around during your stay. This can save you a lot of money if you know in advance. So, it is a good idea to research whether your destination offers such a perk.
It is also important to know that there are sometime some conditions to obtains these passes. For, instance, you could only get it if you spend multiple days or only during certain periods.
Use Fairtiq or EasyRide
Another way to save on money is to use some automatic ticketing app, like Fairtiq or the EasyRide feature (from within the SBB app). When you use this app, you will swipe when you enter the public transportation and again when you leave. If you start with the bus and then leave later with a train, it will compute the ticket properly.
The advantage of this app is that it will use the lowest price based on your trip. It could use a day pass if that is cheaper than your trip.
The main disadvantage is that you have to remember to turn the feature on or off. If you do not, you will not get your tickets, and you may be fined once you are controlled. And of course, your phone needs to be turned on (with battery) all the trip.
Of course, these apps are not perfect because they will not work for multiple-day trips. And they will also not work for the cheapest price if you can plan your trip a lot in advance.
Pay with Reka
You can usually buy most Swiss public transportation tickets with Reka money. Reka is a social tourism organization. They are trying to promote tourism within Switzerland and try to make it cheaper. Among other things, they are offering Reka money, which is often accepted for transportation and trips.
The advantage is that you can get Reka money with a discount in multiple places. If you are lucky, your employer may offer you Reka money with a discount (could be up to 20%). And you can buy Reka money at Coop with a 3% discount. If you got enough of it, this means you can get at least 3% discount on each of your trips.
Pay with a credit card
A great Swiss credit card with excellent cashback (up to 1%!), very flexible, and with a good mobile application.
- No yearly fee
- 1% cashback in three shops
While it will not save you money, using a good credit card may give you cash back. For instance, the Certo One card by Cembra can give you 1% cashback on your purchases with the SBB (for trains). This will not make a huge difference, of course, but getting 1% back on expensive trains could be worth it if you are using trains a lot.
And you can also use your credit card on some buses, trams and other Swiss public transportation.
Conclusion
Public transportation in Switzerland is good, but I have always found it too expensive. Even a simple return train ticket can easily go over 100 CHF in Switzerland. Fortunately, there are ways to save money on Swiss public transportation.
Generally, being able to plan your trips in advance is the best way to save money on Swiss public transportation. The best deals you can get for day passes are deals that you can only get if you reserve your ticket a while in advance. And the same is true for Supersaver tickets, for instance.
One unfortunate fact about the Swiss public transportation is that each canton has its system. This means that if you do a cross-canton trip, you may have to research multiple systems. And some tips to save money on public transportation will only work in some cantons.
If you want to save money, you can read about my favorite techniques to save money each month in Switzerland.
What about you? Do you have any other tips to save money on public transportation?
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Kiddo (one of my 9 grandchildren but the one who lives with me: they all have Swiss passports but he’s the only one who thinks of Switzerland (not the USA when there are 1mn Swiss-Americans (also 1mn Ukrainian-Americans, another story) or the U.K. where he has 3 cousins as his native country where he wants to live out his life.) Anyway he had his first test in Year 1 of German for 6ème (ie German taught in French to 11-year-olds). And he got wrong « ihr seid ». I think I might have got that wrong too. In my day (1960s) every educated Swiss spoke French. Why should I keep up with German? Now I’m sorry. I read German books sometimes when they’re not translated into French or English. But after self-testing (reading the German first, with a dictionary, and the French next) I realised I’d got 70% of the sense. Like every parent (grandparent) and lots (too many) teachers I’m going to have to read the textbook ahead of the class.
There is also the Night GA for people under 25. 99chf for a GA that is valid between 19 and 5 on weekdays and between 19 and 7 on the weekend.
Good point, I will mention this one as well!
A comment on this part:
“This means you cannot take another train than the one you planned the trip for. Often, this is good, but if you miss your connection, you need to wait for the next one on the exact train and not simply another train going to the same destination.”
–> if you miss the Supersaver train, there is no point in waiting for anything, as the ticket is gone (also for any future train on the same route). You can ask for a refund (you pay 10.- penalty) if you buy a full-price ticket afterwards and claim the refund in the app.
Currently it reads like you could still get some other trains with the expired ticket (“wait for the next one”).
Thanks, I will address this Peter!
Thanks for the great article! Are the supersaver tickets the « billets dégriffés »? Or am I missing something here?
Yes, they are the same thing!
When going abroad, interrail is great. But it only includes one trip to live Switzerland and one trip to get back in Switzerland.
But it can be worth it.
Tux.
Thanks, Tux! I will also checkout interrail. I did not know it.
REKA is also a good option, should you get vouchers from your employer!
I really need to research Reka. For me, it remains this obscure thing that my parents used to do!
Once you have subscribed to a Reka card (CHF 15 annual fee, IIRC), you can purchase Reka currency with a 2% discount on the Reka website (via bank transfer) or enjoy a 3% discount at many Coop stores (https://reka.ch/fr/rekageld/particuliers/reka-card-chez-coop). Reka currency can be used to pay for any ticket on the SBB app, including international trips, as well as for renewing the Half-Fare Card, the GA, or purchasing local passes and day tickets. By loading your Reka card at Coop, you can save nearly CHF 120 on your GA. It’s a simple and convenient way to save a little money!
Thanks for the details!
An excellent summary. I renew my half-fare subscription @ 170 Sfr even though I’ve moved to London for family & business reasons (not to omit Swiss wealth tax and double taxation by not implementing tax treaties). You don’t seem to mention kiddo day pass for CHF 19.95 (+/-) — automatic if you buy your tickets on the SBB app. I’m glad you mentioned the hotel-provided local city passes. You can use them even from the train station to the hotel even if not emailed to you in advance. Call the hotel.
Another reason we left Switzerland was the issue of education of autistic children. Our kiddo is bilingual French-English, just started at the French Lycee in London. We are members of autisme-valais. The support kiddo gets in UK is infinitely greater than in Switzerland. But he does insistently want to visit, and eventually study at uni in Lausanne.
As to credit cards I might add that because most of my pensions are in US$ I use a Chase Sapphire Reserve VISA which gives me 3% points (worth actually 4.5% if strategically used) for travel, restaurants, hotels. And provided free & gratis a hospitality ship moored on the Seine for its members when we went to the Paris Olympics. I don’t know why Swiss credit cards are so bad: I use TWINT sometimes but many retailers refuse it because they say it (or the machine) costs too much.
It differs a lot by cantons. In Basel, each child gets assigned a so called “quallified assistant”, which is a person only responsible for the autistic child. The child will attend classes normally with other not autistic children but will sit together with this caretaker. The child also participates normally in class whenever possible.
I like this system a lot, but it can be ‘too much’ when a child barely has any “symptoms” and would be fine without help.
Interesting, I will checkout the kiddo day pass.
Oh, I was thinking we had good support for “special needs” children, but apparently I was wrong. Is it because they try to integrate them too much and too early? (That may be a stupid question, I am not familiar with these situations).
We owned a flat in Valais; sold it mainly because my wife passed away and Credit Suisse in its insolvency didn’t want to renew the mortgage. So we moved back to a house we own in London. Here the parent(s) (my daughter is a single mum, born in London so Swiss-British citizenships) are entitled to negotiate a binding contract with the borough (county) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Kiddo is very smart, but has trouble paying attention when he already knows something. Under the contract, the borough (RBKC in our case; poorer boroughs sometimes claim to be too broke to honour contracts they’ve signed: the remedy is to threaten to sue them — very costly and of course the loser pays all the costs) will supply a learning assistant (AVS in French, nothing to do with the pension of the same symbol) to help him pay attention. We had a bilingual one during his elementary years; this year we have a Turkish graduate: it doesn’t seem to hinder that she speaks neither French nor German (this is kiddo’s first year of German in the Lycée). Plus he gets Disability Living Allowance, psychological and PT assistance as needed. But like Alan Turing, who’s on the £50 note, he will grow up successful, we are convinced. I fear that in Switzerland he’d be left in the back of the class to play with his iPad. Or worse, put in a school for kids with special needs. The spectrum of autism disorder is little understood. Least of all by politicians. I took him to Uni of Fribourg when the were doing a study of bilingual autistics and his session went well. A couple of days ago he took the language part of the national French exam for 6e (7th year) students (he’ll take the match part this week). He was given the concession to take the test in a separate room to avoid distraction (and make the result more accurate). While he doesn’t read as much as he should and I don’t count his iPad gaming as reading, he did manage to exceed the 120 words per minute and whatever other criteria were involved: after all I’ve only spoken French to him from birth: we believe in OPOL (One Person One Language) which I think is common in Switzerland to bring up a kid bilingually in German and French. (Hey, my uncle spoke Romansh, but nobody cared.)
Thanks for the complete explanation! And congratulations on taking such great care of your son’s future! I don’t think many parents would go that far to ensure a bright future for their son! And good luck to your son for his studies.
Hi Baptiste
Two points:
1) A huge saving point that I see missing currently are the Half-Fare Plus offers. Not attractive for tourists, but anyone who spends more than 800.-/year on tickets should definitely do this. Also, you can buy the Half-Fare Plus Prepaid money with a Cashback AmEx.
2) I don’t see a reason to use Fairtiq anymore, since EasyRide (embedded natively within the SBB app) does literally the same. Plus, you can use the Half-Fare-Plus money for EasyRide as well (saving between up to 30% on any Journey).
+1 on both of these. Also the Halbtax plus takes a little bit of working out, so I’m sure people would be grateful for the explainer!
I will need to learn it as well. And then, I will try to explain it!
Thanks, Peter. I will research Half Fare plus in details. I will also mention EasyRide, I never used it before.
Halbtax PLUS is definitely worth to check. At least for me it allows to save the money and if someone don’t like buying tickets every single time, then SBB EasyRide is for that.
Thanks, I will check it out!
Yes, Halbtax Plus needs to be in this review, as it is really worth it for those who spend more than 1.000CHF on SBB per year, and I presume there are quite a few of those around…
Thanks Bapriste,
Very clear and informative. Even though I have been using SBB for over 10 years and have the Halb Tax I never knew about the Supersaver option :-) However, it seems to work for long distances only.
Thanks, T! Yes. the Supersaver is a good option, but definitely not on each trip.