I've traveled by train in other countries, but I find Switzerland confusing.
I'll be on the RS Switzerland tour later this month, and will use trains for 3 trips before and after the tour. The trips don't add up to enough to make a half-price card useful. So that part is solved.
Am I understanding correctly that a regular price ticket can be used on any train on the route that day? So if my flight is delayed, I can use a ticket from Zurich airport to Luzern later in the day?
You have nothing to worry about in Switzerland. It is my favorite country for ease of public transportation.
Just buy a ticket when you arrive at the airport. No need to buy in advance. The ticket will be good on any train for the route purchased. I like to pick the journey with the least amount of train changes. From Zurich airport to Luzern, you will have one train change. If you miss your connection, no worry because the ticket is good on any train. So, no need to stress about connection times. Just take the next one.
Download the train app, SBB, while in the US and get familiar with it. The app will tell you which platform your train will be at and where to stand on the platform for first and second class.
Have a great trip!!
That tickets are for a route, not a train, is actually the default in pretty much all of Europe. So trains in Switzerland operate the same way they do elsewhere. You buy a ticket, you travel. And there is no need to buy in advance...
I believe the rule of thumb is there should be at least one train an hour on any route
This info. from the man in seat 61 may be helpful:
https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-switzerland.htm#Swiss_train_tickets
Even he calls them train tickets. :-) I’m not sure when it became incorrect to call a ticket to ride a train a train ticket. It just sounds weird, and I think it confuses people.
I think it makes more sense to say that a train ticket is not train/time specific.
I forgot to mention earlier that you do not need a seat reservation. So, just hop on and find a seat.
I’m not sure when it became incorrect to call a ticket to ride a train
a train ticket.
What do you call a ticket that is valid on a train, a bus a boat and a cable car :-)
You will not see "train ticket" printed on the ticket you get in Switzerland, precisely because it is not a train ticket. If you buy a ticket Zurich to Lauterbrunnen it is valid on all the trains on the route, but also on the buses that run on Spiez - Interlaken and Interlaken - Lauterbrunnen late in the evening for example. Tickets are mode neutral, because in Switzerland you pay to get transported from A to B, not to ride a train.
