Berner Oberland Logistics Question

This is not a question of logistics, it is a question of cost. The logistics are the same no matter how you pay. A Berner Oberland Pass is probably the way to go. Also look at a Half Fare Card instead. With a round trip price of about 250 CFH from Muerren to the Jungfraujoch, it will pay for itself immediately.

You have to price everything out to make a rational decision.

I generally get a Berner Oberland Pass because it frees me up to explore without constantly thinking about the costs, and also not spend time getting tickets each time. The only exception would be if there is a forecast for Lots of rain for the days you are there. Then I'd buy individual tix.
Anyway, here are my approximations (tix can vary by seasons) for trains and cable cars so that you can decide if you want to buy a regional pass. These are in CHF, which is basically on par with $US. I figure on roughly $30 a day for transportation while there, but that also varies by which town you are in, and which trails you want (Private mail me for maps and pics of the dozen best hikes there.)
Prices are one-way unless indicated. Double it for round trip.

Grindelwald - First 30

Grindelwald - Lauterbrunnen 12

Grindelwald - Grosse Scheidegg bus 15

Grindelwald - Mannlichen 30

Lauterbrunnen - Wengen 8

Wengen - Mannlichen 24

Kleine Scheidegg - Wengen 16

Wengernalp - Wengen 10

Lauterbrunnen - Trummelbach bus 4

Lauterbrunnen - Grutschalp 8

Grutschalp - Murren 8

Murren - Allmendhubel 9

Murren - Stechelberg 12

Murren - Schilthorn roundtrip 82

Interlaken Ost - Jungfraujoch roundtrip 200

Interlaken Ost - Lauterbrunnen 12

Wilderswil - Schynige Platte 32

If you do not have a pass and are taking transit, you have to buy tickets every time at full price.

If you have a Half Fare Card, you have to buy tickets every time, but at half price. Since the card costs CHF 120, if you're definitely taking more than CHF 240 worth of transit, the card is a good deal. And as Sam says, if you're going up to the Jungfraujoch, you will definitely get your money's worth on the Half Fare Card from that alone. Note that you can buy tickets from either a person at a ticket window, or from a machine; all the machines will have a "Half Fare/Child Fare" option. When asked to show tickets, you need to show both the ticket and the Half Fare Card.

If you have a Berner Oberland Pass, you do not need to buy tickets for fully covered transit; you just show your pass when asked for tickets. For anything not fully covered, you show your pass when you buy tickets, so you can get the applicable discount, but you MUST buy tickets before hand.

So yes, the BO Pass is more convenient, but it's not hard to buy tickets when you need them. So, do the math; add up the trips you are definitely taking and the trips you are possibly taking, and see which works out best. If it's close, I'd go with the BO Pass for the convenience.

You are correct that in the Berner Oberland, you are always going up, down, or across on something, so the transit costs do add up if you are buying full price tickets.

Thank you for listing the fare costs. It sounds like the half-fare card might save us about 100 CF. How far ahead do we need to buy them? We are picking up our rental car on the French side of the Geneva airport - do they sell these cards there? If not, where should we buy them? Thank you!

Half Fare cards as well as Berner Oberland Pass can be bought at any manned Swiss train station. If you plan to park at the Lauterbrunnen garage, there is a train station right there. If you are picking up a car on the French side of Geneva airport, make sure it has a Swiss vignette attached or you will have to buy one and put it on.

To the OP, you should know that Gimmelwald can be a short walk down a pleasant path from Mürren, so no worries there.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. This is awesome info.