Information needed about new Half Fare Travel Card PLUS

I think this is for Swiss nationals only.

The thing is you need to spend over 800 CHF per person before this will be profitable for you. That would be a lot of train travel in a short amount of time for someone who is only here on vacation.

Kim, have you heard for sure it's only for Nationals? The reason I ask is the website actually recommends using the PLUS with a pre-purchased Half Fare Travel Card. It isn't really made clear on the website and looks like a great deal for anyone whose trains and lifts will cost CHF 800 or more.

Teresa, the Half-Fare PLUS is a one-year card costing 190 CHF CHF “plus” more, like 800 CHF, as a deposit toward your travel. It is a pre-paid contract, designed for Swiss residents.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/half-fare-travelcard-plus.html

Here is the basic information on the resident’s Half Fare Card:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/half-fare-travelcard.html

What you want is the tourist 30-day Half Fare Card for 120 CHF:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/guests-abroad/swiss-halffare-card.html``

The tourist Half Fare Card does not offer the Plus benefit.

Teresa, how many days will you be traveling in Switzerland, counting your travel days coming from or going to Italy?
If your Swiss train travel adds up to 800 CHF as you imply, you would probably do best with either a 15-day Swiss Travel Pass for 459, or an 8- or 10-day Berner Oberland Pass plus tourist Half-Fare Card (the price of which will be either mostly or completely covered by the associated discount on the BO Pass. These will come to 407 or 436 CHF.

The latter might be more advantageous if you are spending the majority of your time within the validity area of he BO Pass (which is larger than you may think), AND will be riding a lot of the fully-covered lifts in the BO.

But where are you traveling in Switzerland? I do not see anywhere you have posted an itinerary or asked for help on choosing the right travel pass for Switzerland. While I am very happy to see someone do their own hard work on figuring out the passes, if their research leads to the Swiss resident’s Half Fare Card PLUS as the best option, they may benefit from some help.

Hi Lola. I've already mapped out the best pass for this trip's type of travel and lift expenses - the "Half Fare Travel Card - good for 1 month". This card basically gives equal or better value on lifts and cog railways etc compared to the Swiss Travel pass, and because I'll be staying several days in locations, having train travel only 50% discounted will be okay. I'll be in Switzerland for most of the month, mostly hiking.

But while looking at the pass options I saw the "PLUS" option. And it seems to be new, and isn't mentioned in my 2023 Rick Steves Switzerland guide, so I wanted to know if it would be for tourists as well as residents.

My itinerary cost totals have shown that I will definitely be spending CHF800+ on transit and lifts. So I would get the CHF 200 benefit if the PLUS is available to tourists.

Even if you could get this Half Fare Travelcard PLUS (which I do not believe you, as a non-resident, can), you will not benefit. Here is what the offer says:

Half Fare Travelcard PLUS 1000.
The offer includes:
You deposit CHF 800.
The Half Fare Travelcard is not included in the price.
You receive CHF 200 as a free bonus.
You have access to CHF 1,000 in credit

So you spend 190 CHF for the one-year Travelcard, and deposit another 800 CHF on the contract. You have spent 990 CHF at this point, of which 800 is available for expenses on trains, cablecars, gondolas, and boats.

You say your planned travel and lifts add up to around 800 CHF——but with your Half Fare Card, you will actually be paying 50% of each ticket cost, so you only use up 400 CHF of your 800 CHF credit. You would have to spend another 400 CHF on lifts, etc. to reach the point where you access that extra 200 CHF of credit. Do you really anticipate spending that much more?

And if you don’t spend all of your 800 CHF original deposit, you will have to wait until the year is up before you can get a refund of the balance.

If after reading everything Lola says you still think the HFC Plus is the best option for you (which I doubt will be the case), I would check to see if the 800 can be used to purchase mountain excursions, or if it applies only to the GA area of validity. My assumption would be the latter, but this is something to check out as it would make a significant difference in your usage of the 800.

I do see information regarding other Europeans purchasing it, so it is likely that you can as well Teresa, but again, it is hard to imagine that this would be your best solution.

Have you also see this pass?

https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/unlimited-jungfrau-summer-pass/

One more thing that might help you is that there are a lot of different passes available. I will throw out a few to give you ideas and you can research what is available in the locations you will be staying.

Tell Pass - similar to the BO Pass, but focusing on the Luzern region

https://www.tellpass.ch/en/information/network

In Appenzell you get the guest card free with a three or more night stay

https://www.appenzell.ch/en/accommodation/appenzeller-holiday-card.html

Seasonal hiking passes can be purchased for specific areas...you would have to be staying in one place long enough for something this to pay off

Eg. Adelboden/Kandersteg/Frutigen/Lenk

https://meine-berge.ch/en/seasonal-hiking-pass/

Thanks Maureen and Lola. I've emailed the service to ask directly. But unless I hear otherwise, plan to buy the 1-month Half Fare Travel Pass CHF120 for the trip.

I actually tried a “dummy” purchase of the one-year PLUS travel card, using my SwissPass login as required. My SwissPass account shows my home address and other personal details, and I have used this account to purchase 30-day Half Fare cards in the last 2 years. For the one-year Half Fare Card, I not get past the “ID verification” step. I assumed that was because of my North American address, but maybe I am wrong about that.

Sounds like your mind is set, but how many days will you be spending hiking in the Berner Oberland region? Did you considered Lola’s suggestion of a 10-day Berner Oberland Pass with Half Fare card? If you have as much lift riding as you imply with your 800 Francs in cost, the BO pass could cut that way down—- to zero for the trains and lifts within the BO validity zone. It is bigger than you might realize. The only hikers lift that isn’t free with the BO pass is the Schilthorn cable car, but it is 50% off.

The rest of your travel snd lifts, outside the BO area, will still be covered with the Half Fare Card.

Hello Teresa,
Perhaps you have already heard back from SBB,
I was so curious about this that I asked at the train station today. Here is how it works:

1. As long as you can buy the ticket for your entire journey on the SBB website or app, then it will count towards your 800 CHF usage. For example, the SBB staff person quickly checked both Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn. Yes, they would be included.
2. Anyone can buy this. I specifically asked if someone coming here from America for a holiday would be able to and he said yes.

Maureen, thanks for asking at the train station about the "PLUS" availability. I have gotten very vague answers regarding it from "Switzerland Travel Centre" and the SBB train "Chat". One simply wrote back to refer me to the Half Fare Card for tourists and the other just referred me to the contract that locals use to get the Swiss Half Fare Card used by residents. (They really shouldn't have names for these that sound so similar.)

If your information is correct, and if depositing CHF 800 and spending it can generate CHF 200 as a bonus spending amount, and if it can be spent while using the Half Fare Card for tourists (the one costing CHF 120 and lasting a month) and thus benefiting from 50% off most travel and lifts as well, this would be an incredibly good deal!

if it can be spent while using the Half Fare Card for tourists (the one costing CHF 120 and lasting a month

I didn’t ask which Half Fare Card you had to purchase. So I don't know if it is possible with the one month, or if you need to get the one year one.

They really shouldn't have names for these that sound so similar.

Absolutely!

Be aware that you can not purchase other passes with this system. For example you could not buy a BO Pass with your 800, only actual tickets for specific journeys.

If you are here for long enough, as in your case, and are traveling around to different locations so that a local pass of some kind does not help you, then I can see this is a good choice.

I would check the mountains that you plan on going up to see that they are included.

One possibility is to plan for enough time upon arrival to purchase it in person at the train station. Have everything ready that they will need, a photo of you, etc. That way you can ask any questions and they can give advice as well.

One other thing that I did ask about is the one month GA card. He told me that visitors can purchase this. The link below tells you about it and there is a map showing the area of validity. The price is 440 for the month.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/ga-travelcard/ga-1-month.html

That was indeed very kind of Maureen to inquire about the passes for you.

But, with all due respect, I will point out that the “PLUS’ benefit is attached only to the 190 CHF one- year card. Do you plan to change to that one? You will get the same 50 percent off all trains, lifts and boats with the 120 CHF tourist card. I cannot see how the 800 CHF advance payment with the more expensive card can benefit you—- or other travelers from North America who are following this thread.

Note: I am coming from the point of a view of a hiker who uses lifts in Switzerland only for limited purposes, not for sightseeing. So maybe a cablecar here and there to reach a trailhead or return from a hike, but definitely not an expensive lift ride every day. I thought that was your purpose too, but perhaps I misunderstood.

Please let us know how it turns out for you.

Thanks Lola - It does look like the PLUS is more directed at commuters and residents.

Sasha after your recommendation of the Berner Oberland pass, I looked it up again. It wouldn't work for my trip's itinerary, but I discovered some information that may help other travellers: "Holders of: Swiss Travel Pass, Swiss Travel Pass Flex, Swiss Half Fare Card, Half-Fare Travelcard and GA Travelcard receive the Berner Oberland Pass at a reduced price."

The Berner Oberland pass probably wouldn't combine economically with the more expensive Swiss Travel or Flex passes, but it would work very well with the much cheaper Half-Fare Travel Card - provided a trip's itinerary is several days in the Berner Oberland and a few more days travelling the rest of Switzerland.

The Berner Oberland pass price reduction grows with the number of days it is purchased for. For a 6 day trip the price reduction is excellent. And if a 10 day pass is purchased, the Berner Oberland discount has grown to CHF 119, almost fully covering the CHF 120 cost of a Half-Fare Travel Card. This makes the Half-fare Travel Card essentially a free benefit.

For those interested here's a link. Open the "Reduced fare 1/2" toggle: https://www.berneseoberlandpass.ch/prices-tickets/

That's pretty well known information here on the Forum, but thanks for posting. Maureen's point was that the discount you would get with the Half Fare Card would not qualify for the bonus.

For the benefit of others following this thread in the planning for a Switzerland, I will point out that the Berner Oberland Pass covers a much larger area than just the Lauterbrunnen-Grindelwald area most people consider to be the “Berner Oberland”. Specifically, it provides full coverage of all trains, boats, and recreational lifts (except Schilthorn and Jungfrau) to and from Luzern on the east ( the city, not the lake), Bern on the north, and Gstaad/Saanen on the west. Also south past Brig all the way to Domodossola in Italy, provided you use the slower regional train via Kandersteg instead of the fast trains through the deep Lôtschberg Basistunnel ( which I suggest avoiding anyway).

In other words, it covers almost all of the cities, towns, and villages on what I view as the standard “Rick Steves Path” ***, with the exception of Appenzell, Zurich to Luzern or Bern, Brig to Zermatt, and Saanen to Montreux on the Golden Pass route. These trips would be 50% off if one gets the recommended Half Fare Card in concert with the BO Pass. As explained several times above, it is only 1franc extra with a 10-day BO Pass, and nearly so with the 8-day BO Pass.

***Recommended plan for a 10-day trip includes Zurich, Luzern, Berner Oberland, Montreux via Golden Pass, Zermatt, and Appenzell. Which I would find way too much, but I guess some people do manage to do it all.

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/switzerland/itinerary

As the Swiss say ‘Genau’ (exactly). The Half Fare PLUS is meant for residents of Switzerland. Visitors can purchase this card, but it is not (usually) beneficial to do so.

Once you spend up to 1,000 CHF then the last 200 is ‘free’ from SBB. Effectively giving you a 20% discount on what you have purchased.

If you happen to only spend 900, then you only get 100 ‘free’, amounting to a 10% discount.

If you spend 800 CHF then you will break even and will have done all of this work for nothing.

All amounts given are per person (each one needs their own card) and at the Half Fare price. On top of all this you must also pay the cost of the Half Fare Card.

The Berner Oberland Pass, and all other tourist oriented passes mentioned often here in the forum are a better value for tourists.