Purchase Seat Reservation without Ticket for Whole Trip

Here is some information:

http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and-tickets/tickets-for-switzerland/seat-reservations.html

It costs 5 CHF per seat and there are two trains involved, so 50 CHF for all of you ( if they actually take reservations for the Arth-Goldau to Lucerne train, not sure about that). May not be worth it. Since reservations are not required within Switzerland, few people make them. You will already have those seats reserved as far as Chiasso, so I can't imagine anyone else reserving them from there on. Youmshould be able to just stay where youmare. At Arth-Goldau just board ASAP and find seats together.

Thanks for the reply, Sasha. I had found the information that it is 5 CHF per seat, I just can't find how (if there is a way) to order the seat reservation alone online, without the ticket. And yes - I wasn't going to get a reservation for the Arth-Goldau to Lucerne portion, it's short and that doesn't matter to us.

I was thinking the same thing - that others probably won't reserve them after Chiasso (so we should be able to stay in the same seats), but since it is a weekend during the summer I also thought it might be better to be safe and reserve the seats through A-G if I can.

Devon, would you mind explaining the "Tageskarte Gemeinde" for us newbies.

Actually, I wondered about that too.

A Tageskarte is a "day ticket", a day-long pass, like the Bayern-Ticket in Germany or a day pass in the Munich metro (MVV). Gemeinde means "community, local. etc", so I don't know how it could be a community day pass unless it meant it was for regional trains. Of course, literal translations sometimes fail us. The actual meaning of a word can mean something colloquially different from the individual words mean. In Munich (and others), "Gesamtnetz" means for the entire network. So is it a day ticket only for local trains, all over Switzerland?

That's my question. They look to be local Gemeinde (Municipal or Community). I have to rely on google translate, as all web information is only in German, French, & Italian. Nothing indicating country-wide transport.

OK, from looking at the website, it appears that a Tageskarte Gemeinde is indeed a municipal day ticket, for just one municipality, and not what you need to have. There also appears to be more general Tageskarten, for a particular Canton, in this case Tucino, or maybe for all of Switzerland. Hopefully, that is what you have.

Assuming you actually do have a day-ticket that covers your travel from Chiasso to Arth-Goldau, on the Trenitalia website, if you put in Milan to Arth-Goldau, there are a number of direct ECs. When you select one, the expanded page will show you "view other prices ...". Select that button and click continue, and you will get a chance to select from a number of offers, including "GA Switzerland" and GA Switzerland 2". I don't know the difference, but it appears to be the way to buy a reservation (pay the surcharge) if you have a pass covering Switzerland. Prices are 11€ for GA and 14€ for GA 2.

The Tageskarte Gemeinde is a day pass. Only Swiss can purchase it, but anyone can use it. What I think you all are finding with the community/region translation is that it is purchased in your municipality, they only have a certain number available for each specific day (so if they're sold out, you'd have to go to a different one to purchase for that day). This website shows how many are available in different places for each specific day.

It is valid for all public transportation for that day in Switzerland, and can provide a discount for some others. It should have the same validity as the 1-day pass from SBB (validity displayed here ) but is cheaper and you don't need the half-fare card. One of the differences is that you reserve/purchase it ahead of time for a specific date, you don't have flexibility on when you use it.

They are amazing! You pay the cost (I think it varies by municipality between 30 and 40 CHF) and get to travel all day with it. My husband and I stayed with my Swiss friend right before Christmas in 2011, and he got them for us for two days. One day we went to Basel and Bern to check out the Christmas markts and it was so nice to hop on whichever train or trolley we wanted. Then the other day we had the pass we traveled to Lucerne, went across Lake Lucerne on a steamboat, up Mount Rigi on the train and aerial tram they have, then traveled back to Baden. All of it was covered. We saved something like $200 each that day.

The Tageskarte Gemeinde is a day pass. Only Swiss can purchase it, but anyone can use it.

Actually it depends entirely on the rules of the particular community who can buy them and who can use them. Some communities are happy to sell them to anyone who is willing to turn up the the offices and collect them and others require the person to be registered as a citizen of the community.. it really depends.

Thank you for the correction, Jim. (sincerely, not sarcastic)