15484 posts
Hi DAK,
Thanks for your post! The 1-day travelpass is for children under 16 years old as well. I don’t think the SBB website is checking for age when filling out a birth date, so it would not notify you. There is a Swiss Youth Pass for youth up to 25 years old, but there’s no discounted Swiss Transfer Ticket for youth.
5 posts
It appears you are correct that this part of the SBB web site is not validating the date-of-birth for purchase of the 1-day travelpass (I tried entering a older age and it did not reject it). I had assumed that it was checking because when ordering the Swiss Family Card it does validate date-of-birth.
It also makes sense that SBB should have consistent policy across all ticket types with respect to age cut of for child fares, however the language used for the different tickets is quite distinct and clear…
On the Swiss Pass pages it states… “Children under the age of 16 travel free of charge” no ambiguity there.
On the Discounts for Children page it says… “Children under 6 years travel free of charge when accompanied by a person holding a valid ticket.” and then further goes on to say “When accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket, children aged 6 to 16 years can travel 2nd class for CHF 16 for the whole day.” And on the 1-day travelpass for children it says “each child between 6 and 16.”
I’ve checked the german/french/italian versions of the page to make sure that meaning was not lost in translation. So, I believe that the SBB web site is quite clear… 16 year olds qualify for child fares for regular ticketing and are eligible for significant discount “When accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket.” and I see no reason as to why a Swiss Transfer Ticket for the adult would not qualify.
The links in your reply point to MySwissAlps pages, but the authority on this topic would be the SBB’s own web site from which I quote… http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and-tickets/tickets-for-switzerland/children.html
DAK
15484 posts
Hello DAK,
Children of 16 years old do not qualify for the 1-day travelpass, the Juniorcard or the Swiss Family Card. All these offers are for children up to 15 years old inclusive, so before their 16th birthday. The only exception is when the parents have a Swiss Travel System pass (such as the Swiss Transfer Ticket), and the child turns 16 during while the pass is valid. In such a case, the child can still use the Swiss Family Card until the pass expires.
The information about the child age is ambiguous sometimes, and can easily be misinterpreted. That’s why we have our own page with a summary about this, with links to the SBB website for further reference. I just asked the SBB to be 100% sure, and this is their quote: “The day card for children is only available for children from the age of 6 to 15.99. The same age limit is valid for the Junior Card and the Swiss Family Card“.
I hope this clarifies the matter. Please feel free to let me know if I can be of further assistance.
5 posts
Yes, thank you for clarifying with SBB. This is very helpful.
DAK