Figuring out how to add the Swiss Half Fare Card to the SBB app
A traveler named Bamagaga is having trouble adding her Half Fare Card to the SBB app for her and her husband. Despite seeing both cards in the app, she can't access the half fare for herself when purchasing tickets. She's frustrated and seeking help to resolve this issue.
- The Swiss Half Fare Card does not need to be linked to the SBB app; you can simply purchase tickets without linking them.
- To get the discount, log into the sbb website, navigate to 'Profile', and update your travel cards in the 'Discount Cards' section.
- The SBB app can be complex for tourists; it's often easier to use it just for schedules and buy tickets via other methods.
AI-generated summary-
I asked this on the SBB community as well. I am totally at a loss as to how to add my Half Fare Card to the app:
I purchased the HFC for myself and my husband, on the sbb website, signed in using the same log in as I use on the sbb app. I received the email and I have the pdf’s.
In the app, I go to the little QR icon and both of our HFC’s are there. I took screen shots of both.
My husband is my co-passenger on the app – I tapped on his name and clicked on Half Fare card so that shows under his name.
I can’t, for the life of me, seem to find out exactly where I add mine. This is what keeps happening:
I try to purchase a ticket for us to travel from (for example) Grindelwald to Wengen, or Lucerne to Interlaken. I bring up the list of trains, select one, see the half fare (the price) listed, and then I tap the little pencil to indicate who is traveling. If I select ONLY him, the fare is the half fare. If I add myself to that specific train ride, I am charged the full fare and there is no place to indicate I have a HF card as well. It just shows my name and date of birth and says “There are no travelcards currently on your SwissPass”. If I try to “manually add” a card, it brings me to a page that I believe is only for Swiss residents as it asks me for my customer number and a few other details for which I have no information.
I’ve read in multiple places that I need to go to my profile and select “Settings”. However, I do not have an option for settings in my profile. The only options that come up, with the word “settings” in them are “Settings for ticket purchases” and “Other Settings”. Neither of those have any option to add a HFC. The remainder of the list that comes up under my profile is: Personal details (nothing in that area where I can see or add a HFC), Co-passenger, Payment Method, Notifications, Offers & Advertising, Help & Contact, and Legal.
I really am at a loss. No matter what I try to do, I can’t seem to get the half price fare for myself. I’ve tried getting out of the app and going back in, turning my phone off in hopes that it will reset, etc. Again, I DO see the Half Fare Cards when I tap on the QR icon at the bottom, yet mine doesn’t seem to register to allow me to get the lower fare and when I click on the passengers for a particular ride, mine always says “No TravelCard”. I read both of our HFC’s line by line within the app and they are identical, other than the names and dates of birth. Validity dates match exactly.Please help me figure this out and/or tell me what I am doing wrong? Do I need to completely uninstall the app and start over? If so, will I lose those HFC’s that are in the app? I’m so frustrated with it and don’t know what to do.
Thank you SO much for any help you can provide!
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Hi Bamagaga,
Welcome to MySwissAlps! The short answer is: the Swiss Half Fare Card does not need to be linked to the SBB app, or any other app. It can be done as you’ve seen, but it isn’t overly clear and there’s no need to go through all that. But perhaps there’s someone here in the forum who has experienced your exact issue and can help.
The SBB app is mostly geared to Swiss residents, and that’s why it can get quite complex for tourists who go beyond checking train schedules. What I normally do, is just use the SBB app for the train schedules. If I do buy tickets via the app (which is not the only way, many websites/apps sell these tickets), the SBB app is unaware of my Swiss Half Fare Card or Swiss Travel Pass. I get the option “Half Fare Travelcard” for myself and fellow travelers anyway, and can purchase the fare I need. After all, the Swiss Half Fare Card (and Swiss Travel Pass too) are simply PDF files that can be stored anywhere on your phone (or printed). There is no app needed for that, or no e-wallet, or anything else. The train staff will check if you have a ticket and a Swiss Half Fare Card. They don’t care if the ticket and card are “linked”, and if the card is printed or electronic.
You’ll find all the details on https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-half-fare-card/, particularly the section “How does the Swiss Half Fare Card work?”.
I hope that reassures you, even though I couldn’t fix the exact issue!
Hi Arno,
Thank you SO much for responding. If you can believe it, I actually figured out how to get my HFC to show up in the app! Hopefully this will help someone else who may run across the same issues I was having:
First I logged into the sbb.ch/en site, using the same log-in as I have for the sbb app. I clicked on my name at the top of the page and then on “Profile”. From there, I went to “Personal Details” and when I scrolled down there is a section for “Discount Cards”. In there I was able to click on Half Fare Card and then “Update Travel Cards”. Immediately my HFC now shows up in the app each time I search for a ticket, and both my husband and I get the discounted (half fare) price. 🙂
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