Using SBB app & Swiss Half Fare Card
Matt and his wife are planning a trip to Switzerland from December 20 to 29, visiting cities and towns like Zurich, Grindelwald, and Geneva. They are unsure about how to purchase and use the Swiss Half Fare Card and tickets through the SBB app, and they seek tips on these topics.
- Buy the Swiss Half Fare Card online for convenience and download the PDF to your phone to avoid queues.
- Each traveler can manage their tickets separately by using the same SBB account, allowing easy access for both.
- Configure the SBB app to show half-fare options before purchasing tickets to ensure you get the correct prices.
AI-generated summary-
Hi all,
My wife and I will be travelling in Switzerland between 20-29 December. Itinerary is basically: arrive Zurich AP, Zurich inner city, Grindelwald, Wengen, Murren, & depart from Geneva AP. We figure the Swiss Half Fare Card will work best for us given we are in the country for 10 days and will spend most of the time in the Alps.
I imagine being able to purchase tickets through the SBB app will let me avoid queues and so on, and I/we can show the app to people checking tickets.
My questions:
- Should I buy the Swiss Half Fare Card online via SBB website? They mention this provides an electronic ticket (Swiss Half Fare Card – Switzerland at half the price | SBB).
- If so, should my wife and I buy separately so we can each have our pass on our own phones (for example if we go to do separate activities)?
- If we buy in person at a railway station, does it provide an actual, physical card?
- The MySwissAlps page on timetables says the default prices are half fare (The Swiss timetable website and app: this is how to use it in 2024-2025). I’m not sure if I should buy tickets through the app? That is, I’m not sure how I connect the Swiss Half Fare Card to the app as it seems to only show travel passes meant for Swiss residents.
- For my wife, should she have her own SBB account and purchase separately, or can we share the one SBB account login across two phones and have it show the same information?
- Should we just buy tickets in person and only use the SBB app as a timetable?
As you can see, I’m a little lost on how to best use the SBB app and the Swiss Half Fare Card. I’d love some tips, please!
Thanks!
Matt.
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Hi Matt,
>>> I imagine being able to purchase tickets through the SBB app will let me avoid queues and so on, and I/we can show the app to people checking tickets.
Yes. Once your tickets are in the SBB App, you can also save them to your Wallet app, and share them to your wife’s phone so she has a ticket on her phone as well. That could be helpful if, for some reason, you were not seated together when the conductor came along to check tickets. Each of you having copies of everything would also be handy if one of your phones has a flat battery at the crucial time.
You will also get a PDF copy emailed to you, which you can also forward to your wife. The PDF has the QR code, which the conductor can also scan if need be.
So in short, you can show the tickets from the SBB App, the Wallet app or a PDF saved to your phone. (The Swiss Half Fare Card can be shown from a PDF or from a Wallet app, but not the SBB App.)
>>> Should I buy the Swiss Half Fare Card online via SBB website? They mention this provides an electronic ticket (Swiss Half Fare Card – Switzerland at half the price | SBB).
That’s one possibility, but if your credit card does not support 3D security/2-factor authentication, payment will be declined. You are less likely to have credit card problems on the official SBB site for tourist passes:
https://www.swissrailways.com/en
You will get an email with a PDF that you can save to your phone (and forward to your wife). From the email, there will be links to save the Swiss Half Fare Card to your Wallet app, but not to the SBB app.
All you need to do with the SBB app when buying tickets is to configure it to indicate you are entitled to half-fare, without actually adding the Swiss Half Fare Card to the app. When the conductor comes along, show your Swiss Half Fare card as a PDF or from the Wallet app, and your half-fare ticket as a PDF or from the SBB app. You can show the Swiss Half Fare Card and tickets for your wife as well, but it will be more straightforward (and easier for the conductor) if you can each show your own.
>>> If so, should my wife and I buy separately so we can each have our pass on our own phones (for example if we go to do separate activities)?
As mentioned above, one person can buy for both, and then forward by various means to the other person.
>>> If we buy in person at a railway station, does it provide an actual, physical card?
It will be a paper document, and won’t be replaced if lost. Whereas a PDF can always be reprinted/redownloaded in case of loss, damage or device malfunction, and keeping the emails permits you to add (again) to your Wallet app if need be. It also means you are good to go immediately on arrival in Switzerland.
>>> The MySwissAlps page on timetables says the default prices are half fare
The SBB website defaults to half fare, as its main use is by Swiss residents, who mostly have a Half Fare Card. So anyone who does not have a half fare card of some sort has to pay double the initially displayed fare. If actually proceeding to a purchase on the SBB website, there is an opportunity to configure the fare to full fare before payment.
The SBB app defaults to full fare though, so to buy half-fare tickets in the SBB App, you have to configure it to indicate you are entitled to half-fare tickets. I have attached some screen shots (with relevant features outlined in blue) to show how to do this (as a guest, not logged in). The steps vary very slightly if logged in to your SwissPass account, but should be easy to figure out.
>>> I’m not sure if I should buy tickets through the app? That is, I’m not sure how I connect the Swiss Half Fare Card to the app as it seems to only show travel passes meant for Swiss residents.
Yes, definitely buy your tickets in the SBB App, just configure it first, as detailed above, without adding the Swiss Half Fare Card.
>>> For my wife, should she have her own SBB account and purchase separately, or can we share the one SBB account login across two phones and have it show the same information?
You can buy tickets as a guest without an account, or you can establish a SwissPass account. Either way, only one person needs to do this, and then forward the tickets etc to the other person and/or show them all on one phone.
I have had a SwissPass account for many years, with payment information saved, which I think makes it more convenient to buy tickets, reservations or class upgrades in the app. I seem to recall that, when buying as a guest without an account, I had to put in credit card details for each and every purchase, which got really annoying, especially when in a hurry.
>>> Should we just buy tickets in person and only use the SBB app as a timetable?
I think it should be clear by now that buying tickets in the SBB app is the way to go 🙂
I hope this helps!
Alpenrose
Wow, that is amazing Alpenrose! Thank you so much!
You’re welcome!
Alpenrose
We got back last month from a three week trip. I can’t add to Alpenrose’s excellent comments as she has covered literally everything.
What I can do though is reassure you that for us at least, both logging into our SBB app with the same login was the easiest.
I did all the trip planning and booking and had an SBB account, which made everything very simple.
My husband simply downloaded the app, logged in as me, and automatically had all the tickets and passes that I did.
It meant if one of us wasn’t around when a conductor came, we both had all the tickets and passes for both of us. It worked really, really well.
It all seems very complicated before you leave, but in reality is so easy when you are there.
Have a great trip.
Hi Matt,
More online purchase options for the Swiss Half Fare Card can be found in the link below:
Should you choose not to have or use the SBB app for purchasing tickets, you can still buy your tickets online. Options can be found here:
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Great info given 👍
we’re going to Zermatt next Jan ‘25 so we will surely use all your tips
Hello,
Does there exist a discount code from Swissalps for buying train tickets/half fare card ?
thx
Luc
Hi Luc,
All our promotions are listed in the link below:
You can also sign up to our newsletter to ensure you receive regular updates on travel news and promotions.
Here’s the link: https://www.myswissalps.com/contact/newsletter/
Kind regards,
Yolanda
DebH:
> What I can do though is reassure you that for us at least, both logging into our SBB app with the same login was the easiest.
Aha, thanks. I was hoping that would work for us as it would seem to be a good way to manage things for us both. In our case, I am the adventurer and will probably jump off a mountain on a paragliding tour (weather permitting). My wife would prefer to catch the cable car down and meet me at the bottom! So, there’ll be times where we travel separately.Yolanda:
> More online purchase options for the Swiss Half Fare Card can be found in the link below:
Thanks for that. Is there an option where MySwissAlps earns some affiliate fees? This site is incredibly useful, and I have been looking for a tip jar or some way to buy the team a cup of coffee.
Hi Matty,
Thanks for your kind words and happy to be of help :-). You’d definitely support us by buying your rail passes or tickets through our partner links, e.g. at https://www.myswissalps.com/travel-ticket/swiss-half-fare-card/#tickets. Thanks so much!
We’ve explained about our income at https://www.myswissalps.com/about/terms/commercial/.
Great explanation by Alpenrose! Answered my question even before I had time to think about it 🙂
Annika, I’m a bit thick sometimes – I was looking for the affiliate information on the link to the providers and wasn’t seeing it. Just saw it’s on the redirect after clicking. Anyway, done! Thanks again. 🙂
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