Surcharge on Lake Zürich trips from 11 Dec 2016

It seems that all passengers on ZSG ships on Lake Zürich will have to pay a surcharge from 11 December 2016. I have only been able to find the information in German, but this is the gist of what it says, to the best of my understanding:

- Surcharge is CHF 5 per passenger on ZSG ships

- Everyone needs 2 tickets: a normal ticket (or pass, I presume) for the appropriate zones, plus a ticket for the CHF 5 surcharge, otherwise you are considered to be travelling without a valid ticket

- Surcharge tickets can be bought in ticket machines, at counters, by SMS, on board and in the SBB Ticket Shop

- No reductions in the surcharge for children up to 16 years old, Half-fare Card or GA passholders. (I suspect this will also apply to holders of the Swiss Travel Pass, although it is not stated.)

- The surcharge is not included in the ZürichCARD, and must be bought separately

- There are some exceptions for children up to 6 years old, and children travelling on Juniorkarte, Enkelkarte, Kinder-Mitfahrkarte. (I'm not certain what the official English names for these cards are)

- The surcharge ticket is valid for a calendar day (till 5 am the following morning), not for a 24-hour period

Hopefully there will be an official page in English before the surcharge comes into effect.

The German-language page is at:

www.zvv.ch/zvv/de/abos -und-tickets/tickets/zsg-schiffszuschlag.html#

There is also a link on that page to FAQs, also in German

Alpenrose

Thank you Alpenrose. It's the first time I heard about it. I'll see if I can get some additional information.

Hi again Alpenrose,

It appears that it was the canton of Zürich who made the decision to introduce this surcharge. It's too bad as it complicates things, and of course it's costing extra. I have updated our Lake Zurich page. The English information from the boat company itself is here: www.zsg.ch/en/zsg-surcharge.html.

Hi Alpenrose and others,

The surcharge has been discontinued as of March 30, 2018. A wise decision I think! The boats are completely free again with a Swiss Travel Pass:

www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakezurich/tickets