Public Transports in Switzerland
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Transport Companies
Dependant on the Region, the major companies are different.
Whole Switzerland
- SBB (Swiss Federal Railway)
Check their homepage for timetables, no matter where you want to go! Be careful about the "Search for more alternative services"-Option!
- Post (Countryside Bus System), called "Postauto"
Region Bern
- BLS (Part of the railways are run by this company)
Region Central Switzerland
- ZB (Narrow line railway from Luzerne to Interlaken)
- VBL (Bus System of the City of Lucerne)
- AAGS (Bus System of the Canton of Schwyz)
- AAGU (Bus System of the Canton of Uri)
Region Northwest
- CFJ (Narrow line railway in the Canton of Jura)
Region East
- AB (Narrow line railway in the two Cantons of Appenzell)
- RhB (Narrow line railway Canton of Graubünden)
- Glarnerland Bus (Bus System Canton of Glarus)
- SOB (Railway line Luzerne to St. Gallen)
Region Romandie
...
If you buy any Ticket from Town to Town, the Ticket is valid for the whole trip, never mind which company you use. eg. from Zweisimmen (Bern) to Appenzell (Appenzell) you need to ride on BLS, SBB and AB. From Lenzerheide (Graubünden) to Einsiedeln (Schwyz) you'll have to take Post, SBB and SOB.
Transport Network
Every major City in Switzerland has its own Transport Network, formed by the big companies and smaller city transportation. The Fares are different, and sometimes not the same as the distance Fares. Mostly, if you travel over the borders of a Transport network, your ticket is not valid for the city transportation. eg: A ticket from Basel to Zurich is not valid to travel within the city borders. In contrary to a Ticket from Winterthur, which is inside the Transport Network of Zurich. with this Ticket you can travel as much as you want inside Zurich (Zone 10)
for further information, see the pages of the cities.
Timetable information
(Almost) all transportation features a synchronized timetable. Weekdays and weekend vary. ALL timetable information can be found on [www.sbb.ch]
All mainlines of SBB are operated from around 5 till midnight, usually every hour. In the biggest cities, all trains arrive and leave around the same time - usually arrival shortly before :00 and :30, and departure shortly after - which provides good connections, but doesn't leave much time to change train.
Commuter trains usually run every hour (30 minutes on important lines), most from 5 till midnight.
Bus- and tramlines in cities go very often (7-15min), most from 5 till midnight. So the timetable is not very important, just go to the station and it will arrive shortly.
Buslines outside cities go different, depending on demand. Varies between 30min and 2h, touristic lines might only operate very infrequent. Have a look on the timetable!
Validity of tickets
national
Tickets for long distance rides are valid for one ride at one day. Two way tickets are valid for getting there and back, but be aware: if the distance is less than ~80km, it is only valid on that very day! For longer distances, it is valid for 7 (?) days. So if your journey isn't very far and you stay there overnight, you probably need to get two one-way-tickets. The ticket is valid for going from A to B on the direct way by train, but you may get off everywhere inbetween and continue later. It is also valid on the Postauto (Post bus) lines, if there is no train to your destination. However, it ist usually not valid for traveling within the local Transport Networks.
It is never necessary (but possible, altough very unusual) to reservate any train, if not crossing the border. Unless you are a group of say over 20 persons or if it's a special train.
Example: If you buy a ticket from Zürich to Brigels, it is valid on the train Zürich-Chur (which is operated by SBB), the train Chur-Tavanasa (RhB), and the Postauto Tavanasa-Brigels. From Zürich to Chur, you can take the Intercity train with only two stops, the Interregio train with ~8 stops, or even the commuter train that stops everywhere - but then you will have to change train twice in Ziegelbrücke and Sargans. The other two connections do not have any alternatives, there is only one connection. If you get a two-way-ticket, it is valid for 7 days, since it is ~150km.
regional
The Transport Networks work differently. The Region is divided into zones. To travel from A to B you have to buy a ticket for all the zones lying on the way. You may then ride anywhere inside the zones, with any transportation (bus, tram, train, funiculars; sometimes ships and aerialway) as long as your ticket is valid. Return tickets are often valid 24 hours. City center zones often count as two zones, and therefore are more expensive.
Example: If you buy a ticket from Zürich to Bäretswil (both within the ZVV network), have a look at the local "Zonenplan" (zone plan). You can find it on every ticketing machine or timetable. There you see: Zürich-Bäretswil needs the zones 10, 21, 30, 31, 32 and 72. Zone 10 counts double, so you will have to pay 7 zones. Then, you can ride two hours (one-way-ticket), or 24h (two-way-ticket) in all of these zones, with whatever transport you like, wherever within these zones. Hint: This example is only valid for the canton of Zürich, but it's usually very similar in other regions of Switzerland - if there is a local transport network. If not, it will be a national ticket, see above.
special tickets
In every transport Network, there is a bunch of special Tickets. Have a look on the website of the local network, or ask at a counter.
