The previously announced half price plus rail pass, which has some of the features of an annual pass, will be available from mid-December 2023, reported Swiss Rail this week.
The pass comes in three flavours: Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 1000, Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 2000 and Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 3000. They all work the same. You essentially buy a certain amount of ticket credit at a discount. So for example, someone under 25 would get CHF 1,000 credit at a price of CHF 600 if they bought a Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 1000, giving them a CHF 400 bonus. The amount of the bonus changes depending on the buyers age and choice of pass. It ranges from CHF 200 (an adult Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 1000) to CHF 1,425 (an under 25 Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 3000).
There is no risk to buying one of these passes. If someone under 25 bought a Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 1000 and spent only CHF 500 of the credit they could request a CHF 100 refund of the remaining purchase price at the end of the contract year.
In addition, the pass offers half price fares.
The new product is aimed at closing the gap between annual passes and half-fare travelcards.
More on this:
Swiss Rail article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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