On the way to Gerra Gambarogno and something about SBB and public transport in Switzerland
Next Destination: Gerra Gambarogno, our favourite holiday village.
To Gerra we will take almost every time a train. Train network in Switzerland is just amazing. When I was living in Finland, I didn´t use public transport, because I had a car, and also that I didn´t like to use that for some reason. For me in Finland car was so much faster choice, to work with my car took 15 minutes and with train and bus 50 minutes, that is a big difference. But in Switzerland I love to use public transport, and also I have to, because I don´t have a car. Most of the time public transport in Switzerland works like a dream, I´ve never had a problem. SBB-CFF-FFS is the name of the train and railway system in Switzerland, it´s owned by the covernment of Switzerland since 1902.
In my phone I have a free SBB-mobile app, which is awesome. You can get it for IOS, Android and also for Window Phone. App is very easy to use, and it tells you pretty much everything you need to know. Just write to the app from where you are leaving, to where you are going and which time, and app gives you all the options and timetable. It tells you also all the track numbers from where your trains are leaving, that´s very helpful information for me. If you have to chance the train, sometimes you might have only two or three minutes to chance, and it´s good that app will tell you to which track you need to go next. And app is also including busses and trams too. The most important feature for me, is that you can buy the ticket straight with your phone, payment method that I use is Visa, and of course you have to register first and give your informations. After purchase there will come immediately an electronic ticket (QR code) to your e-mail and actually straight to your phone. One nice habit here in Switzerland is that you don´t have to show the ticket to the driver if you are going inside the train or a bus, you just have to show it if someone is asking, I like that. I´ve never had problems with SBB electronic tickets so far. If you don´t want to use SBB-mobile app, you can buy tickets also from ticket machines at the railway stations or if you are using a bus, driver will sell you a ticket.
To use public transport in Switzerland is not cheap, about double or even triple comparing to Finland. For trains you can also buy first class tickets for extra price, in trains SBB have always first class and second class cars. First class gives you maybe a little bit more privacy and better seats and tables, and of course you can charge your mobile devices there. Actually sometimes there is charging option and small tables also in second class cars. I´ve never tried first class, but maybe someday I will. If you are staying longer in Switzerland and you will travel a lot, you should order a half-price card, which is personal. you can get it for one, two or three years, it costs about CHF180 per year, then you will get all tickets for half price. Switzerland is separated to different zones, and when you will buy a ticket, you need to know in which zones you are travelling. But with SBB-app you really don´t have to care about that, because it gives you automatically right ticket with right zones. You could also buy a card which is valid for the whole year in every public transports in the whole Switzerland. For tourists SBB is offering different options which you should check from their web pages: www.sbb.ch
So, there was something about public transport in Switzerland, my opinions and experiences. Next some "out of the window"-pictures from our train trip to Gerra.
