BERN - Switzerland's all-network travel pass crosses a symbolic line with the December timetable change: for the first time, a second-class GA costs more than CHF 4,000 a year. The new price of CHF 4,095 is nonetheless far below what the industry wanted. Documents reported on Saturday show that transport companies discussed rises of more than 5 percent for parts of the range before the price watchdog stepped in.
The Alliance Swisspass, the industry organisation that coordinates national fares, presented its plans to price supervisor Stefan Meierhans at the end of March. The package would have lifted average fares in national direct traffic by 3.9 percent, with the GA range rising proportionally more than ordinary tickets. After negotiations, the parties settled on an average increase of 3.6 percent from 13 December 2026.
For GA customers the watchdog's intervention cut the rise in half. The second-class GA goes up by CHF 100 instead of CHF 200, and the first-class pass by CHF 250 to CHF 6,770 instead of CHF 330 more. The agreement deliberately shields commuters who depend on public transport and have few alternatives. Families, children and young people face below-average increases.
What the industry first put on the table
The industry's strategy board, chaired by PostAuto manager Marco Luthi, decided at a meeting on 27 March to seek significantly higher prices for train, bus and tram travel. The companies point to inflation and rising costs for staff, energy, materials and maintenance, and to the end of a fuel duty refund that hits bus operators in particular.
Meierhans secured a separate compensation from SBB because long-distance rail is less affected by those cost pressures. From 1 January to 31 December 2027, the federal railway will sell saver tickets with a discount volume of at least CHF 90 million, easing the burden on occasional travellers who do not hold a GA.
The pattern is familiar. Three years ago the industry asked for 4.3 percent and settled for 3.7 after the watchdog intervened; before that, national fares had stayed flat for seven years. Regional transport associations set their own adjustments outside the national deal.
Commuters count the cost
The December rise lands in the same weeks as higher health insurance premiums for 2027 and the 29 November vote on raising VAT to fund the 13th pension. Consumer groups say the accumulation of small increases is becoming the defining cost-of-living story of the winter, even where each individual rise looks modest.
For rail operators the bigger headache remains reliability. The industry is still working through the fallout from the sabotage fire that closed the Lausanne to Yverdon line this weekend, a reminder that passengers asked to pay more in December will also expect a network that works.