SBB Mobile Reviews

by E12abeth L.

Convenient for purchasing tickets and good UI/UX but bad for when your ticket gets checked in the middle of a tunnel ride with no reception. Apparently the ticket-checking workers have not been informed about the obvious lack of reception in a dark tunnel affecting the ability to load my ticket on SBB! Patience from the ticket workers would be nice. (I got a rude lecture and loud sigh from the ticket worker who was annoyed and didn't understand why she needed to wait a few seconds for my ticket to load in the tunnel between Visp and Bern.) Also, while for security purposes having to sign-in every time I use SBB is understandable, it's frustrating in situations above. They should have a feature that keeps you signed in unless a person deliberately logs out.

by PhotoNoodle

I'm really tired of finding a route on the local trams in Basel, then clicking fare/buy to find that the stations "Basel, claraplatz" are not found. Please fix this so that I can buy TNW tickets from the timetable.
I regularly travel with my family. It would be helpful to save their names and birthdates.

Not much has changed in the last year, still terrible usability and I regularly buy actual tickets with cash rather than deal with trying to buy tickets on SBB .

by Zafira91

Very convenient for buying your tickets on your phone, The EasyRide function mostly works, but be careful. Make sure the ride is marked as started after swiping, before minimizing SBB . Otherwise it doesn’t go through! (This does not happen when you stop the ride, it can detect your location in the background). Already got fined once for the buggy app behavior; I swiped right to start the ride but it did not go through as expected.

by AlpTek

In the latest update, zone extension tickets are no longer possible. This would be fine if my profile knew what kind of monthly pass I already have. Instead I now have to input an itinerary for only the stops that font cover my pass so I can buy the appropriate ticket.

For example, I have a ZVV pass that covers the city of Zürich. If I want to travel from Zürich HB to Langnau-Gattikon, I have to input an itinerary from Zürich Soodober-Leimbach to Langnau-Gattikon. Then I can buy the ticket that covers the missing zones.

But this is very complicated. Usually I want to know the schedules from where I leave. Also I often don't know at which stop the zone changes requiring me to look up a zone map. Basically this is way too complicated.

What would be easy is that SBB knows my ZVV pass and never asks me to pay for zurich city zones, even for an itinerary starting from Zürich HB.

by SwissAir Is The Worst

The newest version refuses to let you buy any ticket as soon as the train is scheduled to leave (even if the train is late). This is particularly annoying with class upgrades. There are many mornings it takes a few minutes to realize there are no seats in 2nd class. I would happily pay to upgrade my to first class, but SBB won't let you as of the second the train is SCHEDULED to depart. There is no accounting for late trains and no grace periods for class upgrades. Please let me give you my money! More money for this app and no more journeys spent miserable (and hot) standing in 2nd class.

by Harossi

This official Swiss public transportation application has everything one wants and more, but in a very simple and easy to figure out user interface. First of all, you may create an account and enter your credit card info so that you don’t have to worry about buying tickets.
You can search for departure and arrival destinations by date and time and get a ton of options for train connections with timetables and platform numbers so that you will not have to worry about anything. You can also drag and drop your favorite destinations and buy tickets in advance or while you are onboard the train.
The greatest feature though is called Easy ride. You don’t have to buy a ticket. You just swipe to hop on and swipe when you hop off. Once you have reached your final destination, regardless of the number of trains or buses you have changed, SBB calculates the lowest fair and charges your credit card directly. You can view past trips, repeat routes, set a home location and get the best options to get there, etc.

by Ht333

I used this for my whole trip and it never let me down. I heard other travelers complaining about other apps. This one had up to date info with warnings, changes highlighted in red, and even included al public transportation. Coolest part was that it even told you were you were on the train route so you could keep track of how many more stops before yours. Very good app!!

by Vish_a

Made my travels in Switzerland so much easier. Was easy to lookup schedules and easy to buy tickets. Plus, tickets can be displayed on SBB . No printing needed! I was even able to buy local bus tickets through SBB . Highly recommended, especially for international travelers not familiar with the Swiss transport system and schedules.

by TdF In CH

I have had SBB for a while, but it proved it's value this past weekend. I was stuck out of the country during the European flight stoppage due to the volcanic ash and was able to use SBB to help me get back home. Not only was I able to see what my train options were, but it also provided me with real time updates on the status of the train.

This came in very handy during the last leg of the journey when the conductor kept making announcements in French that I did not understand. I checked SBB and by checking the details of my train schedule I found out what was going on - the train was so delayed that it was going to be end its route as soon as we arrived in Basel, Switzerland instead of completing the journey to Zurich. SBB even had the information of the train that I was supposed to take to finish the journey.

SBB is a must for anyone living in or planning to visit Switzerland.

by Hippo Green

The touch interface is pretty and easy to use even while rushing to the train station. SBB contains all relevant real time data. I do wish that it would remember your search time and date between searches while SBB is open. Buying a ticket works perfectly - so easy and quick.

by PaisanoRob

SBB lets you easily buy Swiss rail tickets in English with your saved CC info. The conductor scans the ticket barcode right from your iPhone. Avoid ticket counter lines and navigating all the different Swiss languages. Doesn't support buying special packages (e.g., RailAway Bellinzona castle trip) or let you buy a half price card to go completely paperless. Includes train schedules and estimates for how full each segment will be.

by Drfloon

Having just returned from a trip where I relied heavily on the excellent Swiss rail syste, I would recomend SBB without reservation. It was a huge help in planning travel and getting from place to place, the times are reliable, and it has a number of nice features like being able to save trips and get reminders.
Especially useful if your German or French is rudimentary.

by Killamajig2

I used SBB during my week long trip to Switzerland to travel in and between Zurich, Mürren, and Lucerne. It was great for buying tickets and giving me connection information - it helped save a lot of hassle and confusion!

My only feature request is to be able to integrate with the this app ticket shop accounts, so I can import my ‘half price’ fare card - instead of always having to open up the PDF on my phone for every ticket inspector.

by Mattymatt-nyc

I've just returned from a vacation in Switzerland and SBB helped us find what time the trains were. I mostly used it to see schedules and fares. And then I purchased the tickets from an agent or a machine.

After boarding the wrong train a couple times, my girlfriend and I decided to ask everyone we could if we were on the right train. Agents also would provide extra info SBB could not like that one trip is more scenic than another, etc. these details are important on vacation.

SBB helped a lot and was always right about train arrival and departure times. Also the gates and fares were 100% correct.
I really don't understand the difference between "timetable" and "dep/arr".

Many comments seemed to be saying train times were wrong and this was my experience until I realized you should ALWAYS use "Timetable"

by Keith503

I used SBB on a business trip and it worked great. I didn't purchase tickets on it because I had a Swiss rail pass (also great because it covered everything including boats). I travel around Basel and out to Berne, Lucerne, and Zurich with SBB just doing a little preplanning. The main thing in switzerland is to find the trains last stop and for trams/buses make sure you are going in the right direction. Trams/buses have a lot of the same numbers just opposite directions. Would recommend.

by Abdhdurhdhd

You don't need a chip card to find and buy tickets for any Swiss public transit. Works for bike supplements, half-price cards, local metro upgrades, the whole nine yards.

Search the national schedule, pick a train, bus cable car etc., and order a ticket against the CC you have on file. Issues an eticket barcode right on your phone. (Just don't run out of battery, because that will make it hard to prove to the conductor that you really did buy!)

Limitations:
• Won't sell international tickets (although does a good job with timetables)
• If you need local bus or metro, it won't sell you a ticket until you search the route from the main station to main station; but then you can buy "alternative tickets" / "local upgrade" / upgrade origin local transit / upgrade destination local transit / or both.

by HuckleberryPie

Essential for travelling by Train in Switzerland! We used it for a month and it worked great. Suggestions - it would be nice it the schedules could be accessed without needing wifi or data roaming. Also, it would be great to be able to narrow search parameters to only include trains that take bikes (that would've been helpful for us anyways). One more thing! A map of the specific train to show where the 1st class/2nd class carriages are as well as where the bike carriage is (sometimes it's a separate carriage, sometimes not) so you know where to stand on the platform.

by BenWieuca

This is probably the first app store review I've actually written, but it felt needed after I used SBB a fair bit and noticed it only has 2 reviews.

I traveled Switzerland for my first time this summer (visiting from USA) with my sister and I relied heavily on SBB. It's super responsive and I didn't notice any bugs when using it. We used it primarily for Swiss trains - Brig to Zermatt, Zermatt to Lauterbrunnen, etc. It got us everywhere without issues.

Highly recommend using it if you're using Swiss public transit! I work as a software engineer and, from my perspective, this is a perfect solution to the problems I had as a customer! Nice job.

by Brbarlow

I travel all over the world and try to always download the local transit apps if possible. The this app app is simply the best I’ve seen. For years, it has never once failed me. It’s intuitive, easy, consistent, reliable and deceptively simple.

There are so many great features, like the touch timetable, the ability to turn on a tracker that automatically charges you based on your distance traveled (no ticket needed), the fact it includes all forms of transit (cable cars included). The schedules are always updated correctly and delays/track changes appear promptly and clearly. If you’re in Switzerland or going to visit, this is SBB to have.

by Nee_R

I just LOVED it! That's why writing a late night review while still in Switzerland. If you don't have a data plan like me, I looked up all my routes in the hotel the night before and took pictures of the timetable/ schedules that I can pull up offline anytime.
Mid you enter arrival and departure cities and time if you want, SBB gives all the train timings with connections, and where to change platforms, platform numbers etc. every so many minutes. Very simple and easy.
The changing platforms are usually next to each other so take the train right across and the times given are usually few minutes apart- that's why I love SBB and the Swiss transport system.
Mostly the trains have same times weekdays and run about every 20-60 minutes depending on the route.
The timetables at the stations and the little timetable books given at the station as well as the tourist information services are awesome.