Is the GA worth it in 2027? Break-even calculator

From 13 December 2026 the adult GA costs CHF 4,095 a year in 2nd class, CHF 100 more than now, and the adult Half Fare Travelcard goes up by CHF 5. Taking the expected first-year Half Fare price of CHF 195, the GA pays off once your trips would cost about CHF 7,800 a year at full fare, which is roughly CHF 325 a month if you already pay half price (a little more if you renew at the loyalty price). Below that point, Half Fare plus tickets costs less; above it, the GA does.

That CHF 195 is our own sum: CHF 190 today plus the CHF 5 rise that Alliance SwissPass, the industry body for national fares, announced on 4 August 2026. SBB had not published the new Half Fare price list when we checked. We will update this page when it does.

This page is about the Half Fare Travelcard (Halbtax) for people living in Switzerland, not the one-month Swiss Half Fare Card sold to visitors who live outside Switzerland. It compares ticket costs only and is general information, not advice on which card to buy.

How much do the GA and Half Fare cost from 13 December 2026?

The Price Supervisor (Preisüberwacher) and the fare industry agreed on an average rise of 3.6% instead of the 3.9% first requested (release of 4 August 2026).

A few things to know about these figures:

• The Half Fare costs the same for 1st and 2nd class. The class only changes the price of your tickets.
• The CHF 5 rise was first announced on 31 March 2026 and confirmed on 4 August 2026. Neither release says whether it also applies to the loyalty price.
• Alliance SwissPass's tariff page showed no December 2026 price list yet. SBB has started publishing some 13 December 2026 prices for add-ons: the Half Fare Day Pass goes from CHF 78 to CHF 81 in 2nd class.
• For children, young people and families, prices rise not at all or only slightly. Their new prices are not published yet.

What did the price rise change?

At today's prices the break-even is (3,995 − 190) / 0.5 = CHF 7,610. From 13 December 2026 it is CHF 7,800, so CHF 190 higher. The GA rose by CHF 100 and the Half Fare by CHF 5, so the gap between the two cards grew by CHF 95, and at a 50% discount that doubles to CHF 190 of full-fare travel. If SBB publishes a Half Fare price other than CHF 195, each extra CHF 5 on the Half Fare lowers the break-even by CHF 10 (at a 50% discount).

At what travel spend does the GA beat Half Fare?

For an adult in 2nd class, using the new GA price and the expected CHF 195 Half Fare:

If you already hold a Half Fare, the same line sits at CHF 3,900 a year of half-price tickets, or CHF 325 a month. For example, at CHF 300 a month of half-price tickets you spend 12 × 300 = CHF 3,600 a year. Half Fare then costs 195 + 3,600 = CHF 3,795, against CHF 4,095 for the GA, so Half Fare stays CHF 300 cheaper. (Those tickets would have cost 3,600 × 2 = CHF 7,200 at full fare, below the CHF 7,800 line.)

SBB's own rule of thumb is that the GA is "worthwhile from two to three commutes per week for longer routes". The number above lets you test that against what you actually spend. The calculator below does the same sum with your own figures, class and discount.

To use it, you need one of two numbers:

• Full-fare spend: what your trips for a year would cost without any card.
• Half-fare spend: what you pay now with a Half Fare. Add up a few months of ticket receipts and multiply to a year.

Leave out spending that neither card covers. It is the same under both options, so it does not change the answer.

How is the break-even worked out?

Each option has a yearly cost:

• Half Fare: card price + full-fare spend × (1 − discount)
• GA: GA price (it covers your trips, so your ticket spend drops to zero)

The two are equal when the ticket saving from the GA equals the gap between the two card prices:

Break-even full-fare spend = (GA price − Half Fare price) / (1 − discount)

With a 50% discount, that is (4,095 − 195) / 0.5 = 3,900 / 0.5 = CHF 7,800. In half-fare money, it is simply 4,095 − 195 = CHF 3,900, and 3,900 / 12 = CHF 325 a month.

Worked examples 1 to 3 use: adult, 2nd class, prices from 13 December 2026, GA CHF 4,095, Half Fare CHF 195 (expected: CHF 190 + CHF 5), no spend outside the two cards.

Worked example 1: CHF 6,000 of full-fare trips, 50% discount

Half Fare is cheaper than the GA by 4,095 − 3,195 = CHF 900.

Worked example 2: CHF 10,000 of full-fare trips, 50% discount

The GA is cheaper by 5,195 − 4,095 = CHF 1,100. Check: at exactly CHF 7,800 of trips, Half Fare costs 195 + 3,900 = CHF 4,095, the same as the GA.

Two edge cases follow from the formula. With a 0% discount, Half Fare saves nothing and can never beat buying no card. At a 30% discount, it beats no card from 195 / 0.3 = CHF 650 of full-fare trips a year; at 50%, from 195 / 0.5 = CHF 390.

Where does Half Fare give less than 50%?

The name suggests half price everywhere, but not always. SBB's terms and conditions for the Half Fare say that on short trips, reduced tickets and combined offers with extra services, the discount can be less than 50% (AGB Halbtax, December 2024, in German). The English product page says the same. It also lists only "discounts" on urban transport, without a percentage.

Local fare networks can add their own limits. In the Zurich network, for example, Half Fare holders travel at reduced fares, but ZVV gives no reductions on its monthly and annual travelcards. The GA, by contrast, is valid on all lines in the ZVV fare area. If part of your travel is a local network pass, check your own network's rules.

How to set the discount in the calculator:

• Mostly longer trips at standard fares: 50% is a fair starting point.
• Many short hops, or a mix with saver tickets you would buy anyway: your average is below 50%. On a few typical receipts, divide what you saved by the full fare and use that share.
• A local network pass with no Half Fare reduction: the GA would cover those trips, but Half Fare takes nothing off the pass. Add the pass price to your full-fare spend and lower your average discount to match.

Worked example 3: CHF 6,000 of full-fare trips, 30% average discount

Same assumptions as example 1 (adult, 2nd class, GA CHF 4,095, Half Fare CHF 195 expected), but your trips are mostly ones where Half Fare saves less than half, so the average discount is 30%.

Now the GA is cheaper by 4,395 − 4,095 = CHF 300, at the same travel. The break-even drops to 3,900 / 0.7 = CHF 5,571.43. The lower your real discount, the sooner the GA wins.

What about 1st class, youth, seniors and 25-year-olds?

1st class. The Half Fare costs the same, but your tickets cost the 1st class fare, so enter 1st class full fares as your spend.

Worked example 4: 1st class, CHF 12,000 of full-fare trips, 50% discount

Half Fare is cheaper by CHF 575. The 1st class break-even is (6,770 − 195) / 0.5 = 6,575 / 0.5 = CHF 13,150 of 1st class full fares a year.

Other ages. The adult GA applies from age 26 up to the senior age shown on sbb.ch; the adult Half Fare price applies from age 25. New prices for the other categories from 13 December 2026 are not published yet, so the calculator leaves those fields for you to fill in. Until 12 December 2026 the official prices are:

These are today's prices, shown so you can see how the categories compare. Use the new prices in the calculator once SBB publishes them.

Is Half Fare PLUS a middle way?

Half Fare PLUS is a prepaid credit package you add to your Half Fare: you pay less than the credit you get. The Half Fare itself is not included in the price. For adults:

The package is valid for one year, and Alliance SwissPass says the bonus stays the same from December 2026. SBB says PLUS pays for itself if you commute longer distances once or twice a week.

The bonus only helps if you use the credit. If you spend all CHF 3,000 of credit in a year, the largest package gives you CHF 3,000 of travel credit for CHF 2,100, plus the cost of the Half Fare. Use less, and part of the bonus goes to waste: SBB takes tickets from your deposit first and the bonus only after that, and at the end of the year it refunds unused deposit but the bonus expires. That is why the calculator leaves PLUS out: its value depends on how much credit you use in the year and on SBB's rules for unused credit, which you should read on the PLUS page before buying. If your half-price spend sits near the CHF 3,900 break-even, PLUS is worth pricing out next to the GA.

When should I switch or cancel?

If you renew a Half Fare. The CHF 7,800 break-even uses the first-year price. Renewing holders pay the loyalty price, CHF 170 today, and no new loyalty price has been published. If it stays at CHF 170, the break-even is (4,095 − 170) / 0.5 = CHF 7,850 (CHF 3,925 a year or CHF 327.08 a month of half-price tickets). If the CHF 5 rise also applies to the loyalty price, it is (4,095 − 175) / 0.5 = CHF 7,840 (CHF 3,920 a year or CHF 326.67 a month). Either way, about CHF 40 to 50 higher than for a first-year card.

When the new price reaches you. Under SBB's terms, a price change takes effect with the next invoice. So if you hold a Half Fare now, the new price reaches you with a renewal invoice, not on 13 December 2026 itself. Check the price on your next invoice.

Cancelling a Half Fare. The Half Fare renews automatically. You can cancel with one month's notice to the end of your card year. A price rise gives you no special right to leave: you use the same normal notice. The terms give an example: for a card year running from 15 August 2024 to 14 August 2025, the last day to cancel is 14 July 2025. The same terms also say:

Moving from a GA to Half Fare. SBB gives the loyalty price of CHF 170 (today's price) when you move straight from a GA to a Half Fare without a break. For the GA's own term, monthly payment and cancellation rules, check sbb.ch: we have not read the GA terms for this page.

What this means for your budget

A GA turns travel into a fixed monthly cost. Half Fare keeps a small fixed cost and a variable one.

Today's monthly GA costs CHF 355 in 2nd class, so CHF 4,260 over 12 months against CHF 3,995 paid at once. The 2027 monthly prices are not published yet; compare the two on sbb.ch before you choose how to pay.

For a Half Fare budget, use a monthly ticket figure from real receipts, not a guess. Ticket spending is uneven: some months cost far more than others. If you budget CHF 16.25 plus your average monthly tickets and keep a small buffer for heavy months, the line holds over the year. If your monthly average creeps past CHF 325, that is the signal to recheck the GA at your next renewal.

Any spreadsheet works for this: one row for the card price divided by 12, one row for tickets, and a column for each month. Our Swiss Budget Planner has a transport line set up that way, so you can enter either option and see the monthly total.

Sources and last checked

Figures checked against these official pages (German pages with an English gloss). Prices are those announced on 4 August 2026; we recheck sbb.ch on the day this page goes live and update it when SBB publishes the new Half Fare price.

• Price Supervisor (Preisüberwacher), release of 4 August 2026, PDF: new GA prices from 13 December 2026, average rise 3.6%, monthly GA prices to be adjusted.
• Alliance SwissPass, release of 4 August 2026 (Half Fare +CHF 5, PLUS bonus unchanged), release of 31 March 2026 and tariff measures page.
• SBB: GA prices, adult GA, Half Fare Travelcard, Half Fare terms (AGB Halbtax, December 2024), Half Fare Day Pass, Half Fare PLUS, find the right travelcard, Swiss Half Fare Card for visitors, Half Fare PLUS help page.
• ZVV (Zurich fare network), GA and Half Fare Travelcards.