SBB Half fare PLUS

Life Hacking
101

thanks.

102

Unfortunately the SBB e-mail I received landed in the junk mail folder of my hotmail account.
So I was able to renew my Halbtax Plus Contract (was even able to choose which one) the same day. Later able to pay the amount via Reka and should be active the next day.

The rest amount (2.60) was converted into a code, worth CHF 5.- which I can use for ticket purchase (but not for the Halbtax Plus).

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103

I think I got scammed. They told me I would get a code as well. Never happened.
But well, I guess those 0.20 CHF that were left are not really worth the hustle to write them an email :smiley:

3 Likes
104

I had a whopping 20 cents balance left.

The guy from the SBB hotline suggested not to bother pursuing a reimbursement for such a low amount, so I decided to push the point and argued that their product design shortcomings had forced me to call their chargeable hotline merely to enable me to renew the subscription to the product.

Received the mail with a CHF 5 voucher a few minutes later :slightly_smiling_face:

For now I have switched to the Easyride Feldversuch though.

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105

You can combine the two, by paying for Easyride tickets with your Halbtax Plus balance.

106

I don’t think that works for the Feldtest as there is a Bonus feature already built in.

107

Thanks for the link, I wasn’t aware of this myRide thing
 For the time being I’m pretty happy with the Halbtax Plus and regular Spartickets for my daily commute.

108

Interesting. CHF 5 seems the minimum amount for such a voucher.

109

I signed up for the myride feldtest and I played quite a lot with the Kostenrechner.
It seems to me that most trips are cheaper with a halbtax plus 1000 which is what I have atm.

110

For me it seems to depend on whether you are able to book most trips in advance (in which case Halbtax Plus and Supersaver rebates combine).

3 Likes
111

There is an opportunity to make money here:

  • Go on a business trip with public transport
  • Put the full ticket price on your expense report
  • Benefit from the bonus amount quicker and use for personal travel


kind of like when you fly a lot or stay in hotels a lot you can benefit from the points and book personal vacations with them.

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112

Fwiw, more press coverage on the journey to extend the Halbtax Plus:

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113

That’s what I do :shushing_face:

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114

Problem seems to be solved now, you can buy a new one without all of these manual steps (see here in german). Havent tried it myself though.

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115

Yeah. After reading the above, I think I’ll just avoid this product completely.

116

Why? If you use public transport regularly, but not to the extent where the GA makes sense, the Halbtax Plus offers a generous discount.
I went through “prolongation” a month ago and it was done literally in 5 minutes at the counter.

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117

Good to see after one year they finally turned it into a product that works from a mechanical perspective. The commercial side is good - have been using it for my weekly (long) commute.

118

Btw. you can still buy it even if you don’t plan to use it. If you buy it with the Reka card charged at Coop, you get 3% discount. After 1 year you get the money back, which equates to 3% interest on cash :wink:

3 Likes
119

Can you top up Reka card at Coop with a cashback credit card? :money_mouth_face:

120

I think so. You pay at Coop as you would pay for anything else.
Better go to the customer service of a big Coop though. The local ones are usually overwhelmed with the math and because they rarely have to do it.

Of course, the benefit scales with the size of your family :wink: