If you need to take your bike with you on a train in Switzerland, you should know the rules to avoid getting asked to leave the train.
Generally in Switzerland, bicycles are considered as hand luggage, though bringing them on board trains is slightly trickier than your average hand luggage.
If your bicycle can be folded up or carried in a special transport bag – called Tranzbag – it can be brought on a Swiss train for free. The Tranzbag can be purchased from Swiss public transport providers and costs anywhere between 100 to 150 Swiss francs, though cheaper alternatives are available online.
If your bicycle can’t be folded up or you do not buy the Tranzbag, you will need to pay a a ticket for your bike.
You can purchase it via the SBB app or online.
Book a spot or check it in
However, before you board a train with a bike, note that with some connections, you will need to book a spot for it prior to your journey.
Reservations are mandatory on domestic sections of international trains, costing 5 francs, but not on regional and interregional trains.
Also, during the peak-travel summer months, you will need to make a bike reservation on every IC (intercity) train during weekends.
Additionally, you have the option of checking in your bike as hand luggage and have it delivered from home or from a train station to a destination within Switzerland.
This service is understandably more costly, with a flat-rate fee of 43 francs per trip, and an additional 20-franc fee for the bike itself.
Are there situations when you can’t bring your bike on board?
Yes, and there have been cases in the media where this has happened.
For example a teenager on his way to a bike race was asked to leave because his bicycle was taking up too much room on a crowded train.
SBB rules stipulate that on regional lines (S-Bahn in German part of Switzerland, RER in French-speaking cantons, and TILO in Ticino), bikes are prohibited during peak hours – that is, Monday through Friday, from 6 to 8 am, and between 4 and 7 pm.
On some local lines, these peak hours vary, so it’s best to check beforehand.
