Switzerland will welcome its first long-distance bus service after a years-long ban. Domo plans to open four cross-country lines on March 25th, selling tickets significantly cheaper than train fares, according to Travel.ru.
Starting March 25, Domo plans to introduce double-decker buses on the following routes: Zurich - Baden - Basel, Basel - Olten - Rothrist - Lucerne - Bellinzona - Lugano, Geneva - Lausanne - Biel - Rothrist - Zurich - Winterthur - St. Gallen, and Chur - Zurich - Rothrist - Bern - Freiburg - Vevey - Montreux - Martigny - Sitten. All buses on the latter three routes will pass through Rothrist around 9:00 AM or 8:00 PM, where transfers will be possible with a single ticket. Several other stops are planned, including at the airports of Zurich, Geneva, and Basel.
Ticket sales are not yet underway, but the carrier's advertising states that a ticket from Zurich to Basel will cost from 17 francs (15 euros), from Zurich to Bern from 23 francs (20 euros), and from Zurich to St. Gallen from 20 francs (17 euros). Local Halbtax-Abo and General-Abo discount cards will also be accepted.
Travel times will be slightly longer than by train: for example, from Zurich to Bern it's 75 minutes, to Geneva it's 4 hours 15 minutes, to Bern it's 2 hours, and to St. Gallen it's 1.5 hours. The journey from Lugano to Lucerne will take 3 hours 20 minutes, and to Basel it's 6 hours. Starting March 25, one service per day is planned for each route, with a second service added on June 10.
The buses have 10 first-class seats (with a 101-centimeter pitch between rows) and 59 second-class seats (with a 85-centimeter pitch). All seats are equipped with Swiss-style power outlets and free Wi-Fi. One suitcase and one piece of carry-on baggage, plus skis, are carried free of charge; other suitcases cost 10 francs (9 euros), and bicycles cost 5 francs (4 euros).
A second bus operator, Eurobus, may enter the market this summer. It plans to operate seven routes. The emergence of competitors is expected to prompt Swiss Railways (SBB) to introduce its own more attractive fares. SBB previously introduced the Saver Day Pass, a national travel pass starting at CHF 52 (EUR 45).
Until last year, intercity bus routes were banned in Switzerland in the interests of SBB (only local and suburban PostAuto lines exist). Now they are permitted with restrictions—according to a court ruling, they must not create "strong competition" for SBB. Similar decisions were made in Germany several years ago; since then, a slew of low-cost bus operators have emerged there, but over time, almost all of them were acquired by the largest company, Flixbus, which has also expanded its services to many neighboring countries. In Switzerland, Flixbus is only permitted to operate international routes.
Source: travel.ru