Request for Refund – Bus Ticket Charged Despite Valid Swiss Travel Pass

Ghemackuemb66

We hope this message finds you well.

We traveled yesterday using our valid Swiss Travel Pass; however, we were still charged for a bus ticket during our journey.
We have attached both our Swiss Travel Pass and the ticket in question for your reference.

If a refund is possible under your policy, we kindly ask for your assistance in processing it.

Thank you for your understanding and support.
We look forward to your response.

Danhiel

Hello Ghemackuemb66

Who did charge you for the tickets? A bus driver? A ticket inspector?

Or did you buy the tickets without knowing that your pass is valid?

Kind regards
Danhiel

Ghemackuemb66

Hello

We are travelers and were not familiar with how to use the bus system in Switzerland. We asked the bus driver to open the front door, but he did not. Although we showed our Swiss Travel Pass, we were still required to purchase a bus ticket. Unfortunately, we do not speak Swiss German, and the driver did not speak English.

Danhiel

Ghemackuemb66

The bus driver made obviously an error if he didn’t accept your STP. You should contact the customer service of the bus company to submit a complaint:

https://www.vbl.ch/ueber-vbl/kontakt/

RedBaron

Ghemackuemb66
… or in case you’re still in Lucerne, go directly to the travel centre in the main station. As they’re agents for both SBB and VBL tickets, that would be much quicker and easier.

Actually, bus drivers shouldn’t care about valid tickets at all anymore. That’s usually the duty/responsability of the dedicated ticket inspector staff, who are carry out random checks by boarding a randomly selected vehicle as a group.
Not sure how it is (still) handled in Lucerne, though.

Danhiel

RedBaron

I would not go to the travel center because they cannot refund a ticket without a proof of non-utilisation.

I think that in this case the customer service must check with the bus driver what really happened, if the indications given by the customer (date, time, start station) match, evaluate if an error can be attributed to the bus company or not.

I could also find tickets in a garbage can and say that I bought them erroneously with my STP (I don’t want to say that Ghemackuemb66 is not honest, this is only an example).

Krist

The bus driver might have just been misunderstanding you. Normally in Luzern you do not have to show your ticket when boarding a bus. So you just board through any door, and the drivers prefer you not to use the first door. The fact that you insisted on boarding through the first door and interacting with the driver signalled to him that you wanted a ticket, so he sold you one.