Originally Posted by
Bloodshot2k
When I go to sbb.ch/en and do a search for zurich airport to zurich, i see trips that has duration of 12minutes to almost 50 minutes and when I click on FARE, they are both the same fares. Why is that? Am I reading this wrong? One is on the "S" or "S7" while the longer ones are on TRAM
There are a variety of modes to and from the airport from Zürich.
In the order from fast to slow:
IR: Interregio trains - These are the mainline trains that travel across the country. They are your quickest connection, when you take a direct train. Most stop only in Oerlikon when they do stop on the way to/from the airport.
S-Bahn (S) - These will generally have a number. They will generally be a bit slower and not quite as nice as the IR trains. However, they run pretty frequently and have good connections. I myself usually end up taking one of these to the airport. The number after the 'S' refers to the route the train takes.
TRAM - These are trams. These are the streetcars that travel on/nearby normal surface roads. These are great for intra-city travel. Not so handy when you can take either an IR or an S-Bahn train. Don't take the 10 tram to the airport, it takes too long.
The local transit authority ZVV sets a fare based on how far you travel, not the mode. Yes, it's strange, but if you buy a round trip (which are good for all travel in a 24 hour period) in the zone for Zürich, you can to on the lake ferries as well, though you won't get far in that zone.
While searching on the SBB site, you can set it to ignore the trams via the 'Advanced Search'. SBB also has an iPhone/Android app, which can be handy if you're wandering around. But you will have to have a wireless connection. There's a nice app called 'wemlin' for the iphone which will tell you which tram/train will be showing up at local stops to you. It keeps a database of this information and doesn't require a network connection.