Ticket for a day trip by train and bus in Skåne

Question

I'm going to land in Copenhagen airport (Kastrup), take a train to Skåne (Lund to be precise), and a local bus to my destination. I'll do the return trip in the evening.

I can find the route information and timetables on the Skånetrafiken website. What eludes me is the best way (or even a way!) to pay for the trip. I'd prefer to pay everything by credit card, though I'll get SEK from an ATM if I have to.

I can buy a train ticket from the machines at the airport, but what about the bus (where I can't pay by cash, and I'm not sure if credit cards are valid or only Swedish banking cards)?

Should I buy a Jojo card? Where can I buy it in the airport? If I get one, what amount should I put on it?

Cheaper is obviously better but I'm willing to pay a few SEK more to save time and hassle. I'd rather not leave too much prepaid value on the Jojo card, as it's likely I won't be back to the area any time soon (how long is the card valid anyway?).

As I understand it, a Jojo train ticket is also valid on the city bus from the station. Does that also apply to tickets bought without Jojo? Does that also apply to the bus trip to the station on the way back, and if so, how do I buy the ticket — can I buy a return ticket at the airport in the morning?

Answer 1

In your case the best option is to buy a return ticket to Lund (270 kr). It's valid for 24 hours and covers the public transport in Lund as well (trains and buses).

You can buy it with a credit card or with a Jojo card. The Jojo card gives you 20% discount of the price of a ticket. The validity of the ticket is exactly the same whether you buy it with a credit card or Jojo card. Note that the Jojo card itself costs 10 kr and you have to put on it a minimum of 200 kr and the amount has to be in even hundreds.

It doesn't seem possible to buy the Jojo card at the airport. But even if it was it probably wouldn't make sense for you, since you would end up paying more. You would have to put 300 kr. on it and end up paying 310 (instead of the normal ticket price of 270 kr.), leaving 84 kr. on the card that you couldn't use unless you came back. However, the cards don't have any expiry date.

You can buy the ticket at:

• baggage claim area: one red Skånetrafiken ticket machine
• terminal 3 (by the escalators leading to the train station platform): four red Skånetrafiken ticket machines

It's also possible to buy a similar ticket ("Retur Øresundsbillet") from the Danish DSB ticket machines in the same locations. The price should be approximately the same, based on the current exchange rate of the Danish and Swedish kr. It's also valid for the public transport in Lund. There is a customer service center in terminal 3 if you need help.

Answer 2

The train trip alone costs 135 SEK one-way with Öresundståg from Kastrup to Lund C. That makes 270 in both directions, plus whatever you'll pay for bus fare (for local traffic, that's probably going to be around 100-200 SEK total, depending on where you are going). I'd definitely buy the card, it does save a lot of hassle, although admittedly not very handy for one-time visitors. The Jojo card doesn't have an expiration date, and with some planning, you can estimate how much you'll pay for the whole trip and top up appropriately.

It's not immediately clear from the Skånetrafiken's website if you'll be able to buy Jojo card from Kastrup. You can definitely buy a train ticket from the ticket machine at the arrivals terminal, just before descending to the train platform. You can pay with most commonly accepted credit cards (there's no such thing as "Swedish bank card").

If you are not able to buy the Jojo card from the airport (and if you are pressed for time, you probably don't want to deal with this), you can always do so at Lund train station -- the customer service center is very close to the central station, if not inside (I can't recall which one is actually the case). You can also buy the card from the Pressbyrån store in the train station, they'll have preloaded cards with 200 SEK credit, which you can top up later at any Skånetrafiken terminal. See also other places to buy the card, opening hours and public holidays (in Swedish, but I think you can manage with an online translation tool).

If you happen to have a Swedish SIM card, you can also buy tickets with SMS (Swedish only) -- this is the most cost-effective way for occasional travel, but it won't work for other cards.

Answer 3

You can install Skånetrafiken's app called 'Reseplaneraren' (iOS, Android). This lets you buy tickets through the app with credit/debit cards, including from Copenhagen. It doesn't (unfortunately) give you the 10% discount you get with a JoJo card, but if you're just there for a day you probably wouldn't want one anyway.