No, the buses in Rome are NOT free

And those same Americans were probably complaining about the food in Rome. We all need to be more respectful of local laws and customs so as to not give the locals the wrong impression.

RS has called an emergency meeting with his cameraman after reading your posting

You can't assume that the buses are free just because the locals don't stamp their tickets. They may have week or month long passes with them. Anyone who chooses to cheat the system gets what they deserve if they're caught. We all know you have to pay to ride the bus and the metro so if people choose not to they must live with the consequences. Thanks for the up-to-date report confirming that random checks do occur and on-the-spot fines are alive and well. Donna

My experience with Italian buses is the same, they DO enforce and WILL fine those without tickets. Actually, most European cities are that way.

Ditto the subways. I've seen them check tickets many times

And frankly we should call this what it is - theft. If you're taking a service and not paying for it, how is that different from theft. The woman who was bragging about not buying tickets was telling us this in front of their teenage son. She knew they were supposed to buy tickets, she had decided they could get away with not doing it, and then she was announcing she would lie about it if caught. I wonder what lesson her son was learning about acceptable behavior? I had a great conversation on the train yesterday from Rome to Orvieto, with an older woman from Naples. We talked about this and she said that society is built on the smaller things, and if we're not honest in doing the smaller things, how can we expect bigger things to be successful? Anyway, that's kind of a rough translation of her point.

At the bargain rate of 1 Euro for 75 minutes of travel anywhere in the Rome public transit system, I just do not see any reason to not buy and validate the ticket.

Ha, funny that you mention that, just today in Florence (currently where I am at) we had an official come onto the bus to look at tickets. A few of the local school boys were getting written up for their lack of tickets, and he made sure ours were validated. So you may get lucky on occasion without buying a ticket, but it could come back to bite you in the rear when the official gets on.

Take a pen with you on your trip; sometimes you might not find the validating machine, and you validate it yourself by writing the time and date (in European format: day/month/year) and you're good to go.

That might work if you have a ticket (as long as the inspectors don't think you just self-validated right when you saw them), but the problem I brought up here is those people who don't buy tickets at all.

Being used to U.S. and U.K. public transport, I suppose it is possible that a tourist might make a mistake about riding the buses. In the systems I've used, you have to either insert a card or use some type of electronic pass when entering and when leaving. Assuming you didn't read signs or do any advance research, I could see someone being confused if they didn't see the locals insert cards or use passes when riding mass transit. I had that experience using subways and buses in Germany this summer. You purchase a pass and stamp it once when you start using it. I had difficulty shaking the feeling that I wanted to stamp my pass on every trip (I didn't, of course). It felt strange just to jump on and off trains and buses. They do check, though. I saw them do it and actually fine someone when I was on the S-Bahn subway riding out to suburban Munich. Two conductors went through the cars to check passes. Now that does not excuse anyone who deliberately tries to beat the system. (And anyone who does deserves to get popped.) Nor does it really excuse those who don't learn beforehand how the system works. That is a duty you have when traveling.

The buses in several cities have warnings in English written on/near the doors that tickets are required and rides are not free. Sorry, but I don't buy it when people claim they didn't know they needed a ticket. What city offers free transport?

Well, Seattle does have a ride-free zone downtown for the buses, so it can happen, but it is absolutely up to the traveler to find out.

Part of the confusion comes from US tourists who are accustomed to paying in cash when they get on a bus, but don't realize they were supposed to buy a ticket before getting on the bus.