Rome Bus Scam Beware

I'm sorry this happened to you. There are always many posts about needing to validate tickets. but what many don't post, is that the validation machine is frequently not by the door that one enters. Hmmm, I wonder why?

I remember being on a bus in Florence heading to a smaller town. We entered by the middle door (the only one that opened) and the validation machine was in the front low down and not visible unless you knew it was there. I had noticed it when glancing at the driver prior to entering. Every time the bus stopped and individuals entered, the bus would suddenly take off prior to people being able to take a seat, much less work their way to the front. It was a wild ride. I'm steady on my feet, so it was okay, but anyone with mobility issues, that validation was not going to happen.

No excuses are considered acceptable. Even read a post where the validation machine was broken, lots of revenue generated that day. Bring a pen to manually date/time validate if you are in this situation.

I understand you are frustrated but this does not sound like a scam to me. You and your family were fined for not validating your bus tickets as required. Ticket validation is fairly common on most forms of public transportation. Consider this experience a good lesson to research how to use public transportation in advance.

Thank you for the reminder for everyone. When you enter a bus, just politely say “Scusi” until you can reach the validation machine. I have helped hand tickets back & forth to the validation machine when a bus is so crowded that any movement was impossible. If you don’t know where the validation machine is located, you can pantomine it, and riders will point in its direction.

To the comment of the bus moving before a person is seated, yes! I have been in some in Tuscany where I thought they were going to drop a frail nonna &her shopping bags on the floor!

”The officer number is 71592 and she was following orders to target tourists or being rewarded in some way for targeting tourists.” Is this just your opinion or a verifiable fact?

Thank you for the reminder to validate tickets as it will be helpful to future readers of this forum. If you had done some research beforehand, you could have prevented the fine.

https://roman-vacations.com/romes-public-transport/

"On the bus or tram lines you must validate your own ticket using the machines onboard. They are usually located at the front and/or back of the vehicle. If your bus or tram is particularly crowded, you can wave your ticket in the direction of the machine and some friendly commuter will help you out.

If you don’t validate your ticket you may incur a hefty fine of up to € 150,00. Trust us, pleading the innocent and unaware tourist argument will NOT help you."

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/rome-public-bus-transportation

https://www.shegoesthedistance.com/buses-in-italy/

"In Italy, on nearly all public transportation, you’ll need to do something called “timbrare il biglietto”, or validate your ticket.

There will be a small box on the bus (one at the front and back) in which you must insert your ticket. When you hear a loud click sound, you can withdraw your ticket. The machine stamps (or punches if you have a carnet) your ticket with a time.
...
The reason you must validate your ticket is because you could incur a heavy fine for not doing so. Buses can be randomly checked at any time, like other public transportation in Italy, to verify you have a valid ticket for your ride. If you don’t stamp the ticket, authorities don’t know if you are using that ticket beyond its monetary value."

https://www.atac.roma.it/en/tickets-and-passes/roma48h

"Make sure you validate your ticket at the beginning of your journey.
You find validators on buses, trams, trolleybuses, Regional rail trains Termini-Centocelle, Roma-Viterbo and in stations at the turnstiles for access to the Metro lines, the Roma-Lido and Trenitalia regional railways.
The ticket must be kept throughout the journey and displayed in case of a ticket inspection, accompanied by an identity document.
In case of validator malfunction:
on public transport vehicles (buses, trams, trolleybuses, Metro lines and Regional railways as well as on Cotral buses, write date, time and name of the station or vehicle number on your ticket;
if you are travelling on Trenitalia trains, please go to a ticket office or to the conductor.
Passengers found travelling without a valid ticket or with an irregular ticket, will be issued with a penalty fare from 100 up to 500 euros, besides the payment of the ticket price, of the procedural costs and postage charges, if applicable. The penalty is reduced to 50 euros if paid within 5 days after notification.
A penalty fare is raised when:
although having a ticket, you did not validate it correctly; you are found with a ticket or travel pass that is visibly counterfeit;
you are using your ticket beyond its validity period;
you are using your ordinary ticket or travel pass on special connections, that require a specific ticket;
you are using a ticket or travel pass with a lower price or distance coverage than needed;
you display a personal pass without having filled in your data or without an ID card."

This is a topic that has many threads unfortunately. I have no problem with the validation process. I have a problem with the obvious targeting of tourists. My family was immediately targeted. This thread is to warn those visiting to look for immediate validation. Our bus had a validation machine in the back of the bus. We had no time to validate before we were approached this is a problem that must be warned about. Please take this advice as it ruined our day. We were taken advantage of. I hope you will not. Prego!

If I understand correctly, the take away is to enter by one of the validation machines, if possible, since the opportunity to validate might not be given.

Are you saying you were moving or trying to move to the back to validate your tix, but were stopped by the police from doing that? Or are you saying you didn’t know you had to go to the back of the bus to validate?

There is a big difference. If the former situation is what happened that was indeed unfair, and suggests of corrupt cops. I would file a protest or complaint against the person whose badge number you have. Maybe with the transit police or with the finance police, I don’t know which. Someone in the TripAdvisor Italy forum might know.

Ok let me help you. After you buy you ticket you must validate your ticket after entry of the bus. The validation machine may be at the front or the back of the bus. If you enter at the front of the bus and the validation machine is not there you must travel to the back of the bus and find the validation machine or vice versa. hope this helps. We entered at the middle of the bus and should of asked a patron where to validate. Do not ask an authority.

Gail—- you usually do not have a choice which door to enter. The large center door is the norm in Italy, and then people exit at the front or rear.

Why they don’t place the validation machine near the entrance door is beyond me.

We were immediately stopped after the doors closed by the authorities behind us. They asked to see our tickets which were not validated. We had good tickets and no time to validate they could have very easily directed to the machine in the back of the bus.

We’re in Rome right now—final day of what was a wonderful trip. We spent the whole day at the colosseum and Roman Forum and had planned to take the bus back to the other side of town where we were staying because my dad is with us and has health issues and was exhausted. We bought our tickets at the machine at the bus stop by the Victor Emmanuel II Monument and got on the bus. The validation machine in the back of the bus was broken—this happened to us 2 days ago as well on the same bus line and the driver blew it off when notified. We hadn’t been on the bus long when a whole group of inspectors boarded and started demanding to see tickets. After checking a couple, they came straight to all the tourists. We explained that the machine was broken but they weren’t having it. They started threatening my husband that they were going to take him to the police station in front of our young kids! One woman who spoke Italian tried to defend us, but they didn’t care. We had to get off the bus even though we had paid for the ride and now have to pay a fine when we did NOTHING WRONG! We weren’t the only ones they extorted on that bus. There were at least 5 other tourists who had the exact same problem—the validation machine didn’t work. We had all just boarded. The inspectors told my husband he was lying and refused to listen to anything we, or anyone else had to say. What a racket! I’m sure ATAC rakes it in extorting tourists! RIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK! You’re better off getting an Uber—probably cheaper! And for anyone saying to use the app—don’t bother, it’s horrible and you might still get fined anyway.

While in Tuscany last year, we took a train trip but couldn't figure out how to get the tickets validated by the machine in the station. Tracked down station worker there and he told us our tickets wouldn't work with that machine (new type of ticket and old style validating machine - he agreed it was ridiculous). He advised us to write the date, time, and destination on our tickets, which we did. On the train, the conductor checked everyone's tickets. When he saw what we had done, he nodded, and went on our way.
So, perhaps if the bus machine isn't working a handwritten validation is a work around? Maybe do it proactively while waiting for the bus to arrive?

When we were in Naples, we got on a bus where the validation machine was broken. A fellow passenger told us to write the date and time on the ticket. A little while later inspectors got on the bus and they accepted our tickets as validated. We were very thankful that our fellow passenger told us what to do.

Note to self: Don't take any buses when in Italy next year.

A fellow passenger told bus to write the date and time on the ticket.

This is what you do. I'm sorry for those who were caught up by inspectors, that's never fun. This has been brought up many times over the years, and the above is the solution. Hopefully the people's experiences will help those who might encounter something like this in the future.

I had a similar situation on a tram in Vienna, the ticket machine and the validator next to it were nowhere near the door I entered. So I made sure to fight my way over to that damn box. Of course I was never checked.

Thats not right to fine you if you weren't given time to validate the tickets. So what did you end up doing? Did you sign and pay the fine? I'm not sure what you can do in this situation. They probably bank on the fact you won't file a complaint (is there such a thing?), even if you did its probably a lost cause as you will be out of the country.

A fellow passenger told bus to write the date and time on the ticket.

@eric is this acceptable? Just write on ticket?

I read somewhere if you validated your ticket on the wrong side, you get fined too which i think is a bit drastic - so writing doesn't really give me the feeling it will be accepted.

Yes, that's what is needed. It does, however, appear you should also write down the station or vehicle number to meet the letter of the law. This is from the ATAC website (Rome's public transit company...)

"In case of validator malfunction:
on public transport vehicles (buses, trams, trolleybuses, Metro lines and Regional railways as well as on Cotral buses, write date, time and name of the station or vehicle number on your ticket;
if you are travelling on Trenitalia trains, please go to a ticket office or to the conductor."

https://www.atac.roma.it/en/tickets-and-passes/roma24h#:~:text=on%20public%20transport%20vehicles%20(buses,office%20or%20to%20the%20conductor.

I was checked by the regulators last year, and yes, they did seem like they were trying really hard to find where I might have gone wrong. Fortunately, I passed, but I can see how tough it can get.

My question: do they have a quota for catching people? Most Italians are not anywhere near so aggressive in enforcing rules like this, so I'm trying to figure out why they are different.

I don't know if they catch as many Italians as tourists, but I for sure know that Italians know how to evade them easier than tourists do as I have been on many a train and bus that they saw inspectors waiting to board and many hopped off a different door so they wouldn't get caught.

Heck, my friend and I did that after living there for over 6 months during the Olympics when we just herded on the train from an event shuttle bus and realized that we didn't have tickets as soon as the inspectors got on and we hopped off at that same station to purchase tickets and wait for the next train.....later we then realized that we didn't need a ticket as we "heard" that Italy made them free for travel to/from events (not sure if it was completely true though haha), but we felt like Italian law breakers for sure. Another time I noticed frantic Italians rushing past me on a regionale train in the first class train saying "prima" to each other as a conductor came into our car and I FLIPPED out because I forgot that our train DID in fact have a first class car which we were in (no wonder it was so calm and nice! haha) and we had purchased 2nd class tickets. So I rushed up to her and apologized that we were mistaken and she made me pay the difference (SO THANKFUL) of the tickets directly to her.

That information about writing the date, time and station or vehicle # on the tickets if the stamping machine is broken is very useful.

As a counter-point let me relate a good experience with an inspector. A few years ago we were in Venice and were taking the vaparetto. We bought tickets but it had started to drizzle and the flimsy paper ticket wouldn't stamp. I don't know for sure if it was because the machine was broken or that the ticket was too soft to trigger the stamping. In any event a few minutes after boarding an inspector came by. I showed him my ticket and explained we just bought it but it would not stamp. He looked carefully at the purchase time printed on the ticket, nodded, and went on. And immediately wrote a ticket to the lady standing next to us who did not have a ticket.

The door in the center of the bus is not for boarding the bus, but for exiting, in every city including Rome. If you didn't find the validating machine immediately on entry is because you entered the bus from the exit door (in spite the signs), the one on the center of the bus. There is a validating machine next to each entry door, but not next to the exit door.

As far as targeting tourists for some personal gain I doubt it. My father used to work for the Florence equivalent of ATAC (then called ATAF, now AT), and did that exact job for a few years (Ticket Controller, as they were called). No commissions or minimum quota ever for him, and I doubt they have them in Rome. For sure he used to tell us a lot of stories about young American tourists (mostly hippies in those years) playing dumb, who traveled without a validated ticket claiming they thought the buses were free since the driver did not collect the money like they did in the US. Many of those American hippies (and fare dodgers) are now retired and contributing to this forum.

Well stated, Roberto. It is not a scam and it is a extreme disservice to say so. Anyone who has spent more than a month on this site should have read about validating tickets in Italy and especially Rome buses. It is just the learning curve. The one thing I always do is to try to be very observant of what people are doing when using transit. Our local transit system has moved away from paper tickets and validation with everything on the cell phone. I worry a little that this may be in the future for European transportation -- it is convenient -- However we had not been taking our cell phones to Europe. May have to change.

Thank you Roberto, as usual your information and advice hit the bullseye.

Thank you, Roberto, for your sensible reply.

I'm always surprised by those who automatically assume that, when they're fined in a country with customs/rules/ways of doing things they don't understand well, it's gotta be a scam or a shakedown.

Validating tickets purchased before boarding (and being subject to random checks by transit agents) is a practice that has been adopted in many US metro areas’ transit systems, including SF Muni in San Francisco, for several years. But I understand that unless you live in such metro areas, where taking transit is normal for everybody, in most places many Americans have never set foot on a local bus, which is basically considered transportation for the poor, and have only driven cars (or airplanes for longer distances). But as those Americans I imagine would probably inquire how to pay transit fares in NYC or SF, they should do the same when traveling in foreign cities.

Thank you Roberto for your explanation! As a tourist, anywhere, it is up to you to learn the rules. I have been to Italy several times and never had a problem. Actually, I can't ever remember boarding a bus anywhere but the front.

In terms of where the validators are, things may have changed with the implementation of the red credit card terminals.

See this recent post: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/rome-is-contactless-payment-working-on-buses-yet

I can confirm from when we were there in November that the red credit card reader was at the front of the bus on red buses, and the yellow validator at the middle or rear; opposite on silver buses.

On two occasions the credit card reader simply didn't work - I tried multiple cards and then someone told me that it wasn't working. On a third occasion we boarded an overloaded bus in Trastevere [tram wasn't running for some reason] and there was NO way to get to either machine.

While I would not say that it is a scam, I do think that the Italian public transportation system is set up in such a way that many "fail" to properly validate their tickets. I'm not surprised that many feel scammed.

If Italy wanted those tourists to be successful, one would think to have the validation machine in the same location as one would board the bus. For example, the bus that we were on, the only door that opened was the middle door, and for some strange reason, the only validation machine was at the front of the bus forcing everyone to push their way to the front. Doesn't seem logical or efficient to me, but I'm sure Italy has a very logical reason why this is the case, I'm just clueless what it is. And the size of the tickets actually did not fit in the machine. Interesting, how hard can it be to make a ticket that actually can fit in the validation machine? We folded it in half and managed. And why so many broken validation machines? With this level of maintenance issue, why not come up with a workaround (the driver having a stamp or something)? How many non locals are going to have the time to dig into the rules of what to do if the validation machine is broken? Who would even think about digging that deep since unless you spend a lot of time on sites like this, the assumption is that if you are required to validate a ticket, then you should be able to validate that ticket with the validation machine.

I can't say I'm fond of a system that makes it difficult for those who do want to do the right thing, fail. Yes, fine those who do not want to pay, but I do wish Italy's system could be designed better to help new travelers buy their tickets, validate those tickets, and not feel scammed. Even if not intentional, it's the non locals who end up being targeted.

I will add, I have messed up and ended up sitting in first class instead of 2nd class on a train. Brand new to travelling. But after reading all the posts since that trip, I've realized my daughter and I were very fortunate that the conductor was very kind to us. He let us know our mistake, and when we apologized and got up to move, he told us we could stay. Every time he walked past us during that trip, he would say hi and we would smile back. I thought he was nice then, but now I know, he was very very nice. I'm glad that was my introduction to Italy.

100% agree with Gail -

I can't say I'm fond of a system that makes it difficult for those who
do want to do the right thing, fail. Yes, fine those who do not want
to pay, but I do wish Italy's system could be designed better to help
new travelers buy their tickets, validate those tickets, and not feel
scammed.

I have encountered a broken validator on a bus in Rome, however, was lucky in that there was no inspector during that ride. Honestly, I would have anticipated if the validator is broken, it's on them, but am glad to have today, learned the alternative for when a broken validator is encountered. I don't generally carry a pen around with me, but that will change :)

I think I will avoid buses in Rome! The OP apparently boarded thru the middle foot and couldn’t get to the back to validate their ticket. Roberto explained that in Rome and everywhere else in Italy the middle door is exit only and one should board at the back where the yellow validation machine always lives. Then Gail says the ONLY door that opened for them was the middle door. And someone else said the red machines for contactless payment are at the front on red buses and the yellow machines for ticket validation are at the back on silver buses.

I would l like to say my family had a wonderful time in Rome. Most people we met were gracious and kind. We learned so much during our time there. The only thing I would have done different is…. Not putting my family on that bus. But I can’t go back in time so I thought it would be good to warn others about our experience.
1. The only open door was the middle door we were in a que and followed in line.
2. Directly behind us in the line were 3 bus official’s in uniform.
3. The bus officials followed us through the same door.
4. The bus doors shut and the bus moved the officials immediately asked us for our tickets. I asked them where to validate and they said let me have your identification.
5. They took their credit card machine out and demanded I pay a penalty now all before the next bus stop.

Again I hope this helps to be careful riding the bus in Rome. The authorities will not help you validate and I don’t know what else we could have done to avoid this. My wife is from Spain and we have for lived many years in Europe. We have Traveled all over Europe and never encountered anything like this before. Maybe we were the unlucky ones to catch the authorities having a bad day. All of us have bad days but to demand I pay 200 euro fine immediately 50x4
I would save the money for Uber and enjoy your time in Rome.

I wonder if public transportation in the US tries to accommodate tourists to our country.

I think I will avoid buses in Rome!

Not always possible, sometimes you are tired of walking and need a quick way back to your hotel - for example, the bus [85?] from the Colosseum back to the Pantheon area.

One way to get around the inspectors is to buy a one to three day pass and activate it right away. And it looks like they now have a phone app, where the ticket exists and is activated on your phone - no validator to worry about:

https://www.ticketappy.com/

Ticket and pass options: https://www.atac.roma.it/en/tickets-and-passes/request-and-charge-online/ticketappy

Total tourist scam,, we had paid for tickets, but made the mistake of getting on a very crowded bus in the middle bus door, the only ticket scanner is at the back door .. the officers got on at our stop (hearing us speak English). One from the front door, one from the back door.. they moved toward the middle..as i tried to push passed standing passengers to reach the back scanner, i was stopped by officer and fined for not having a stamped ticket.. nothing i said mattered.. if they really want stamped tickets, there should me a machine at every bus door entrance. And a 54e fine for not stamping a 1.5e paid for ticket ? I was warned about pick pockets, but didn't think it would come from the bus police

Just a side note: The light rail in Seattle has a "tap in and tap out" procedure but no actual gates. Many people will ride without tickets. At first they had enforcement officers giving tickets, fines, etc. Then they realized that the people that were getting tickets and fines were a specific portion of the population and it seemed less than idea to fine them. So then they moved to no enforcement. Now the pendulum has swung once again and they are enforcing. If they find you without a ticket, they take your information and give you a warning. If they find you have done this a second time, you are fined.

As far as local buses go, I have never seen anyone who could not pay turned away. Either the bus driver asks them to pay extra the next time or someone on the bus just pays for the person. No one would be ever be fined there.