Rome Public Bus Transportation

Yes this happens regularly; I got a 50 euro fine in Rome 2002 for not validating.
You have do your homework learn the rules wherever you travel. No excuses. it is not the hotel or the bus driver's responsibility (how does the driver know that you are a tourist) as locals ride the bus also.

An unstamped ticket could be used again and again, like many US students have being doing for years. What would the scam be?

If you did not time-stamp a ticket that allows to use the system for 100 minutes with unlimited transfers in any direction... You did not follow the main rule in a system based on purchasing time. Because you knew you had bought 100 minutes ticket, didn't you? And how did you think you could start the timer, firmly holding your tickets while getting on?

So, again, what would the scam be? Not reading a travel guide in your place and mailing a memo to your hotel with the relevant info for any day?

Italians have multi-day or monthly passes that must be time-stamped only once, nobody would use the single tickets imèn his own city.

no one at the hotel told us to make sure to get our ticket stamped
Because for them it is self-evident.
we were told in very poor English
How good is the Italian of a ticket inspector at home?

This points out the worth of a Rick Steves guidebook. Under "Getting Around Rome," he states that "tickets have a barcode and must be stamped on the bus in the yellow box with the digital readout (be sure to retrieve your ticket). Validate your ticket as you board (magnetic-strip-side down, arrow-side first), otherwise you're cheating. Inspectors fine even innocent-looking tourists euro 50."

Rick has similar practical advice about nearly everything you could think of on a trip. That's why I read my guidebook cover-to-cover before I leave home and don't leave home without it (or actually sections of it that are pertinent to my trip).

EDITED to add: I should have mentioned that my cover-to-cover read through of the guidebook includes highlighting important details such as the above.

The ticket does say that it has to be stamped. We didn’t do this. Our
error.

While sorry you had an unpleasant experience, the few words above explain why you were fined. The need to validate almost all transport tickets or passes - including those for regionale trains - has been frequently discussed on these forums, as well as lack of lenience if caught with an unstamped ticket. Nope, no scam at all: it was your job to read the ticket + do your transport homework before getting on the bus.

As Steve says in his online tips about European city buses:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/city-transit/buses

"Validate your ticket. Usually you enter at the front of the bus and show your ticket to the driver, or validate it by inserting it into an automated time-stamp box."

It’s too bad they don’t give a warning for a first offense. But I’m with the others...guidebooks, blogs, vlogs, etc remind to validate.

Well, if they cut every tourist some slack, then why ticket anybody? Yep, it comes down to learning ahead how to use the transit system. Do you validate, do you keep the ticket on you, do you scan in and scan out, can you transfer, what is the time limit, can more than one person use a ticket or pass...it varies all over; you really need to research, it is not obvious.

My only additional advice for travelers to Rome is when you do validate, look at your ticket. I have had the experience of where the machine barely leaves a mark or just a smudge. Had a transit officer stare and turn over my ticket and look, say something to me in Italian, I understood about half, then feigned ignorance until she just moved on. For those that are wondering, of all transit systems I have been on in Europe (several dozen) I have been checked more frequently in Rome. On any visit I can easily rely on a ticket check every 3-4 rides. Probably Paris is the only other place I have had regular checks.

I think validating tickets is pretty universal in European transit systems, and the requirement is explained, sometimes in bold type, in every guidebook I can remember reading. Sorry that you had a bad experience, and maybe a first-time warning would have been in order, but heavy fines are part of a deterrence strategy in a system where the chance of getting caught riding free is fairly small. That is, low probability = high consequence = deterrence. Everyone who saw what was happening to you was reminded to buy and validate the ticket. Keep in mind that, unlike you, some folks would cheat if the consequence wasn't serious.

It is really a false economy to head off to Europe without a good guidebook. How to use public transportation is well-covered in Rick's books, as noted above. Be thankful that your only offense was failing to validate city-transit tickets. If you had set off in a rental car, oblivious to the local rules of the road, you could very well be looking forward to multiple $40+ administrative fees from the car-rental company for providing your name and address to the traffic authorities. The traffic folks would, in due course, send you a flurry of $$$ tickets for violating rules regarding limited-traffic areas, bus lanes, etc.

In case you are wondering why so many people could enter the bus without validating, they likely had passes. Monthly and annual passes, which mostly residents have, do not require validation but have a picture ID. Tourists can also buy multi+day passes that only have to be validated once.

It is hard for Europeans to understand how many North Americans are not used to how public-transit works. It would never occur to the hotel staff to tell you to validate, I am sure. Rome is particularly intensive on ticket checking as the boarding process is insane. In Paris one boards at the front only and must validate the ticket right there, by the driver. Same thing in the Val Gardena where we just spent a couple of weeks. But in Rome it is a free-for-all with people entering all three doors and Rome has steadily increased the number of fare checkers in the 8 years I have been familiar with the system. They need to: ATAC is broken and has very little money to run the system.

The replies to my initial posting make for interesting reading. As I wrote, we were in error by not having our ticket stamped. That said, I offer the following: we have travelled to other countries in Europe wherein employees will come through the vehicle and check your ticket. This is why both my wife and I held our tickets in our hand throughout our ride. We were waiting for someone to check that we had valid tickets. Secondly, when we understood that the ticket needed to be stamped and wanted to run the ticket through the machine to validate it, one of the polizia would not let us do so. It was, at this point, that it became clear to me that this was a trap designed to raise money for whatever purpose. Thirdly, no where on the bus was there a sign in any language directing passengers to validate their tickets on a machine not located in the front of the bus. Lastly, our guide book, which was read carefully, makes mention of the cost and need for a ticket, but makes no mention of the validation requirement. Excuse me for not purchasing the right guide book.

It would not make sense for ticket inspectors to allow riders simply to validate their tickets when they are caught. That would not deter anyone from buying a ticket and using it over and over again until an inspector happened to come along. That would obviously be a big money-saving technique for the riders, because in most jurisdictions with validation requirements, encountering an inspector is rather unusual.

It costs a great deal of money to run a public-transit system. One way to keep costs in check is not to put a checker on every bus. Not imposing the ticket-checking burden on the driver allows the bus to run its route faster. That, along with relatively low fares, makes transit more attractive to users, which produces some economies of scale.

Well, some constructive advice then, not sure what the rest of your itinerary is, but most trains in Italy also require you to validate the ticket, this is done on the platform, before you board, in little boxes. The exception would be a fast train where you have a specific time/train listed and a seat assignment.

If you take the Leonardo Express to the Airport, that requires you to validate as well before getting on.

As I wrote, we were in error by not having our ticket stamped.

Yes, but you also said it was a "scam perpetrated by the Rome transport polizia". It is not a scam. And you said you were "following the rules", but you weren't - you only followed the part of the rules that you were told about and didn't know the full extent of the rules. The transit system is built by, paid for by, and built for residents of the city......it's not their fault if visitors don't know what's required. It's unfortunate you didn't understand the rules and got a fine for that, but it's like making what you think is a legal right hand turn on a red light in a city where that it against the law - you broke the law and were fined for it, even though you didn't know it was against the law. Bummer, but it's not a scam.

Sorry to disagree with you and the angry tone of your reply, but I do. When five couples, ten people in all, each from a foreign country run afoul of a bus ticket policy on the same bus, and when the hotel staff, who live in Rome and know about this police activity, and who likewise think it is unfair and misguided, something is wrong. Remember, the police official saw us move to the front of the bus to get off with our tickets in hand and when she saw they were not validated, she had a choice to make:
1. Let us validate the ticket and go on our way. (We had bought the ticket with the intent to pay the proper fare and validating it would have been the right thing to do as we were clearly seen by her as not Italian because she used nothing but hand gestures to direct us to wait.) Or, 2, she could fine us. She chose the latter.

Lastly, I have lived in Europe and visited most of its major cities: Rome, Paris, London, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, Geneva, Zurich, Munich, et al. In many of those cities imy experience has been for the bus or train conductor to inform you of what needs to be done to validate a ticket. I have even seen a conductor sell a ticket to a passenger who did not have one. It appears that Rome is the exception. Sad to say their action indicates a desire to take advantage of travelers to their otherwise wonderful city.

Initially, I had some sympathy - but your subsequent replies cured me of this.

You fell foul of the laws through your own ignorance and lack of research, and are now complaining about being treated unfairly.
That other people were equally uninformed does not make the actions of the police a scam.

Really, you need to take this as a lesson on being better prepared, and move on.

So sorry this was your experience. I will say that my husband works the the Seattle transit company, and has been appalled by how a few of the fare enforcers handle riders who don’t have a valid ticket. It seems there are always those who take a degree of pleasure, or at least pride, in catching someone. I remember being shocked in Dbrovnik when the bus driver took a few minutes to explain how to validate our transit passes. His kindness and friendliness were a pleasant surprise.

Dear OP,
from your replies
It seems obvious that you haven't understood how the system works, yet.
Either you aren't able to do it or you are not interested in doing it. The former option is a problem of your high school's teachers, the latter isn't ours.
Do you really expect the concierge to tell a customer that he/she is behaving like a spoiled child? You bought a 100 minutes ticket without wondering: "how am I starting the timer?", at this point the concierge had only two choices: blaming you or conductors. His job depends on your reviews, not conductors'. Again, having to explain such things to another adult is astonishing.

On a crowded Rome bus, getting a ticket machine-validated is sometimes not easily done. We had weekly passes, which means you validate the first time you ride (which starts the 'clock'), then are good for the week. But when the machine is at the front of the bus and you've entered through the back, I saw multiple times people passing their ticket to the front to have rider near the machine stamp it.

On that trip in February 2017, we rode the bus constantly and I was sure that locals were scamming the situation by simply entering through the rear doors, evidenced by the fact that in maybe 15 bus rides I did not see one single instance of polizia checking tickets. Interestingly, though, in the months after we returned home apparently the polizia stepped up their enforcement of it.

One more thing--I was told, when purchasing bus passes, to make sure I get a receipt to carry on my person with the ticket, just in case.

Hi tvanloonnh,

While it was a shame you had to be fined about 59€ for a non-validated ticket, it has been advised over and over again on this forum to validate bus and train tickets.

My last trips to Rome, while riding the buses, I saw Transit Inspectors stop the bus and board --- a group of about 4 or 5 with a "lead" Inspector.

Inspectors have increased their presence on boarding the busiest buses. I cannot attest to the train. I did take it once and saw no inspectors on my ride.

I have shared this before a number of times --- There was a bus I boarded in Rome. Other travelers at that stop followed. I went to validate my ticket in the machine (it is positioned behind the driver. The machine is there right at the first few seats.)

I put in my ticket and nothing happened. I tried it again. Nothing. Other passengers did the same with no validation. We just looked at each other like, "what do we do now?" The bus driver had already left the curb and was on the move.

Finally I looked down at the machine, and it had "non valido" (invalid) across the little screen.

A few stops down, the bus was flagged to stop. Inspectors got on. They do have a commanding presence for obvious reasons.

I got a woman Inspector. I told her what happened. She relayed it to the lead Inspector who asked me to sit aside. He and others were checking the tickets and / or passes. The few that had the same problem as I did were each taken separately outside with an Inspector.

I explained what happened and about the machine not functioning properly. He went to check to confirm. We chatted a couple of minutes. He then told me what to do "if" this happened again. I did not receive a fine because in that case, it was not my fault.

1. Write down the number of the bus you boarded, i.e. Bus #64.

2. On the back of your ticket, write down the stop you got on.

3. Write down the time you boarded.

4. If possible, write down the number of the actual bus, i.e. #5555 found on the outside rear so they can recall the bus back to the depot to fix the machine or at least alert dispatch.

5. Also if possible, take a picture of the broken validation machine to confirm and protect yourself.

Another day I was riding a bus, once again it was stopped, Transit boarded. I was sitting in the middle of the bus. Towards the rear, one of the inspectors was speaking to a young man. For whatever reason it was, he did not have a proper ticket is what I gathered. The Inspector had him sign a piece of paper. The young man was obviously not happy.

My experience had a positive ending because I was able to prove it as well as others who had the same (faulty machine) experience.

Generally speaking, it is always good to remain as calm as possible. Sure, it can be daunting especially when in a foreign country or not speaking the fluent language. State the facts as best you can. Admitting what happened despite the outcome.

Leaving out theatrics or emotions will give you a bit of clout to plead your case, if you will.