Headed to Rome today and been reading up on public transport in case I need to use a bus and I know you have yo validate your ticket as soon as boarding but a lot of blogs I've read say machines not working is a common thing.
If this happens what should I do? I've read you can manually write on the back of the ticket the stop and time you got on. Is that true? Or do I need to get off the bus? Thanks!
Yes, just write the time and date on the back of the ticket. That accomplishes the purpose of validation - the ticket can't be used again.
Mike, I 'spose the date should be written in European form (day/month/year vs. month/day/year)?
This happened to us in Rome on the bus. Didn’t think of writing on the back. Good info for future trips.
Thanks Mike.
Racquet what did you do? Did you get fined? I've read all these sob stories of people who didn't know to validate their ticket and got a nice fine. I don't want to end up like them lol
That happened to me in Rome in September 2022. Though I had five tickets, none of them would validate on a bus trip from the Jewish neighborhood to the Colosseum. I just kept riding the bus, hoping the transit police would not come aboard. I lucked out.
ATAC transport in Rome now supports contactless fares.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/rome-is-contactless-payment-working-on-buses-yet
If all else fails, maybe better to jump off the bus at the next stop?
Most buses (at least in Florence) have two validating machines on the opposite sides of the bus. If one does not work, try the other. If neither one works the procedure is to notify the driver, who can validate manually (or ask you to do so yourself). Do so, and you are set. Checking tickets on city buses was my dad’s job fo a while after being a bus driver and before becoming a supervisor in Florence, and he hated the job. So many hippy American students (fare dodgers) used to play dumb and get away with it in those years. Many of them are now retired and some contribute to this forum, I’m sure.
Well, I just took the bus for the first time and it was an interesting experience but everything worked out OK. Regarding 2 machines to validate on a bus, the one I rode last night had a red one up front which apparently is only for tap n go? I couldn't insert my paper ticket. There was a yellow one in the back which worked just fine.
I was just worried about missing my stop as I had no idea which one we were at. Yea they make an announcement but you can't hear it over all the noise. I wish they could put it on the display screen.
Anyway, it all worked out. Thanks everyone.
We chose our bus routes in Rome on google maps and then you can follow along on your phone to be sure to get off at the correct stop. Works on trains, too.
Also, on a really packed bus, we had to pass our tickets to helpful strangers to validate in a machine we couldn't reach.
