I've bought our regional train tickets and printed them out to bring with us. I know they need to be validated before we board the trains. Is that easy to do with them being pieces of paper as opposed to actual tickets? I'm hoping we don't need to go to a manned booth to get them validated.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
Regional tickets bought online don't need to be validated. They are for a specific date and time window and won't fit into the machine. Only regional tickets bought at the station need to be validated.
Donna
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
The point of validating normal tickets is to stop you using them twice. "Validation" is a bit of a misnomer, you stamp them with the date and time.
Print at home tickets already have a date and time on them, so you can't use them twice. And time-stamping them is totally pointless as you can print out as many copies as you like.
There is no discount for advance purchase of Italian regional tickets, so there is no advantage in buying tickets ahead of time on the internet, just the disadvantage of not being able to get an earlier or later train.
Posted by
OP
106 posts
Thank you both. Good to know that we can just get on the trains!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23666 posts
Using a Regionale ticket purchased on line is slightly different than purchasing at a machine or ticket window. The ticket comes pre-validated. That means it is only valid for three hours from the time denoted on your ticket. If you use it before or after the three hour window, the ticket is consider invalid and you are subject to a substantial fine for not having a valid ticket. This is the main reason that we generally recommend that you not purchase Regionale train tickets on line.