Venice vaporetti tap-to-pay

Joyce Ann, not quite what you’re looking for but I bought a 48 hour pass at the airport last week. It also had the bus ticket to P Roma.
I’ll be back in Venice Sept 19 for five nights and will need the 7 day pass. I can let you know more them.
When are you going to Venice?

Horsewoofie or anybody who has already used tap-to-pay on the vaporetti, I'm wondering how getting out a phone or credit card is quicker or easier or safer than beeping a pass. I do see that you don't need to either buy a pass online or stand in line to buy a pass, so it's simpler that way, but in actual use is tap-to-pay better than a pass in some way?

You either use their app or buy the tickets online. If you choose the latter option, you need to print them out at a ticket machine.

You can use a credit card to "tap in" to the vaporetto and it will cap your max usage within a 24 hour period. This effectively replaces the 24 hour pass but longer passes can still be economical. If you just keep tapping your credit card you will effectively be "buying" a series of 24 hour passes for each day. Buying a 24 hour pass might still make sense because you can buy multiple passes on one credit card and then use the individually and also prevents you from always having your credit card at hand.

The passes are currently according to ACTV:
1 day Transport 25 €
2 days Transport 35 €
3 days Transport 45 €

You need separate cards for each user and always "tap in" whether using card or pass.

Enjoy Venice,
=Tod

I purchased the 72-hour vaporetto card at the airport. I believe the ticket booth was right next to the Alilaguna ticket booth. I'm fairly certain the clock doesn't start ticking until your first vaporetto ride.

My family each used their own physical card, not our phones or the app.

The card validity periods run for the specified numbers of hours, not calendar days: 24, 48, 72 and 168 hours (one week). The 168-hour pass is a comparative steal at 65 euros. On a one-week visit, tapping a credit card could cost up to 175 euros (25 euros a day for 7 days).

I'm glad this topic came back up. I'll be in Venice 3 full days as well as 2 partial days (the morning I arrive and the morning I leave). It sounds like I should probably get the week long card even though I'm not there a whole week then unless individual rides are much less. The last time I was in Venice I had a paper card and it didn't work well in a few machines, so if an app option is available, I'd prefer that.

@KRS If the week long is 65e that's the 3 day + 20e which is only like two additional rides so that makes total sense. If you were to buy the 72 hour you'd probably end up paying more for another 24h pass or even just a couple of rides. The freedom to ride it a short way or on a whim is worth it. And because the last thing you usually do is take the vaporetto to the train station that makes sense.

Always validate at the turnstyle before boarding regardless of what kind of ticket/pass you're using!

Enjoy Venice,
=Tod

Just so I'm understanding correctly, tapping caps at $24 per day but not $45 for three days? For the 72 hr cap I'd have to buy a ticket? Thank you!

Yes, this is what I want to know, except for the 7-day pass --- if you tap-to-pay for the same 168 hours, does it cap at the same price as the pass? Or does the pass remain the better deal for a week?

Are there places to buy the two day pass other than the airport? We arrive by catamaran from Rovinj, Croatia in about a week.

[Note - this information may now be outdated/wrong - read below]

Tap to Pay with a credit card will only process the max for every 24 hour period.
For any deal on a period longer than 24 hours you will still need to buy a pass.
This is designed best for day trippers which make up a large amount of tourists in season.

There are still valid reasons to buy a 24 hour pass as well. Maybe you want all expenses on one credit card so you can buy multiple passes on a single card and distribute the passes among a party. Maybe you don't want to keep a credit card handy and be pulling it out everytime you are getting on the vaporetto. Maybe you're afraid you'll drop it in a canal and would rather lose a paper pass than your card.

People have reported here that there are passes for sale in the airport near the bus station, but I have not used this. If you take the taxi, bus or train you will have plenty of options to purchase when you approach the water in the city to buy tickets or passes.

Enjoy Venice, everyone,
=Tod

This is what the web site says. It seems to imply that the system will not charge your card until you've finished using it over a period of time and you'll get the correct total rate as if you had bought the paper card:

Has anyone use the system this way?

Thanks!

https://avm.avmspa.it/en/content/pagamenti-europay-mastercard-e-visa

Venezia Daily Pass – 1 day (24 hours) | € 25,00

Automatically generated when the purchase of standard urban tickets for the Rete Unica * network exceeds € 25.00 within 24 hours from the first tap.

*Not valid for trips to or from Marco Polo airport, for suburban routes, or on Regional (R) and Regional Fast (RV) trains of the Trenitalia railway network within the territory of the Municipality of Venice
The pass becomes valid from the first tap made on a network where it can be activated

Biglietto – 2 day (48 hours) | € 35,00

Automatically generated when the purchase of standard urban tickets for the Rete Unica *network exceeds € 35.00 within 48 hours from the first tap.

Not valid for trips to or from Marco Polo Airport or on suburban routes
The pass becomes valid from the first tap made on a network where it can be activated

Biglietto – 3 days (72 hours) | € 45,00

Automatically generated when the purchase of standard urban tickets for the Rete Unica * network exceeds € 45.00 within 72 hours from the first tap.

Not valid for trips to or from Marco Polo Airport or on suburban routes
The pass becomes valid from the first tap made on a network where it can be activated

Biglietto – 7 days (168 hours) | € 65,00

Automatically generated when the purchase of standard urban tickets for the Rete Unica * network exceeds € 65.00 within 168 hours (7 days) from the first tap.

Not valid for trips to or from Marco Polo Airport or on suburban routes
The pass becomes valid from the first tap made on a network where it can be activated

• The Rete Unica refers to: the waterborne network, the urban bus network of Mestre (excluding the airport area), the tram network, the People Mover, and the urban bus network of Lido/Pellestrina.

Trips made on networks not included in the pass are charged according to the current fare regulations.

Trip Charging Method and Pass Adjustment

The costs of the trips and any adjustments are always charged the day after the trips take place. If the total amount of the trips made within a period of 1, 2, 3 or 7 days generates a pass, all further trips made within the networks included in the pass are not charged. Tap-in and tap-out are still required for each trip (except on the waterborne network and the People Mover, where tap-out is not required).

Very interesting - the page @jr references does say that tap to pay can be used to replace all day passes up to a week rather than just one day. This means you can effectively replace all current passes - not just the 24 hour ones - with a credit card. While there are still good reasons to buy passes it seems like ACTV may be trying to limit the number of passes they are selling by replacing the system with people using their own credit cards instead.

It also seems to say that you can use one card for multiple riders which is a feature that is missing in many Italian "tap to pay" systems.

• Can the EMV system also be used for other people travelling with me? Yes, it is possible to pay up to a maximum of 5 passengers using the same device: taps must be made within 60 seconds using only that same validator and it is compulsory to always travel together

Thanks for the update @jr - I have edited my previous post appropriately. Who would have thought Venice would be jumping ahead in the modern payment for transportation game?

Wow - always something new...
=Tod

Hi everyone. I’m home after 3 1/2 weeks in Italy with the last five days in Venice. So as I mentioned above, here’s my report, although it will not be helpful.

I did not use tap to pay on the vaporetto; instead bought the 7-day pass for €65. Habit and by the end of the trip I actually forgot about their Tap to Pay. (I do use Tap to Pay in London so I’m not adverse to the system.)

Sorry for no helpful information other than to say Homo Faber was fabulous.

For bnelson210:

We've always bought our passes at a booth in front of the train station in Venice, but I'm pretty sure there are other places, too.

Thanks for the replies about pass vs tap for a week --- I'll actually be back in Venice for 2.5 weeks, so I should maybe try both methods!

I’m still not quite understanding. Two travelers will be there beginning early on Day 1 , say 7:30. We will be there on Day 2 until perhaps 1:00 pm. We will arrive at the Treviso airport, not Marco Polo. We will leave via the train to Padua on Day 2. What is our best bet? A two day pass? Or tap to pay? Thanks.

nancys8, please come back and give us a report on your findings. I love the idea of tap and pay for the entire time I'm in Venice rather than carrying my paper card. I probably won't go further than Burano and I'm arriving and departing by train, but I like to hop on/hop off at random depending on where I wander to each day.

I’m still not quite understanding. Two travelers will be there beginning early on Day 1 , say 7:30. We will be there on Day 2 until perhaps 1:00 pm. We will arrive at the Treviso airport, not Marco Polo. We will leave via the train to Padua on Day 2. What is our best bet? A two day pass? Or tap to pay? Thanks.

As I understand it, you don’t need to buy the 48 hour pass because you would pay no more than 35 euros no matter how many rides you take during your 30 some hour stay. But I’m a worrier, so I would buy the pass. I’ll be in Venice in a couple of weeks and will buy the pass.

Marco, I'm a worrier about things like this as well so please come back and give us any updates you discover while you're there.

I may do tapping rather than a 7-day pass. I get to Venice in about 2 weeks. I'm there for 6 calendar days and since I'm staying near San Marco and not planning to visit the islands, I don't know how much I'll use the vaporetto. If I understand correctly, if I don't use it on some days then I may not get to the 65E maximum