Avoid a fine on Italian trains

[Newbee41]

Apologies if this is teaching grandmothers to suck eggs but it may help to know that as well as stamping your ticket at the machine at the station before getting on a train we discovered that you also need to write your name and date of birth on the ticket to avoid being fined! Apart from that, civitavecchia to Rome was easy.

[lifeasme123]

Thank you for sharing! We will be there in a few weeks and this is good to know.

[Hlitner]

Apologies if this is teaching grandmothers to suck eggs but it may help to know that as well as stamping your ticket at the machine at the station before getting on a train we discovered that you also need to write your name and date of birth on the ticket to avoid being fined! Apart from that, civitavecchia to Rome was easy.

 

Interesting. We have been traveling in Italy for over thirty years and never heard of this "requirement.". There are also several different types of tickets in Italy. Most cruisers use local/regional trains which do not accept reservations. The tickets are quite small (you can even get them out of vending machines) and you simply validate them by inserting them in the time/date stamp machines usually located near the platform entrance (and sometimes on the platforms). The newer validation machines are painted green & white although we have also seen some older machines that were yellow.

 

The rules might be different for the Intercity Trains...where you book in advance and get a reserved seat. I have never heard of having to sign these tickets...but we have not used this type of train in a few years.

 

Hank

[CruiserBruce]

Agree with Hank...never heard of this, with many train rides in Italy. OP, curious what your source was for this info?

[cruisemom42]

Apologies if this is teaching grandmothers to suck eggs but it may help to know that as well as stamping your ticket at the machine at the station before getting on a train we discovered that you also need to write your name and date of birth on the ticket to avoid being fined! Apart from that, civitavecchia to Rome was easy.

 

As a frequent train user in Italy, I've also never heard of this requirement. I'm curious as to the source of the information?

 

I do know that if, for some reason you cannot validate your ticket (e.g., the machine is broken), you are supposed to hand write the time at which you boarded the train and sign and date it.

[lifeasme123]

So since I am a newbie regarding the Italian train, and will be there in a few weeks, what do I need to do with our train tickets that I purchase online from trenitalia?

[euro cruiser]

The transit ticket that comes with the Campania ArteCard requires you to write your name on the back so it can't be transferred to someone else, but that's because it's a multi-day ticket. There's no need for this on a point-to-point ticket but for an all-day one like the BIRG I can see the point.

 

In fact, this is spelled out in the rules for the BIRG:

Sul biglietto devono essere scritti i dati anagrafici richiesti e deve essere esibito a richiesta del personale di controllo corredato da un documento di identità.

Personal data must be written on the ticket and must be displayed upon request of the control staff as well as an identity document.

You can read it here at the bottom of the page: http://atac.roma.it/page.asp?p=229&i=14

 

I guess going forward as we recommend the BIRG ticket we should make people aware of this requirement.

[euro cruiser]

In fact, this is spelled out in the rules for the BIRG:

Sul biglietto devono essere scritti i dati anagrafici richiesti e deve essere esibito a richiesta del personale di controllo corredato da un documento di identità.

Personal data must be written on the ticket and must be displayed upon request of the control staff as well as an identity document.

One other important point that I should have pointed out is the need to have an identify document. Although it doesn't say so it's clear that they mean one that matches the name written on the ticket.

 

That means a passport folks.

[slidergirl]

So since I am a newbie regarding the Italian train, and will be there in a few weeks, what do I need to do with our train tickets that I purchase online from trenitalia?

 

If you have it as an e-ticket, you do just like you do with your e-boarding pass on a airline flight - just make it visible to the conductor. She will handle it. If you have it as a printout ticket, just give that to the conductor. He will handle it. For both of these, you don't have to do the validation in the machine - since they are pre-purchased for a specific date and time, they are considered already validated. At least this is my experience with these types of tickets. The ones I buy out of the machine or the ticket window, I do validate those.

[euro cruiser]

You must also have a valid ID document with you if you are using a regional electronic ticket. They may not ask for it but if they do you are subject to the same fine as if you didn't have a ticket at all.

 

This is spelled out under the section "Biglietti", subsection "La regolarizzazione a bordo treno".

 

 

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom/Treni-Regionali/Viaggiare-in-regione/Informazioni-utili#2

[slidergirl]

You must also have a valid ID document with you if you are using a regional electronic ticket. They may not ask for it but if they do you are subject to the same fine as if you didn't have a ticket at all.

 

This is spelled out under the section "Biglietti", subsection "La regolarizzazione a bordo treno".

 

 

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom/Treni-Regionali/Viaggiare-in-regione/Informazioni-utili#2

 

Kind of goes without saying you need valid ID... I guess a cruiser could get off without some, like they do in the Caribbean... I never understood why people would even think of being somewhere, let alone a foreign country, without proper and valid ID!

[euro cruiser]

But it's one of those topics (whether or not to carry your passport), like tipping, that starts a firestorm on forums.

[frantic36]

A quick question please. My Australian drivers license has a current photo and includes my birthdate and home address. Would this be considered a valid ID? Or could I show a photocopy of my passport or do I need to have my actual passport?

 

I am in the camp of preferring to keep my passport locked in a safe when possible and not carrying it on me.

 

Julie

[euro cruiser]

The drivers license might work, it's kind of a crapshoot. The photocopy will not work. Seriously, if you were the control person and someone handed you a photocopy, would you take it? They have a badass reputation to maintain.

[frantic36]

The drivers license might work, it's kind of a crapshoot. The photocopy will not work. Seriously, if you were the control person and someone handed you a photocopy, would you take it? They have a badass reputation to maintain.

 

Thank you euro cruiser. I want to catch the train from Livorno to Lucca so I will take both. I might try just showing my driver's license first but have my passport on hand if I need it.

 

Julie

[cruisemom42]

[/indent]One other important point that I should have pointed out is the need to have an identify document. Although it doesn't say so it's clear that they mean one that matches the name written on the ticket.

 

That means a passport folks.

 

I probably will continue to honor it more in the breach. I do always carry my driver's license.

 

If I could be microchipped, I swear I'd do it. What I hate is worrying about having my passport on me all day....

[buchhalm]

A government issued ID card, such as drivers license is fine.

I have used Australian, Omani, Bahraini, Austrian drivers licenses as form of ID without any problem (also in Italy) to check into hotels, buy certain things, get discounts at places.

 

As for passports, I sometimes carry a photocopy, I have a photo of relevant pages (incl any VISAS where needed) on my phone and also emailed this stuff to myself.

Many countries ask that you are able to identify yourself, but not many actually ask for your PASSPORT.

Here in Australia, we have a government website "smarttraveller.gov.au", that is a SUPERB tool to get information of such things as visa requirements, safety, need to carry (or not) identification and other important tidbits. Whilst the VISA information is of course mostly geared to Australians, a whole lot of the other info on the website is also very informative to other nationalities.

 

Back to the Original issue about the need to sign and date train tickets, this is often the case for tourist tickets that are valid for a number of days and other weekly/monthly tickets. And that is not only the case for Italy. If the ticket you buy has an obvious space at the back to sign and date it, just do it.

[euro cruiser]

A government issued ID card, such as drivers license is fine.

It may be or it may not. You are right about the wording, "government issued ID", it does not specify a passport. There are several reasons why I hesitate to simply go along with your conclusion in this specific instance:

 

 

• In nearly 20 years of traveling on Italian trains I have run into exactly zero conductors who will admit to speaking any English at all. I find it hard to believe that at least some of them don't have conversational English but that's the public face I've seen, over and over again. Therefore, explaining yourself or a document/ID that is unfamiliar to them isn't going to happen on the spot.
  
• I don't know how driving licenses are issued in other countries but in the US they are state-by-state. I'm not sure that I could name all 20 regions of Italy quickly, in a stressful situation. Do I want to count on whether the conductor or the fare controller knows the 50 states of the US, so they'll know if what I'm handing them is official?
  
• This one I don't know how to say without sounding snobbish, even to my own ears, but here it is. I'm always wary of low level employees (and even worse, low level government employees) who have only one source of power in their jobs. Too many of them tend to relish that power and wield it based on their mood that day, or on other unrelated concerns in their lives.
  

A state issued driving license should be sufficient but I'm not willing to risk hours of my vacation (or God forbid, half of an already short port day) arguing that point with a low level official of a train line, or a public bus company.

[hawkeyetlse]

Sometimes they have signs up explaining (in English) about validating the BIRG ticket and writing your name and birthdate on it:

 

 

This photo is several years old; the price for the 5-zone BIRG is currently 12 €. You may also need to fill in the zones yourself, if they're not already pre-printed: from A to D (or vice versa). Zone A (Rome) counts as two zones, that's why you need a 5-zone ticket. :)

[dogs4fun]

I probably will continue to honor it more in the breach. I do always carry my driver's license.

 

If I could be microchipped, I swear I'd do it. What I hate is worrying about having my passport on me all day....

:D:D Cracked me up

[Hlitner]

It may be or it may not. You are right about the wording, "government issued ID", it does not specify a passport. There are several reasons why I hesitate to simply go along with your conclusion in this specific instance:

 

 

• In nearly 20 years of traveling on Italian trains I have run into exactly zero conductors who will admit to speaking any English at all. I find it hard to believe that at least some of them don't have conversational English but that's the public face I've seen, over and over again. Therefore, explaining yourself or a document/ID that is unfamiliar to them isn't going to happen on the spot.
  
• I don't know how driving licenses are issued in other countries but in the US they are state-by-state. I'm not sure that I could name all 20 regions of Italy quickly, in a stressful situation. Do I want to count on whether the conductor or the fare controller knows the 50 states of the US, so they'll know if what I'm handing them is official?
  
• This one I don't know how to say without sounding snobbish, even to my own ears, but here it is. I'm always wary of low level employees (and even worse, low level government employees) who have only one source of power in their jobs. Too many of them tend to relish that power and wield it based on their mood that day, or on other unrelated concerns in their lives.
  

A state issued driving license should be sufficient but I'm not willing to risk hours of my vacation (or God forbid, half of an already short port day) arguing that point with a low level official of a train line, or a public bus company.

 

Can't resist commenting....given that we have long been Italyphiles (I just made that up). But seriously, DW and I have spent an awful lot of time (over more then a quarter century) driving and training all over Italy from the Swiss and French borders to the southern parts of Sicily. To say that we enjoy everything about Italy would be an understatement. Euro has done a great job researching the actual rules regarding tickets....but being a frequent Italy traveler we do as the Italians do which is to say.....ignore most rules! That is the Italian way. Regarding the BIRG ticket.....we wonder if anyone on earth has ever been hassled for not writing their name on the ticke????

 

What Euro says about conductors not speaking English is amusing....because we have run into that situation. But all has always turned out well....the secret being to talk with your hands :). Being charming can go a long way to heading off many problems...including fines for ignorance (like forgetting to validate a train ticket). And acting contrite and begging for help (when you screw up) can go a long way to turning a negative thing into a very positive outcome (we could post a few examples).

 

Many here on CC know about my love of rental cars in Italy (and Europe). I used to say that we could wall paper a bathroom with all of our parking tickets.....but that is a lie since all those parking tickets were put in the trash years ago...along with the registered mail letters from the Italian authorities asking me to pay parking fines in Euros (nothing personal here to my friend...."Euro"). So my only advice to fellow travelers in Italy is "don't sweat the small stuff" and just have fun. And if you make a mistake...just look pitiful and confused....but always with a smile :).

 

There are some rules that cannot be broken.....and the biggie is penetrating an Italian ZTL (limited driving zone) with your rental car. You can have 50 parking tickets....not pay....and nothing much happens other then getting some threatening letters. But drive a rental car into a ZTL.....and you will find an unexpected charge on your credit card (often many months after you have returned home) which will include the ZTL fine (often around 100€ plus an admin charge added by your rental car company).

 

With train tickets...the big crime is getting on a train without any ticket (unless you can convince the conductor that there was no place to buy a ticket before you boarded). The conductors will forgive many things....but failure to purchase a ticket can get you into very expensive trouble!

 

Hank

[euro cruiser]

I hear you Hank but the times, they are a changing. The European Union is putting a lot of pressure on Italy (and Greece, and others) to enforce the rules and laws already on the books. The macro pressure at the EU level is trickling down throughout the system and things that were once ignored are not any longer.