Paul Lewis and Jennie Brockie paid €154 ($277) in fines for not tagging on a bus in Bologna.
Despite paying for a morning fare, they were fined by a strict bus inspector.
Lewis’ complaint to the bus company TPER revealed a Catch-22: paying the fine prevents contesting it.
There we were on the bus in Bologna – fat, dumb and happy and secure in the knowledge that we were seasoned international travellers who knew their oats.
Two 71-year-olds who’d travelled around the world consistently during their lives, professionally and personally, at present drivingacross Europe through Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. Catching a bus in Bologna? No problem. Better to use public transport as parking is not always easy in Italy, particularly in city centres like Bologna where pedestrian zones rule.
Oh, but there is a problem and we found it big time. Like many places in Europe, you can pay your bus or train fares with a contactless card. Easy. For the bus route we were using, it was even easier – just tag on with your card for a fixed fare.
Bologna is home to many porticoes, making walking a charming alternative to buses. Photo / 123rf
We caught the bus outside where we were staying to head into Bologna’s beautiful centre where we visited, among other things, one of the oldest taverns in the world, the Osteria del Sole, dating back more than 1000 years and a curiosity in that it serves only drinks (bottle of chardonnay €15, very reasonable) but allows you to bring in your own food – like one of Bologna’s famed piadinas – to have with your drink.
The problem came on the return journey. The bus was packed. Sardines would have found it tight.
Now we come to the uniquely Italian part of this tale. Every bus we caught had the relevant green-and-black contactless card machine in a different place. Once it was in front; the next, in back; the next in the middle. Typical Italy.
On our return bus, we entered the front of the bus; the machine was in the back. Between us, about 60 po-faced travellers wedged together; a wall of humanity. Oh well, we decided, brandishing our cards, our stop was towards the end of the route, the bus will thin out and we will journey up the aisle and tag on.
No … at the very next stop, there she was, at my elbow. I’m going to call her Aprillis – after the Roman god of mischief (and after whom our month of April is named). About 1.5m of coiled spring, intense gaze and utter intransigence.
Contactless payment systems on buses are common in many European cities, including Bologna. Photo / 123rf
She was a bus inspector. Tickets, please. I gave her my card and she tapped it against the wondrous bus inspector machine worn around her neck. Ah, yes, she says, I can see you paid for a fare this morning.
That’s right, I said. But you have not paid for the fare on this bus. No, I said, but we tried to tag on with the machine nearest the front door but it wouldn’t accept the card. Doesn’t matter, she said, you must pay a fine. But, I protested, how do we get to the machine to pay; look at all the people.
Doesn’t matter, Aprillis said. You must pay a fine. But you can see we are not trying to cheat the bus company, I said. We paid this morning and were just waiting for the crowd to thin out. Doesn’t matter. Fine.
Okay. Fine. So we ended up paying €154 for a €3 bus fare. Jennie was seething, advocating jumping off the bus and doing a runner – which would have almost certainly meant spending a lot of time with the local police.
It became clear during the (non) negotiations with Aprillis that, once she’d found us with an unpaid fare, nothing would stop her issuing the fine. Far from exercising restraint and some flexibility for tourists in view of the packed bus, it seemed likely we were the No 1 targets – travelling with money, don’t vote at the local elections and unlikely to cause repercussions.
She probably had a quota to fill; tourists are easy meat.
When we got home, we did an online search to see if this had happened to anyone else. Turns out it does, quite regularly. There was a disturbing post from a Canadian couple some years back who’d had an identical situation to ours – but they were escorted off the bus and subjected to some ugly pressure, told they would have to pay €350.
Bologna’s pedestrian zones make public transport a practical choice for travellers. Photo / Unsplash
That sounded as if there might have been some attempted graft involved, not unknown in Italy. So I thought I’d write a letter of complaint and explanation to the bus company TPER. Found the link and clicked on to their website, preparing to fill out the complaint form when I saw this note at the bottom: “Paying a fine does not allow you to contest it”.
Classic Catch-22 stuff. Refuse and it’s the polizia; pay and you have no avenue of complaint or recompense.
And that is why, dear traveller, we will leave Bologna without catching another bus, fervently hoping that Aprillis’s bed falls in and she develops a nasty, permanent facial rash, and that TPER’s management and their bus inspectors all suffer from something extremely malign and long-lasting.
Paul Lewis and Jennie Brockie.
Paul Lewis and Jennie Brockie have been driving across Europe (Italy, France, Spain and Portugal) for the past three months.
