Vent: My bus ticket mix-up in Lisbon ate up half a day

I thought I bought a 24-hour transit pass at the airport machine, but it turned out to be just a single trip ticket. I didn't realize until a ticket inspector fined me 60 euros on the tram. Figuring out how to appeal it and get the right pass took me over 4 hours of running between different metro station offices. The language barrier and different rules for tourists made it way harder than I expected. Has anyone else had a simple transit mistake turn into a huge time and money sink while traveling?

3 comments

3 Comments

faithb782mo ago

Lost a whole afternoon in Rome over a similar ticket validation blunder.

campbell.robin1mo ago

Three euros, that's all it was. But it cost me about four hours in Naples when I couldn't figure out why my ticket wouldn't scan at the turnstile. I think those validation machines are deliberately confusing, like they want you to mess up. Did you have to buy a whole new ticket or did you manage to argue your way out of the fine?

the_felix2mo ago

Oh man, that's rough. I once spent two hours in Berlin trying to buy a zone ticket I didn't even need, just because I panicked at the machine. I mean, the instructions were in like five languages and I still got it wrong. Ended up walking everywhere that day out of pure spite.