More adventures with the transit police on the Firenze tram

 The transit police struck again when Lucy and I took the airport-to-train station-tram in Firenze a few days ago—but they didn’t get us this time. In fact, we went on the tram for free, sort of.

This story really began last spring, when we were taking the tram from the train station to the airport. You can read the full story here, but the short version is that the tram was packed like grapes in a wine press when we boarded, and we couldn’t reach the ticket validating machine. By the time we reached the end of the line, though, the tram was no longer crowded, and that’s when two transit officers entered and fined us 50 euros each for having unvalidated tickets. However, they didn’t confiscate our tickets, and I had saved them in my wallet all summer. I saw nothing on the tickets that suggested an expiration date, so I used them when we boarded the tram this time. Of course, I validated them immediately upon entering.

At about the third stop along the route, I looked out the tram window and saw a dejected and confused elderly couple seated at a bench, conversing with a tram officer. I noticed the man reaching into his pocket to pull out his wallet. As we watched, a lady next to us on the tram quickly gathered her things and exited; it was obvious that she wanted to avoid the same fate. Seconds later, two other officers entered our tram and began checking for validated tickets. Our four-month-old tickets passed the test.

Photo from May 2025.

All the people around us passed as well, but I overhead one of the officers telling a couple in the next car that they must exit at the next stop, and I knew this meant that the officer would exit with them and charge them for having unvalidated tickets, or maybe no tickets at all. And that’s fair, because they couldn’t even argue as I did last time—unsuccessfully—that the validation machine couldn’t be reached. And ultimately, I could have reached it after the crowds had thinned out, so my fine was justified as well. It’s hard to mount a very effective argument that I was too lazy to get out of my seat after I had finally found a place to sit. Some people must learn the hard way.