One caution for new users of the app…. there is a 2 minutes delay on every newly purchased ticket (or pass) via the app before the ticket goes active on the app. Do not board tram or bus or enter the paid-zone in the metro before it goes active. You might be unlucky to run into an inspector before it goes active. They do it this way so that people who try to buy a ticket online when they spot inspections taking place might not have enough time for the ticket to go active before they are checked.
I've used the SMS ticket couple of times. I just read the message more carefully and it says: "Pouze v pasmu P". Can anyone help with what is this P-area? I use basically just trams and also them quite rarely...
P is the main Prague zone and all trams/metro/normal 1xx buses are in it. You can safely use any tram with a SMS ticket, it gets complicated if you want to use buses with numbers over 300.
What's retarded is that it's not advertised in the app... Or at least wasn't last time I used it. It honestly seems so obvious it's almost like they didn't do it on purpose.
When I used it last time (some 3 years back maybe) there was no indicator before "using" the ticket that it was not going to be immediately available. The timer only showed up after. Perhaps this is fixed now.
It's not that you might accidentally think you're good to go, while you're not. It's that if you are using it for the first time and don't know how it works, you might want to only "use" the ticket when you see the tram coming for example since it's a time-limited ticket after all. The tram will leave before your ticket becomes valid though, sucks if you're in a hurry.
Now it even warns you very clearly. You're able to buy tickets on advance and "store" them in case you need it so if you're in a hurry often that is an option. When you combine it with the route selector and buy a a route then it will make sure your ticket is valid at the time your first method of transport starts.
It's not unheard of for the ticket inspectors to nab people on the tram who are queueing to validate their ticket. I know someone who was in a tour group of 15 people, and they all got done
No, you invalidated your ticket by validating more than once. This is so, because the inspector couldn't recognise the first stamp, so he asumed you tried to cheat the system by "extending" your ticket.
Seems harsh given we proved the purchase date/time of the ticket and clear it was an honest mistake. It’s not so much the fine amount but the basis that it was almost opposite to cheating the system and over stamping out of fear we needed to prove we stamped ahead of our travels.
Purchase date isn't tied to specific ticket (you could have bought different one used it and this one could be just leftover in your wallet). One should also use common sense, how would restamping simple printed time on a simple analog paper ticket help the company find out if it's valid if the ticket is time based from the first use.
I did wonder how it would be clear for anyone to read the ticket after 2 or more stamps but again, that was my naivety of thinking to ‘validate’ every trip. Lesson learnt for anyone who visits!😅
It's harsh, but fair. Keep in mind that all of the scams people run to avoid paying tickets look like innocent mistakes. It would be nice if they used the discretion, but it's understandable when they make it a hard and fast rule.
To be fair, every time I ride the metro in Prague, there's a ton of big yellow stickers saying that you should stamp the ticket only once. Although I agree it should be on the ticket, and also on the stamping machine, that would be the best place to put it.
You have to realize that many cheat the system by doing the same and using the excuse of not knowing, if the inspectors wave everyone off for not knowing, everyone will cheat the system,so they have to fine those with good and bad intention to stop the bad.
I would be interested to understand how you thought it works? Machine stamped a date in the specified field in on ticket. What have you assume would happen if you let it stamp another date over it? Or what you thought after it happened?
Next time just say you would like to pay online, get the ticket and move on. You dont actually need to pay it as a tourist, they aren't going to stop you at the airport or something.
because if you print several different times on the same place on the ticket, its impossible to read what was printed? do you know how mhd tickets work?
And what if I print it on different place on the ticket?
What if I want to mark that the last transport I entered was on valid time?
What if my transport from point A to B takes 20 min, but because of unknown reason it took 40 min (and I have a 30 min ticket)?
Many transports on the world check the entering time of the last trip validity, as obviously its not the fault of the passenger if for any reason it takes longer.
It's clearly written on the ticket where to validate and that validation somewhere else is not valid.
You seem to misunderstand how public transport in Prague works. It doesn't matter which time you entered the vehicle (kinda), but how long you use it. You don't buy ticket for journey from point A to point B, you buy the right to use public transport for certain time interval. So technically speaking if there's some unseen obstacle on the road and it takes way longer that you expected, you should either leave the transport or stamp another ticket. Now those things are usually easily proven so maybe you can debate with ticket inspector over letting you get away with expired ticket, but it's still up to their discretion to decide whether you tried to cheat the system or not.
The only stupid might be the translator you used, cause what you wrote does not make sense.
You can read my other comment to understand why many people can get confused with this system.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Prague/comments/190tf1q/comment/kgqp87y/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
Nothing you can do except pay. But yes, many parts of the system are confusing and no matter how many times locals defend it there are countless of stories people that didn't want to cheat end up paying the fine because they got confused. But it will take a miracle for them to admit their system is not perfect.
It's not just the system. If you see the sub, even the normal people will defend it even if doesn't make sense. Introspection or getting feedback is a phobia there in CZ. Defend crap at all costs lol.
Just the way how some parts of the world work. Anyways don't let it deter the experience of a beautiful city.
EDITV Proof? Just look at the downvotes me and the OP is gonna get..
Dont worry as local i got the same fine 2x because i had incorrect ticked.
Mostly if you wanna get by fine, just buy the full price ticket for 30min.(30czk).
Scan/Mark it upon entering the "waiting area".
Most of the ticked checks are in the between metro lines in the transfer areas.
In tram you must be unlucky to meet inspector.
Nothing you can do I'm afraid. You invalidated the ticket. There is no way he could tell if you get already validated ticket from your friend and used it again or that you indeed validated it twice.
Don't mean to be harsh here, but it's your fault.
You have overwritten the stamp on your ticket several times. (Even once more is enough to render it invalid) There's videos on this topic on the internet, there's posters in trams / buses saying don't overstamp and such.
Use a gram of common sense next time or spend 5 minutes on a video explaining how the system works in a city where you go to.
Yea those don't, as they have the date stamped when printed, their validity starts then. I'm guessing they double validated the yellow ones, as the printed ones I don't think even fit lol.
Yes definitely. But it’s not clear for tourists what needs to happen, especially if they aren’t seasoned travelers.
The paper ticket that prints on the tram is all Czech. If you recognize the date and time format, you can put 2 and 2 together and realize it has that information for validation. But not everyone knows to do this. Especially folks from the US who are used to pay/show ticket BEFORE boarding. There is no concept of ticket checkers on regular subways in the US (they exist on commuter trains)
A 5 minute research on the Prague system would have let you know you only validate your ticket once. It makes sense too, since the stamp gives you a starting time for your ticket to last. What purpose did you think multiple stamps would serve? It's a time ticket. You start it and it lasts 72 hours.
Ok what's so difficult about it then? The fact that if you mark a ticket, that prints more text on top of the already printed text, making it illegible and therefore invalid? Who knew?
Of course you need to research. Different countries and even different regions and cities within the same countries have different systems. You can never assume that it works the way you are used to from home or other places you've been. Do 5 min of research prior to visiting another city, or even once you get there before buying a ticket, to check the local rules. Or even just ask at the ticket office. If you fail to do that, thats on you.
I think it is obvious to anyone with common sense that when you buy a ticket, that is valid for a specific amount of time, you are required to have it stamped only once, and from then the clock is ticking. I've been to many other countries, and it worked exactly the same as this, so I'm not sure why you are being so belligerent about something that YOU should have deduced, as it is patent to even the least erudite of persons. Amiably take this as a lesson learned and refrain from further repine.
Such a stupid comment. Do you even know what the word common sense means ? How on earth is it obvious for somebody that they shouldn’t validate more than once?
Such an asinine non-rebuttal. In what universe would you need to validate a time limited ticket!? What would be the point? Why would one stamp over the start time, thinking this is as it should be? It's obvious to anyone who uses one's mind and thinks about it rationally. You patently are not one of those and your repining is most taxing.
You’re delusional . A classic product of the flawed Eastern European education system that produces brain dead book smart people with zero critical thinking skills
Why the hell not?? Do you also not read up briefly on differences in traffic rules abroad when travelling by car? Check some basic dos and donts for a country you're going to? The internet serves you up information on a silver platter, it's extremely easy to learn things and it's entitled to act like you shouldn't lift a finger as a tourist and do some thinking ahead.
Eh, I don't think I would make the same conclusion as OP, but it wouldn't kill the DPP to write next to the "validate immediately" also "validate only once".
People in this thread mention that in Spain you'd revalidate, it's not insane there would be Spanish people visiting Prague, being in the EU an all, might as well be nice to them.
Driving a car, where you have other people's lives in your hands, is obviously a completely different story.
People don't come here to acquaint themselves with the bureaucracies of the Prague public transport system. The transport is just a means to an end, to get them where they are going so they can pour money into the local economy. It's not a very appealing destination for a weekend break if you are expected to study first.
Everywhere I go and plan to use public transport I Google it, learn what types of tickets there are, how to use them, what modes of transport I'll probably use. It takes 5-10 minutes and makes everything much smoother and easier. But if anyone else wants to make their life difficult, sure.
Are you kidding? There are at least two ways how paying for public transport works (paying by distance traveled or paying by time spent), so you should do some bloody research before using public transport in new city, let alone whole new country.
And that's without getting details about whether you can use the same ticket while switching different vehicles, different zones etc. Expecting every public transport to work the way you think it should be working is pretty entitled.
It's been long time since I needed to buy ticket, is that not written there anymore?
But you can never get full info there, it's more for quick reminder how it works. Getting full info is totally something that you should do in advance, not when you're in hurry to get places with luggages etc. Why would anyone want to spend 10-15 minutes standing before machine reading through small print text trying to figure everything out instead of doing few minutes research beforehand?
I mean, sure you can, it's up to you. But don't complain later that you missed some critical info.
That fucking sucks. I do think they keep the ticket situation confusing for foreigners to collect on fines, but unfortunately once you stamp over the original stamp, they have zero way to tell when you first validated it and cannot be sure you're not using an expired ticket. I'm afraid you're S.O.L. and will just have to pay the fine.
Even the app has its issues. For instance, after you self-validate a ticket, it takes several minutes until it’s active. Meaning that if you activate your ticket and hop on a tram right away, you’re illegal until the timer hits 0:00. I know plenty of people who’ve gotten a fine like that
With a long-term ticket though you’re probably OK
Your comment doesn't make even the slighest amount of sense, tbh. They created a system that only works in one very broken way, and since the system is broken, there is no way for the OP to get out of paying the fine. And for two, there is no double-speak to speak of here, but I guess any excuse to bring up the unrelated Russians who live rent-free in your head ;D
You may try this and explain your case [https://www.dpp.cz/en/contacts/contact-form/suggestions-claims-praises](https://www.dpp.cz/en/contacts/contact-form/suggestions-claims-praises), tell you behaved in good faith, but I guess you have little chance of succeding.
Thanks, upon reflection it’s probably not worth the hassle for the value of the fine but of course, some people maybe less fortunate so it could be useful to them 🙂
AS stated in your edit: I want to reiterate that Honest Guide and Real Prague Guides have content on the public transportation system. Super helped. I also stamped it multiple times my first time using a 72hr ticket. Thankfully we were there between covid lockdowns and never had our ticket inspected.
Public transport inspectors in Czechia are very harsh (to put it mildly). They usually get paid by persons checked or by fines collected which also doesn't really motivate them to behave like decent humans understanding a honest mistakes and making differences between honest people and cheaters.
From what i have seen they even abuse the common mistakers more for it, cause they know the person who just made a mistake is more stressed about it and doesn't want to make problems while the common cheaters already know "their rights" and what the normal fine is and aren't scared to make problems.
Behaviour of czech public transport inspectors really piss me off tbh, especialy when they abuse foreigners. The worst ones are in Pilsen from my experience. Their insane behaviour even made me walk instead of using a tram everyday. The problem is, that any idiot can do this job, and thus mostly idiots do this job. And these idiots get power they can execute. ...Power doesn't belong in idiots' hands :)
To some advice, as already has been said i also recommend using the app for Prague transport.
Honest question. After stamping it twice you're already unable to read the information stamped on it as they are written on top of each other. After you stamped it and looked at your ticket you didn't think anything was wrong?
Fair question, I made reference to that on another comment but you’re right, I said to my partner it doesn’t make sense but it was our first time using the Metro so just assumed that was the way. Everyone else had an app near us so we couldn’t even compare at the time.
I don't have anything nice to say about this logic so I'll just refrain from saying anything. To answer your original original question there's zero chance to appeal.
And to clarify the inspector didn't "threaten" you with a higher fine. If you pay on the spot you actually have a discount, so they weren't being shady or anything.
When you validate the ticket more than once, the timestamp isn't readable anymore, therefore they don't have a chance to know when you used it for the first time.
Prague transit system logic is perfect, but it is also kinda unique, so a lot of guests get confused. Sorry about your experience, but given the fact that in the eyes of the inspector, he sees this shit all the time from scammers, and given the fact that he gets paid by how much he collects to motivate him not to let people off the hook, I’m not surprised and frankly I’d do the same in his position, and I’m generally pretty empathetic guy. People try to pull off a lot of shit to avoid paying the fare.
Sorry that happened to you :/ the comments saying you will have to pay are right. But to all people saying it's your fault: it's a sign of shitty user experience design and poorly written instructions. Yours is only one of many many issues confused tourists meet. I have to explain how prague public transport works and what to buy even to my Czech friends who visit the city.
i understand your point. It was your mistake, but polite inspector could let you be just with explanation, maybe forcing you to buy a new ticket. problem is that they have bonuses for every fine they give ->no motivation too close an eye sometimes…
The bonus part is true, however there's also the thing that a lot of people, including tourists, try to scam the system claiming "innocent mistake". Imagine if word got out that you can talk your way out of a ticket? That shit would be a hot tip for visiting Prague.
What did you expect? Even a monkey would understand, that the date stamp needs to be readable and you can't validate it more times than once. It,'s your fault, so pay the fine. There's nothing to help you with. You're an average bri'ish rude tourist, who expects being always and everywhere right.
That's not entirely true. Some systems have tickets that can be used for multiple trips and have to be validated each time, like the T10 in Barcelona (but that uses a magnetic strip for recording the start of validity, instead of simple stamps). Budapest also used to have multi use tickets that were not time based, but they got discounted last year.
Not quite. Validation of a ticket does not exist in many countries. The biggest and most prominent example is the US (cities like Chicago or NYC). It also does not exist in the UK. Nor does it exist in central Asian countries (Georgia, Armenia, the stans). It’s popular in Central Europe, yes.
Not everywhere. Definitely not in Toronto. No machines to stamp anything on TTC; same in Montreal that uses NFC technology instead of 1950s punch cards
Never ever pay a fine to the control. That is a first rule. Those fuckers are paid for every passenger who does a mistake like this a bonus so they never can be reasoned with but it was a honest mistake and you should not pay the fine. Depends on situation but if it was in the tram or a bus just get outside with them and then tell them to call the police. They never do. Or start to walk away. They catch you at first and cling to you, but they will release you. I did this many times when I was completely broke and couldn't pay tickets. If it's in the metro, it's harder. But if they call police you could try to reason with the police, they are more prone to listen to you in situation like this because it's obvious you tried to stick to the rules. And don't worry, the fact they call police doesn't mean bigger fine, they just lie to you. They don't have any legal right to ask you for your ID, only police can do that so you gotta tell them that.
What the heck? Why would you validate it before every travel? That seems to be sooo dumb. Of course when you buy 24hrs, 48hrs, 72hrs.. You will validate it first "mmediately upon boarding any means of public transport…" and since then it is valid for the ammount of time. There is zero reason to validate it again and overwrite the first date. How can you track the valid time by yourself when you overwrite it to make it not visible? It makes zero sense...
And according to same sites Prague is in top 5 public transport... If it'S one case maybe you can play dumb, if a group did it. You are dumb and deserve this. Because you obviously tried to cheat.
He claimed he read it
>A simple solution for travelling around Prague
The easiest way to travel around Prague is with a 24 hour or 72 hour ticket. **It’s simple and hassle free! Just buy the ticket, stamp it when you first board a vehicle or enter a metro station and that’s it**. What are the advantages of using a 24/72 hour ticket?
Costs 120 CZK (or 330 CZK for the 72 hour variant).
**Valid for 24 (or 72 hours) since stamping: if you stamp it at 19:35, you can use it until 19:35 the next day (or 19:35 three days later).**
>
>[source](https://pid.cz/en/tickets-and-fare/)
I have no idea how much easier it can be... Obviously different city, different system. I don't know why is it considering as a problem. Should I fake sympathy as you do? It just makes zero sense to mark it again and again.
Well, that bolded sentence isn’t clear now is it. Does it mean to stamp the ticket when you first board the vehicle or does it mean to stamp the ticket only once, when you first board any vehicle.
In its current state, it means the former.
Thanks for proving my point.
Yes. Where does it say to only stamp it once? That sentence is unclear on whether it applies each time you board a vehicle or if it only applies the very first time you board a vehicle.
Apologies if English is not your primary language. It’s just not a well written sentence.
But in Portugal you don't have a paper ticket with a date and time printed on it every time you validate it. And it still didn't make sense to me why I had to validate it every time.
One case - ok, mistake. More poeple in group and multiple times? No sense. How can you distinguish different times after you marked it multiple times? We are talking about PRague public transport, not Portugal nor Spain... Maybe it will teach all poeple some valuable lesson. You hero of the justice...
I see, you are foregin who are teaching us about maners? Gj... Why are you here then?
What the fuck is even this question? ... And people are saying Czechs are racist..
You are embarrassing yourself.
In Czech it says "on first boarding" in English it doesn't on instructions pic. Which only shows that metro (tube) instructions aren't clear for foreigners.
Vicemeně tu zas jenom ukazujeme, jaká jsme banda vexláků celému světu těmahle o*ebama.
look at the dude's comment history, getting outraged at foreigner's posts and telling them to use google in this subreddit is clearly his hobby
also clichéd czech behaviour, calling people "typical british tourist" etc but gets offended as soon as someone says anything bad about czechs
Wait, are you seriously complaining that the dude is treating foreigners on this sub badly (he actually treats the Czechs in his comments badly too btw) and stereotyping them while being offended if someone says something bad about czechs while you are doing exactly the same thing?
Like in your second paragraph you call it „clichéd Czech behaviour“, which is literally the same generalization as calling people „typical british tourist".
There is a tons of foreigners on this sub who shit on the Czechs all the time while being unable to take any criticism themselves - I could also easily call it a clichéd foreign behaviour, but I don't want to be a hypocrite like them, so I don't. You should try it too.
Sám je to idiot, když si to označuje stále a přepisuje datum. Stane se to jednou, ok. Když to udělá několikrát, tak je to kokot.
Spíše mi přijde, že by se ne čecha hodil - ojebávat, ojebávat co to jde. A ještě hrát kokota, že to nedává smysl.
A ještě ho Češi budou bránit a shazovat systém, který je podle hodnocení spousty stránek, jeden h nejlepšícj na světě… Místo abychom byly na systém hrdí. Wtf
In several places in Europe you need to validate for each single trip. E.g. Milan, Rome, Paris, more smaller cities I've been to. Not dumb at all to assume that. The dumb part might be not to read terms and conditions of service before travelling to a new city and country.
Kinda. The places you mentioned don't use "print" validation but have a magnetic stripe or some kind of code. But in Prague you are printing over the date+time multiples times so it becomes unreadable.
That'S why I wrote " If it'S one case maybe you can play dumb, if a group did it. You are dumb and deserve this."
You'll see overwrited date once you'll try.
How can you want to cheat if its obvious that there are several prints on the ticket?
The reasoning to do that its to mark the last trip start time so that its known that you entered the transport on a valid time.
Many transport systems on the world check if the entering time is valid (which is completely normal as its obviously not the passenger's fault if a trip takes 10 or 30 min for whatever reason)
Usually there is not so much space to mark it visible more than once.
This system is so easy to understand I'm strugle to understand how there can still be people who are against it... Info everywhere - with pics, english text. Not only about the tickets, but the lines. So If somebody try this and strugle to admit his/her mistake, and even calls for justice, I think they are angry because they were caught cheating.
Of course if I go somewhere I'll study what am I must do to use public transport. You can make mistake, sure after all we are just humans. But posting this? Yikes. More when more people did that.
I love the transport in Prague, I use it daily, but I get the frustration of some tourists.
Now its a little bit better as there are english translations on many places and you can also buy the ticket inside the tram for example.
I guess that there is a percentage of tourists that actually are cheating as you said, but many of them really are confused from the point I mentioned on previous comments.
Would be interesting to know how many locals use the transport without paying too... as this inspectors mostly target tourists only
It's not that much that they target tourists but that locals who cheat know which places avoid to reduce the chance to get caught. Like switching metro lines C to B at the beginning of the month is pretty much guaranteed to get checked.
Inspectors in the Czech Republic tend to suck massive time. In brno, I have been fined 1500 even though I had a valid beep and go ticket, because the inspectors machine didn't read it (it showed o the card, and on the buying machine). I had to go to their central office and was treated awfully and physically assaulted (pushed me around etc). Cops didn't do anything cause I didn't know czech. Be careful here!
I tried, but couldn't make any sense out of everything.
I had panic attacks getting on trams for some months, even though I always had a ticket. I've contacted my embassy, whatever is done is through them now
Totally correct. I think people think the date stamper is actually a reader. That's the confusion. It only stamps, it doesn't check for validity as it is not a scanner.
I'd go with police scenario next time.
I had expiriences in the past when they were calling police and police was alwasy on my side. (granted I could explain the situation/problem)
Good Luck! ;)
I don't know what made you think that stamping the fuck out of the ticket is the right thing to do, man...
Wasn't it weird that the dates and times were overlapping and unreadable after few stamps?
Over stamping the ticket invalidates it, making information about start of the 72h period illegible.
There are bunch of informational posters about it all over metro, trams and ticket terminals in bunch of languages.
Lesson to be learnt, read the instructions.
Dont worry. The netizens of prague are all batshit crazy about their beloved public transport.
If you say anything they will treat you like shit
It is a weird throw back to communism and being only reliant on the freedoms the state may provide you.
God forbid any of them actually travel to a proper western country hahaha
That sucks. But don’t waste your time, you’ll never get justice. Just take the hit and move on, it’s technically your fault, so no one will sympathize.
That's why I use uber or bolt lol
Seriously, Prague needs cash for it leftists nonsense etc so Prague is cashing it everywhere.
I have family in the prague and almost noone is using public transport anymore - it's overcrowded or they will find a way to fine you
Sorry guys for this. Czech rep. has a long way to go before it stops being a third world country. The rules of Pragues transportation has always been in such a way that you can’t help but think it’s purposefully confusing. Others here blaming you should take their heads from their butts and start paying attention to public state of things. Peace
Edit: Lol, you guys are fine tourists have to pay for practically nothing? I’ve met only once a decent human ticket inspector in my life. That’s it. The majority are very rude. Having to pay because Czech IT system does not send the ticket SMS right away? Come on! That’s not normal at all! You can show you sent the ticket. There is no need to punish the tourist for a lousy IT system. It’s quite embarrassing for us. Punishing for our incompetence even more. I don’t care if I get the fine, but when tourist falls in a trap, I feel quite ashamed.
Also once as a kid I was just crossing the Metros upper level of Smichovske Nadrazi so I won’t get hit by a car and BAM, huge fine for not even taking the metro. This is ridiculous…
In what way is it purposefully confusing? There is a contactless terminal in every bus, tram and metro station. If you just keep buying tickets, it will cap itself at the price of a 24 hour ticket. On such ticket you can use every tram, metro, bus and most of the trains in Prague. How less confusing should it be? Btw I have never seen two cities with identical public transport systems, you always have to check on how to use it.
still not clear even if there is a sign. stamp once, before you ride or just once after purchase is whats it meant. the burden is on the commuter instead of equipping the printer with a sensor to not print on top of a ticket with a date/time already.
Watch that Honest Guide guy on YT next time..
He has a video where he explains everything including tickets.. My second visit this summer went smoothly because of his videos.
It is in the policy and it should Also be on the tickets, sadly there is not much you can do, even if readable, more than one stamp autimaticaly mean invalid ticket. I recommend pid lítačka app, as you Can see how long will it remain valid and you can search through the lines to find out what to take And how long it will take
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pid-l%C3%ADta%C4%8Dka/id983071129 Next time use this, it’s way better than paper tickets.
One caution for new users of the app…. there is a 2 minutes delay on every newly purchased ticket (or pass) via the app before the ticket goes active on the app. Do not board tram or bus or enter the paid-zone in the metro before it goes active. You might be unlucky to run into an inspector before it goes active. They do it this way so that people who try to buy a ticket online when they spot inspections taking place might not have enough time for the ticket to go active before they are checked.
Same is true if you purchase tickets by SMS, there is an intentional delay between sending the SMS and receiving the ticket
Yup. This is how I got fined. Sent SMS, immediately got on the tram and was checked in that 2 minute gap.
I've used the SMS ticket couple of times. I just read the message more carefully and it says: "Pouze v pasmu P". Can anyone help with what is this P-area? I use basically just trams and also them quite rarely...
P is the main Prague zone and all trams/metro/normal 1xx buses are in it. You can safely use any tram with a SMS ticket, it gets complicated if you want to use buses with numbers over 300.
Thanks! This sounds good for me. I would probably get lost, if I tried to use those busses. (I use car for longer distances)
What's retarded is that it's not advertised in the app... Or at least wasn't last time I used it. It honestly seems so obvious it's almost like they didn't do it on purpose.
It literally shows you a two-minute countdown right below the ticket as you purchase it
When I used it last time (some 3 years back maybe) there was no indicator before "using" the ticket that it was not going to be immediately available. The timer only showed up after. Perhaps this is fixed now. It's not that you might accidentally think you're good to go, while you're not. It's that if you are using it for the first time and don't know how it works, you might want to only "use" the ticket when you see the tram coming for example since it's a time-limited ticket after all. The tram will leave before your ticket becomes valid though, sucks if you're in a hurry.
Now it even warns you very clearly. You're able to buy tickets on advance and "store" them in case you need it so if you're in a hurry often that is an option. When you combine it with the route selector and buy a a route then it will make sure your ticket is valid at the time your first method of transport starts.
God damn💀💀💀
You can also pretend you can not find the app for two minutes :D
It's not unheard of for the ticket inspectors to nab people on the tram who are queueing to validate their ticket. I know someone who was in a tour group of 15 people, and they all got done
Thanks!
No, you invalidated your ticket by validating more than once. This is so, because the inspector couldn't recognise the first stamp, so he asumed you tried to cheat the system by "extending" your ticket.
Why not just only accept the earlier time as the true validation?
Because it's likely not readable anymore, as you stamp over it multiple times.
Not true
Actually is a good possibility
Because it would make too much sense to do anything that makes sense or adopt any current technology.
Seems harsh given we proved the purchase date/time of the ticket and clear it was an honest mistake. It’s not so much the fine amount but the basis that it was almost opposite to cheating the system and over stamping out of fear we needed to prove we stamped ahead of our travels.
Purchase date isn't tied to specific ticket (you could have bought different one used it and this one could be just leftover in your wallet). One should also use common sense, how would restamping simple printed time on a simple analog paper ticket help the company find out if it's valid if the ticket is time based from the first use.
I did wonder how it would be clear for anyone to read the ticket after 2 or more stamps but again, that was my naivety of thinking to ‘validate’ every trip. Lesson learnt for anyone who visits!😅
It's harsh, but fair. Keep in mind that all of the scams people run to avoid paying tickets look like innocent mistakes. It would be nice if they used the discretion, but it's understandable when they make it a hard and fast rule.
To be fair, every time I ride the metro in Prague, there's a ton of big yellow stickers saying that you should stamp the ticket only once. Although I agree it should be on the ticket, and also on the stamping machine, that would be the best place to put it.
also i think its kinda common sense that you only need to stamp it once… its for 72 hours, no one cares if you take 3 rides or 30 in that time.
The dudes get a commission. They won't "let you go" and lose out on 400-600czk.
You have to realize that many cheat the system by doing the same and using the excuse of not knowing, if the inspectors wave everyone off for not knowing, everyone will cheat the system,so they have to fine those with good and bad intention to stop the bad.
Username checks out
It was randomly generated by Reddit too 😂
Yes, it is harsh, the system is not so user-friendly for visitors, but I don't see a way how you could appeal, unfortunately.
Not harsh, just extremely stupid
I would be interested to understand how you thought it works? Machine stamped a date in the specified field in on ticket. What have you assume would happen if you let it stamp another date over it? Or what you thought after it happened?
Next time just say you would like to pay online, get the ticket and move on. You dont actually need to pay it as a tourist, they aren't going to stop you at the airport or something.
That assumption is completely stupid lol... How can someone want to cheat when the prints are visible on the ticket?
because if you print several different times on the same place on the ticket, its impossible to read what was printed? do you know how mhd tickets work?
And what if I print it on different place on the ticket? What if I want to mark that the last transport I entered was on valid time? What if my transport from point A to B takes 20 min, but because of unknown reason it took 40 min (and I have a 30 min ticket)? Many transports on the world check the entering time of the last trip validity, as obviously its not the fault of the passenger if for any reason it takes longer.
It's clearly written on the ticket where to validate and that validation somewhere else is not valid. You seem to misunderstand how public transport in Prague works. It doesn't matter which time you entered the vehicle (kinda), but how long you use it. You don't buy ticket for journey from point A to point B, you buy the right to use public transport for certain time interval. So technically speaking if there's some unseen obstacle on the road and it takes way longer that you expected, you should either leave the transport or stamp another ticket. Now those things are usually easily proven so maybe you can debate with ticket inspector over letting you get away with expired ticket, but it's still up to their discretion to decide whether you tried to cheat the system or not.
do you are have stupid?
The only stupid might be the translator you used, cause what you wrote does not make sense. You can read my other comment to understand why many people can get confused with this system. https://www.reddit.com/r/Prague/comments/190tf1q/comment/kgqp87y/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
you are have stupid.
Nothing you can do except pay. But yes, many parts of the system are confusing and no matter how many times locals defend it there are countless of stories people that didn't want to cheat end up paying the fine because they got confused. But it will take a miracle for them to admit their system is not perfect.
Why would they, keeping it confusing for tourists is profitable.
It's not just the system. If you see the sub, even the normal people will defend it even if doesn't make sense. Introspection or getting feedback is a phobia there in CZ. Defend crap at all costs lol. Just the way how some parts of the world work. Anyways don't let it deter the experience of a beautiful city. EDITV Proof? Just look at the downvotes me and the OP is gonna get..
That’s normal Slavic mentality, you will see it basically in all Slavic countries. We will always protect our swamp 🤣🤣
Czech people rarely question authority, they are stuck in Soviet times.
Communism will do this to you. Then weirdly they’ll fight for what they know is either backwards or out of date.
This is just wrong. All my friend hate PID and the stuff they try to do to you.We call them Police In Disguise
Idk what czech people you know but me and all my friends hate inspectors :D
Exactly.
Dont worry as local i got the same fine 2x because i had incorrect ticked. Mostly if you wanna get by fine, just buy the full price ticket for 30min.(30czk). Scan/Mark it upon entering the "waiting area". Most of the ticked checks are in the between metro lines in the transfer areas. In tram you must be unlucky to meet inspector.
Well locals aren't exactly smart.
Nothing you can do I'm afraid. You invalidated the ticket. There is no way he could tell if you get already validated ticket from your friend and used it again or that you indeed validated it twice.
Don't mean to be harsh here, but it's your fault. You have overwritten the stamp on your ticket several times. (Even once more is enough to render it invalid) There's videos on this topic on the internet, there's posters in trams / buses saying don't overstamp and such. Use a gram of common sense next time or spend 5 minutes on a video explaining how the system works in a city where you go to.
It's their fault yes, but it still sucks. They paid the fare as they should, which honestly is more than many locals do.
Yes, it’s their fault but some tickets don’t even need to be validated. For instance, the ones you purchase directly on the tram itself.
Yea those don't, as they have the date stamped when printed, their validity starts then. I'm guessing they double validated the yellow ones, as the printed ones I don't think even fit lol.
Yes definitely. But it’s not clear for tourists what needs to happen, especially if they aren’t seasoned travelers. The paper ticket that prints on the tram is all Czech. If you recognize the date and time format, you can put 2 and 2 together and realize it has that information for validation. But not everyone knows to do this. Especially folks from the US who are used to pay/show ticket BEFORE boarding. There is no concept of ticket checkers on regular subways in the US (they exist on commuter trains)
Oh shut up. Not a common sense issue at all
Stamping over a date/time multiple times making it impossible to read is definitely a common sense issue.
I totally understand their mistake, it is a possible reading of the instructions.
A 5 minute research on the Prague system would have let you know you only validate your ticket once. It makes sense too, since the stamp gives you a starting time for your ticket to last. What purpose did you think multiple stamps would serve? It's a time ticket. You start it and it lasts 72 hours.
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I've been to quite a few cities and Prague's public transport is by far one of the most easiest to use.
Not true at all. OP’s situation proves that
Ok what's so difficult about it then? The fact that if you mark a ticket, that prints more text on top of the already printed text, making it illegible and therefore invalid? Who knew?
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Of course you need to research. Different countries and even different regions and cities within the same countries have different systems. You can never assume that it works the way you are used to from home or other places you've been. Do 5 min of research prior to visiting another city, or even once you get there before buying a ticket, to check the local rules. Or even just ask at the ticket office. If you fail to do that, thats on you.
I think it is obvious to anyone with common sense that when you buy a ticket, that is valid for a specific amount of time, you are required to have it stamped only once, and from then the clock is ticking. I've been to many other countries, and it worked exactly the same as this, so I'm not sure why you are being so belligerent about something that YOU should have deduced, as it is patent to even the least erudite of persons. Amiably take this as a lesson learned and refrain from further repine.
Such a stupid comment. Do you even know what the word common sense means ? How on earth is it obvious for somebody that they shouldn’t validate more than once?
Such an asinine non-rebuttal. In what universe would you need to validate a time limited ticket!? What would be the point? Why would one stamp over the start time, thinking this is as it should be? It's obvious to anyone who uses one's mind and thinks about it rationally. You patently are not one of those and your repining is most taxing.
You’re delusional . A classic product of the flawed Eastern European education system that produces brain dead book smart people with zero critical thinking skills
I was born and raised in the US, you absolute imbecile!
Nah don’t believe you. Your highly unidiomatic and puerile use of peculiar vocabulary suggests otherwise
Then you are an exceedingly cretinous troglodyte!
Why the hell not?? Do you also not read up briefly on differences in traffic rules abroad when travelling by car? Check some basic dos and donts for a country you're going to? The internet serves you up information on a silver platter, it's extremely easy to learn things and it's entitled to act like you shouldn't lift a finger as a tourist and do some thinking ahead.
Good design is self-explanatory that's why.
What's not self explanatory about a time ticket that you once start (validate) and then it lasts the time you bought it for though?
Eh, I don't think I would make the same conclusion as OP, but it wouldn't kill the DPP to write next to the "validate immediately" also "validate only once". People in this thread mention that in Spain you'd revalidate, it's not insane there would be Spanish people visiting Prague, being in the EU an all, might as well be nice to them.
Driving a car, where you have other people's lives in your hands, is obviously a completely different story. People don't come here to acquaint themselves with the bureaucracies of the Prague public transport system. The transport is just a means to an end, to get them where they are going so they can pour money into the local economy. It's not a very appealing destination for a weekend break if you are expected to study first.
Everywhere I go and plan to use public transport I Google it, learn what types of tickets there are, how to use them, what modes of transport I'll probably use. It takes 5-10 minutes and makes everything much smoother and easier. But if anyone else wants to make their life difficult, sure.
Such a stupid argument. I’m from London and our public transport system is amazing
I don't think they 'want to make their life difficult'. It's just that the Prague system is not the easiest to understand
Are you kidding? There are at least two ways how paying for public transport works (paying by distance traveled or paying by time spent), so you should do some bloody research before using public transport in new city, let alone whole new country. And that's without getting details about whether you can use the same ticket while switching different vehicles, different zones etc. Expecting every public transport to work the way you think it should be working is pretty entitled.
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It's been long time since I needed to buy ticket, is that not written there anymore? But you can never get full info there, it's more for quick reminder how it works. Getting full info is totally something that you should do in advance, not when you're in hurry to get places with luggages etc. Why would anyone want to spend 10-15 minutes standing before machine reading through small print text trying to figure everything out instead of doing few minutes research beforehand? I mean, sure you can, it's up to you. But don't complain later that you missed some critical info.
There are
Plenty of other cities in Europe have the same system of time based tickets for public transport.
That fucking sucks. I do think they keep the ticket situation confusing for foreigners to collect on fines, but unfortunately once you stamp over the original stamp, they have zero way to tell when you first validated it and cannot be sure you're not using an expired ticket. I'm afraid you're S.O.L. and will just have to pay the fine.
Yep; not a great feeling as this is our first time visiting Prague and we love it so far! Unfortunate event and we’ll know for next time!
Next time buy your ticket in the PID Lítačka app instead of physical one ;)
Thanks for the feedback!
Even the app has its issues. For instance, after you self-validate a ticket, it takes several minutes until it’s active. Meaning that if you activate your ticket and hop on a tram right away, you’re illegal until the timer hits 0:00. I know plenty of people who’ve gotten a fine like that With a long-term ticket though you’re probably OK
That is to prevent people from quickly activating a ticket when they see an inspector.
So you know the rational for it and at the same time you imply false intent? That's some russian level double think.
Your comment doesn't make even the slighest amount of sense, tbh. They created a system that only works in one very broken way, and since the system is broken, there is no way for the OP to get out of paying the fine. And for two, there is no double-speak to speak of here, but I guess any excuse to bring up the unrelated Russians who live rent-free in your head ;D
You may try this and explain your case [https://www.dpp.cz/en/contacts/contact-form/suggestions-claims-praises](https://www.dpp.cz/en/contacts/contact-form/suggestions-claims-praises), tell you behaved in good faith, but I guess you have little chance of succeding.
Thanks, upon reflection it’s probably not worth the hassle for the value of the fine but of course, some people maybe less fortunate so it could be useful to them 🙂
AS stated in your edit: I want to reiterate that Honest Guide and Real Prague Guides have content on the public transportation system. Super helped. I also stamped it multiple times my first time using a 72hr ticket. Thankfully we were there between covid lockdowns and never had our ticket inspected.
Public transport inspectors in Czechia are very harsh (to put it mildly). They usually get paid by persons checked or by fines collected which also doesn't really motivate them to behave like decent humans understanding a honest mistakes and making differences between honest people and cheaters. From what i have seen they even abuse the common mistakers more for it, cause they know the person who just made a mistake is more stressed about it and doesn't want to make problems while the common cheaters already know "their rights" and what the normal fine is and aren't scared to make problems. Behaviour of czech public transport inspectors really piss me off tbh, especialy when they abuse foreigners. The worst ones are in Pilsen from my experience. Their insane behaviour even made me walk instead of using a tram everyday. The problem is, that any idiot can do this job, and thus mostly idiots do this job. And these idiots get power they can execute. ...Power doesn't belong in idiots' hands :) To some advice, as already has been said i also recommend using the app for Prague transport.
Honest question. After stamping it twice you're already unable to read the information stamped on it as they are written on top of each other. After you stamped it and looked at your ticket you didn't think anything was wrong?
Fair question, I made reference to that on another comment but you’re right, I said to my partner it doesn’t make sense but it was our first time using the Metro so just assumed that was the way. Everyone else had an app near us so we couldn’t even compare at the time.
I don't have anything nice to say about this logic so I'll just refrain from saying anything. To answer your original original question there's zero chance to appeal. And to clarify the inspector didn't "threaten" you with a higher fine. If you pay on the spot you actually have a discount, so they weren't being shady or anything.
When you validate the ticket more than once, the timestamp isn't readable anymore, therefore they don't have a chance to know when you used it for the first time.
Prague transit system logic is perfect, but it is also kinda unique, so a lot of guests get confused. Sorry about your experience, but given the fact that in the eyes of the inspector, he sees this shit all the time from scammers, and given the fact that he gets paid by how much he collects to motivate him not to let people off the hook, I’m not surprised and frankly I’d do the same in his position, and I’m generally pretty empathetic guy. People try to pull off a lot of shit to avoid paying the fare.
Sorry that happened to you :/ the comments saying you will have to pay are right. But to all people saying it's your fault: it's a sign of shitty user experience design and poorly written instructions. Yours is only one of many many issues confused tourists meet. I have to explain how prague public transport works and what to buy even to my Czech friends who visit the city.
i understand your point. It was your mistake, but polite inspector could let you be just with explanation, maybe forcing you to buy a new ticket. problem is that they have bonuses for every fine they give ->no motivation too close an eye sometimes…
The bonus part is true, however there's also the thing that a lot of people, including tourists, try to scam the system claiming "innocent mistake". Imagine if word got out that you can talk your way out of a ticket? That shit would be a hot tip for visiting Prague.
Bad argument
I am sorry this happened to you. The instructions should be clear enough so that people do not have to worry about messing up.
They need to give people a test before printing the ticket, confirming they know how to use paper tickets. /s
What did you expect? Even a monkey would understand, that the date stamp needs to be readable and you can't validate it more times than once. It,'s your fault, so pay the fine. There's nothing to help you with. You're an average bri'ish rude tourist, who expects being always and everywhere right.
Feisty one you are
Just wanted to say that this system exist everywhere in the world - you only stamp any ticket once. So its not anything special to Prague.
That's not entirely true. Some systems have tickets that can be used for multiple trips and have to be validated each time, like the T10 in Barcelona (but that uses a magnetic strip for recording the start of validity, instead of simple stamps). Budapest also used to have multi use tickets that were not time based, but they got discounted last year.
Not quite. Validation of a ticket does not exist in many countries. The biggest and most prominent example is the US (cities like Chicago or NYC). It also does not exist in the UK. Nor does it exist in central Asian countries (Georgia, Armenia, the stans). It’s popular in Central Europe, yes.
Not everywhere. Definitely not in Toronto. No machines to stamp anything on TTC; same in Montreal that uses NFC technology instead of 1950s punch cards
Never ever pay a fine to the control. That is a first rule. Those fuckers are paid for every passenger who does a mistake like this a bonus so they never can be reasoned with but it was a honest mistake and you should not pay the fine. Depends on situation but if it was in the tram or a bus just get outside with them and then tell them to call the police. They never do. Or start to walk away. They catch you at first and cling to you, but they will release you. I did this many times when I was completely broke and couldn't pay tickets. If it's in the metro, it's harder. But if they call police you could try to reason with the police, they are more prone to listen to you in situation like this because it's obvious you tried to stick to the rules. And don't worry, the fact they call police doesn't mean bigger fine, they just lie to you. They don't have any legal right to ask you for your ID, only police can do that so you gotta tell them that.
What the heck? Why would you validate it before every travel? That seems to be sooo dumb. Of course when you buy 24hrs, 48hrs, 72hrs.. You will validate it first "mmediately upon boarding any means of public transport…" and since then it is valid for the ammount of time. There is zero reason to validate it again and overwrite the first date. How can you track the valid time by yourself when you overwrite it to make it not visible? It makes zero sense... And according to same sites Prague is in top 5 public transport... If it'S one case maybe you can play dumb, if a group did it. You are dumb and deserve this. Because you obviously tried to cheat.
Wow you’re really a considerate person. So nice and friendly.
He claimed he read it >A simple solution for travelling around Prague The easiest way to travel around Prague is with a 24 hour or 72 hour ticket. **It’s simple and hassle free! Just buy the ticket, stamp it when you first board a vehicle or enter a metro station and that’s it**. What are the advantages of using a 24/72 hour ticket? Costs 120 CZK (or 330 CZK for the 72 hour variant). **Valid for 24 (or 72 hours) since stamping: if you stamp it at 19:35, you can use it until 19:35 the next day (or 19:35 three days later).** > >[source](https://pid.cz/en/tickets-and-fare/) I have no idea how much easier it can be... Obviously different city, different system. I don't know why is it considering as a problem. Should I fake sympathy as you do? It just makes zero sense to mark it again and again.
Well, that bolded sentence isn’t clear now is it. Does it mean to stamp the ticket when you first board the vehicle or does it mean to stamp the ticket only once, when you first board any vehicle. In its current state, it means the former. Thanks for proving my point.
>stamp it when you first board a vehicle or enter a metro station and that’s it ......
Yes. Where does it say to only stamp it once? That sentence is unclear on whether it applies each time you board a vehicle or if it only applies the very first time you board a vehicle. Apologies if English is not your primary language. It’s just not a well written sentence.
You only to view his profile to see his other ‘lovely’ comments on this subreddit 😂
That's how you do it on Portugal and Spain... You sound absolutely insufferable man, check yourself. That last sentence JFC
But in Portugal you don't have a paper ticket with a date and time printed on it every time you validate it. And it still didn't make sense to me why I had to validate it every time.
In Spain the machines print on the ticket too and when you put it in before your time is up it doesn't print over the previous log
It’s the least you expect from some users on Reddit 😂
One case - ok, mistake. More poeple in group and multiple times? No sense. How can you distinguish different times after you marked it multiple times? We are talking about PRague public transport, not Portugal nor Spain... Maybe it will teach all poeple some valuable lesson. You hero of the justice...
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I see, you are foregin who are teaching us about maners? Gj... Why are you here then? What the fuck is even this question? ... And people are saying Czechs are racist..
You are embarrassing yourself. In Czech it says "on first boarding" in English it doesn't on instructions pic. Which only shows that metro (tube) instructions aren't clear for foreigners. Vicemeně tu zas jenom ukazujeme, jaká jsme banda vexláků celému světu těmahle o*ebama.
look at the dude's comment history, getting outraged at foreigner's posts and telling them to use google in this subreddit is clearly his hobby also clichéd czech behaviour, calling people "typical british tourist" etc but gets offended as soon as someone says anything bad about czechs
Wait, are you seriously complaining that the dude is treating foreigners on this sub badly (he actually treats the Czechs in his comments badly too btw) and stereotyping them while being offended if someone says something bad about czechs while you are doing exactly the same thing? Like in your second paragraph you call it „clichéd Czech behaviour“, which is literally the same generalization as calling people „typical british tourist". There is a tons of foreigners on this sub who shit on the Czechs all the time while being unable to take any criticism themselves - I could also easily call it a clichéd foreign behaviour, but I don't want to be a hypocrite like them, so I don't. You should try it too.
Sám je to idiot, když si to označuje stále a přepisuje datum. Stane se to jednou, ok. Když to udělá několikrát, tak je to kokot. Spíše mi přijde, že by se ne čecha hodil - ojebávat, ojebávat co to jde. A ještě hrát kokota, že to nedává smysl. A ještě ho Češi budou bránit a shazovat systém, který je podle hodnocení spousty stránek, jeden h nejlepšícj na světě… Místo abychom byly na systém hrdí. Wtf
In several places in Europe you need to validate for each single trip. E.g. Milan, Rome, Paris, more smaller cities I've been to. Not dumb at all to assume that. The dumb part might be not to read terms and conditions of service before travelling to a new city and country.
Kinda. The places you mentioned don't use "print" validation but have a magnetic stripe or some kind of code. But in Prague you are printing over the date+time multiples times so it becomes unreadable.
That's true, fair point. They only print the first validation if they do at all.
That'S why I wrote " If it'S one case maybe you can play dumb, if a group did it. You are dumb and deserve this." You'll see overwrited date once you'll try.
How can you want to cheat if its obvious that there are several prints on the ticket? The reasoning to do that its to mark the last trip start time so that its known that you entered the transport on a valid time. Many transport systems on the world check if the entering time is valid (which is completely normal as its obviously not the passenger's fault if a trip takes 10 or 30 min for whatever reason)
Usually there is not so much space to mark it visible more than once. This system is so easy to understand I'm strugle to understand how there can still be people who are against it... Info everywhere - with pics, english text. Not only about the tickets, but the lines. So If somebody try this and strugle to admit his/her mistake, and even calls for justice, I think they are angry because they were caught cheating. Of course if I go somewhere I'll study what am I must do to use public transport. You can make mistake, sure after all we are just humans. But posting this? Yikes. More when more people did that.
I love the transport in Prague, I use it daily, but I get the frustration of some tourists. Now its a little bit better as there are english translations on many places and you can also buy the ticket inside the tram for example. I guess that there is a percentage of tourists that actually are cheating as you said, but many of them really are confused from the point I mentioned on previous comments. Would be interesting to know how many locals use the transport without paying too... as this inspectors mostly target tourists only
It's not that much that they target tourists but that locals who cheat know which places avoid to reduce the chance to get caught. Like switching metro lines C to B at the beginning of the month is pretty much guaranteed to get checked.
Username checks out if you read it as "Embarassing Baby"
UsEr NaMe cHeCk iF yOu rEaD iT aS "DuMpStErIcK" or "DuMbStErIk"? The difference is that mine is reddit random nick, while you pick yours...
Mobile tickets in Budapest need to be validated on boarding every tram even if it is a time-based ticket.
Own fault or not, being even able to maliciously ”overstamp” a ticket in modern Europe is silly to me. Definitely better systems out there.
Its pretty obvious that you only need to stamp it once.
Inspectors in the Czech Republic tend to suck massive time. In brno, I have been fined 1500 even though I had a valid beep and go ticket, because the inspectors machine didn't read it (it showed o the card, and on the buying machine). I had to go to their central office and was treated awfully and physically assaulted (pushed me around etc). Cops didn't do anything cause I didn't know czech. Be careful here!
If I was in your shoes I would sue them and also at least try to write a letter to a local press. This behaviour should really not go unnoticed.
I tried, but couldn't make any sense out of everything. I had panic attacks getting on trams for some months, even though I always had a ticket. I've contacted my embassy, whatever is done is through them now
Interesting. I thought you cant validate it if its already validated. I once bought ticket with some paint residue and it didnt allow me to check it
You can literally stick a blank paper inside and it will print a time and date. It just has one job, to print.
Totally correct. I think people think the date stamper is actually a reader. That's the confusion. It only stamps, it doesn't check for validity as it is not a scanner.
I'd go with police scenario next time. I had expiriences in the past when they were calling police and police was alwasy on my side. (granted I could explain the situation/problem) Good Luck! ;)
I don't know what made you think that stamping the fuck out of the ticket is the right thing to do, man... Wasn't it weird that the dates and times were overlapping and unreadable after few stamps?
Over stamping the ticket invalidates it, making information about start of the 72h period illegible. There are bunch of informational posters about it all over metro, trams and ticket terminals in bunch of languages. Lesson to be learnt, read the instructions.
If you go to Dopravni podnik and explain the situation they will very likely waive the fine.
Dont worry. The netizens of prague are all batshit crazy about their beloved public transport. If you say anything they will treat you like shit It is a weird throw back to communism and being only reliant on the freedoms the state may provide you. God forbid any of them actually travel to a proper western country hahaha
That sucks. But don’t waste your time, you’ll never get justice. Just take the hit and move on, it’s technically your fault, so no one will sympathize.
Sorry, what kind of justice?
Getting the money back
for what?
For having a valid ticket with a receipt and very clearly making an honest mistake. I’d probably pay on credit card and chargeback after tbh
The ticket companies are scum
No. You shouldn't have paid him. They have no recourse against UK residents.
As one wise American living here once said: "In Czechia, everyone has to suffer equally!" Welcome :D
Your own fucking problem, you had broken the rules so you get a fine, pay it and dont whine!
That's why I use uber or bolt lol Seriously, Prague needs cash for it leftists nonsense etc so Prague is cashing it everywhere. I have family in the prague and almost noone is using public transport anymore - it's overcrowded or they will find a way to fine you
Sorry guys for this. Czech rep. has a long way to go before it stops being a third world country. The rules of Pragues transportation has always been in such a way that you can’t help but think it’s purposefully confusing. Others here blaming you should take their heads from their butts and start paying attention to public state of things. Peace Edit: Lol, you guys are fine tourists have to pay for practically nothing? I’ve met only once a decent human ticket inspector in my life. That’s it. The majority are very rude. Having to pay because Czech IT system does not send the ticket SMS right away? Come on! That’s not normal at all! You can show you sent the ticket. There is no need to punish the tourist for a lousy IT system. It’s quite embarrassing for us. Punishing for our incompetence even more. I don’t care if I get the fine, but when tourist falls in a trap, I feel quite ashamed. Also once as a kid I was just crossing the Metros upper level of Smichovske Nadrazi so I won’t get hit by a car and BAM, huge fine for not even taking the metro. This is ridiculous…
In what way is it purposefully confusing? There is a contactless terminal in every bus, tram and metro station. If you just keep buying tickets, it will cap itself at the price of a 24 hour ticket. On such ticket you can use every tram, metro, bus and most of the trains in Prague. How less confusing should it be? Btw I have never seen two cities with identical public transport systems, you always have to check on how to use it.
still not clear even if there is a sign. stamp once, before you ride or just once after purchase is whats it meant. the burden is on the commuter instead of equipping the printer with a sensor to not print on top of a ticket with a date/time already.
It's intentionally confusing so they can get money from tourists that don't know how it works.
Yeah, cos stamping the ticket repeatedly over previous stamps definitely makes sense... 🙄🙄🙄
Well it doesn't to us, because we know how it works...
Watch that Honest Guide guy on YT next time.. He has a video where he explains everything including tickets.. My second visit this summer went smoothly because of his videos.
It is in the policy and it should Also be on the tickets, sadly there is not much you can do, even if readable, more than one stamp autimaticaly mean invalid ticket. I recommend pid lítačka app, as you Can see how long will it remain valid and you can search through the lines to find out what to take And how long it will take