at-bus.it Reviews 378

For those planning to ride using a paper single-use ticket, I’d recommend just walking instead of getting ripped off. Alternatively, it’s better to pay by tapping your card (though I’ve heard there are cases where you get charged ridiculous amounts this way too).

The single-use ticket is supposedly valid for about 75 minutes, but whether you validate it or not, it seems like they target tourists and fine them anyway—it almost feels like a major source of revenue for the Tuscany region. In other places, when you take trains, staff usually remind you to validate your ticket, but here, bus drivers don’t care and say nothing—likely because it helps enable fines after ticket inspections.

Honestly, I’d strongly advise against using the buses at all.

Same as others tapped my bank card on bus in florence on the scanner. Ticket inspector targeted me, not the locals. She told me that the transaction had not worked and I gave her my card she said thst I was being charged for an all day ticket which I did not need. I subsequently found out I had been charged £43. I was not told this on the bus. I researched how to make a claim but it seems that you cannot if already paid fine or too extensive. I was not given the choice to pay the fine. There is definately a sense of dubious behaviour here.

I saw a bus driver in Florence close the doors as two elderly women were stepping on, hitting them with the doors, because he was late and perceived that they weren’t moving fast enough. This almost resulted in one of the women catching her finger in the doors. When they confronted the driver, he laughed at them and quickly pulled away, causing them to fall. This treatment is unacceptable. Florence bus drivers are rude and are never held accountable. This needs to change. This particular heinous act of cruelty happened on the 11 bus leaving Piazza Degli Ottaviani at 6:12 PM on Monday, March 16, 2026. Florence: Hold this man accountable.

The bus is always delayed and it never comes on time We are late for work all the time because of this. Please help us make the bus arrive on time from Nine Mile to the airport

Terrible experience with Autoline Toscane bus service. Horrible bus controllers with no communication let a lone communication in English. I would not recommend making use of this bus service!

This company is a professional scam in Pisa.
When leaving the tower of Pisa we decided to get a bus to the station as our children were tired. We asked the driver if the bus went to the station and he waved us on pointing to the pay machine. He then set off and it was at this point we found out the machines require you to have one card per person. As we only carry 2 cards when travelling we tapped both. But the next stop an inspector jumped on and was absolutely awful and had our autistic child in tears. Despite explaining what had happened he issued us 3 x €43 fines for our children not paying. I’ve just spent thousands taking the kids all over Italy so it wasn’t as if I was purposely avoiding the €1.60 ticket. Oh well we’ve seen Pisa and some other lovely places but I’ll never come back to Italy if that’s how you scam tourists. We watched pick pockets around the tower and found it interesting how they work, and then these thieves on the busses ripped us off. Nice country, terrible attitude to visitors. We won’t come back

This is scam company ,works like mafia.I pay via card and they did not recognized it and they imposed me a fine to pay €43 ,I saw my transaction to the contol employ but did not recognize because their system are problematic .I try to send email for complain and refund but their boxmail is full !and cannot delivery my emal..

Treating people like criminals because we supposedly wanted to rob them of what? 1.50€, when we each spent 1000€ in just a few days. Pathetic and miserable. We paid for the bus every single time we rode, whether it was a full bus or an empty night tram; we know to pay with a card and that there are machines at every door. This time, we were traveling with suitcases to the train station (that’s why the inspector targeted us, knowing we were in a hurry). We wanted to enter through the front door, but people wouldn’t move, making it physically impossible to get in, and they told us to use the back door. Once we got on, I checked one pole—no tip&tap machine. Another pole—nothing. When the crowd thinned out a bit, we checked the third and fourth poles—still nothing. Of all the buses, this one didn’t have tip&tap at every door. And of course, when the inspector came, I asked if we could buy tickets now, but he refused, saying we could have bought them at the front door, treating me like a fool. As if no one could see it was impossible to get through all the people and suitcases. Then, of course, he started threatening that the alternative was to pay 240€ later, which I now see is absolute lie. I’m not making excuses because I know I paid over 10€ for rides; I just want to show how miserable the inspector’s behavior was.
Final bonus: it seems the entire system is corrupt. The supposed email address listed on the official document for people to file complaints doesn’t even exist?!
Sanzioni.at[at]pec.it - address not found!

Our experience with the Florence bus system was unfortunately quite stressful and left a sour impression. Like many tourists, we assumed it would be similar to systems in other major cities – such as in the UK – where tickets can be purchased directly on the bus with cash or contactless. However, that is not the case in Florence.

Buses do not accept cash, and drivers do not sell tickets. Passengers are expected to have a valid ticket purchased beforehand (from a tabacchi shop, ticket machine, or app), or to use a contactless bank card to validate a digital ticket upon boarding. However, this isn’t clearly communicated, and you are hurried onto the bus with little time to understand the system.

If anything goes wrong – your card fails, or you don’t validate in time – there is a large team of plain-clothed bus inspectors who board the buses and issue on-the-spot fines of €43 per person, rising to €240 if not paid immediately. They can be intimidating, abrupt, and unhelpful, and in our case, used the threat of calling the police – even though this is a civil matter, not a criminal one. This seems designed to pressure tourists into paying instantly.

The setup feels more like a trap than a fair system. The inspectors clearly target unsuspecting tourists, and the overall experience felt more like a revenue-generating scheme than public transport management.

Tips for other travellers:
• Buy and validate your ticket before boarding.
• If using a contactless bank card, ensure it’s working before getting on.
• If anything goes wrong, it’s safer to exit the bus immediately before inspectors board.
• Alternatively, walk or use taxis to avoid the risk.

Florence is a beautiful city, but this experience left us feeling disappointed and taken advantage of. Hopefully, this helps others avoid the same issue.

Massive tourist scammers - When buying your bus tickets you need to scan ticket when entering - unfortunately the bus drivers cram that many people in it is impossible to get to the machine. At the end of the journey the ticket conductors single handily focus on tourists and let their locals/Italians of scott free. When trying to contest the fine on their website it's non existent as they have made sure no email they use can be used unless you have your own personal Italian e-mail, any other email address gets null and void and don't get me started on their live chat? about as useful as a chocolate fire guard. It's honestly cheaper to get a taxi there and back.... Bus scammers (has kind of put us of from going to Italy)

We received a €180 fine when taking this bus line (family with two kids, travelling from Florence to Siena on 26 May 2025, departure at 11:10 from Stazione Leopolda). The bus driver gave us the clear impression that we had successfully purchased tickets. We genuinely believed we had bought tickets using our bank cards via the wireless payment system. However, later it turned out that only credit cards are accepted, and our bank cards did not go through. Despite this, the driver waved us onto the bus as if everything was in order and did not inform us that the tickets had not actually been purchased. At the final stop, ticket inspectors imposed an immediate €180 fine. A bitter experience of unjust fine. We took the bus to save money. Always ask for tickets or check directly in your online banking whether the payment has actually been made.

This company is totally not inclusive and ready to anything to steal people. When I got on bus, it took me like 30 seconds to find a seat, in addition to the people and my leg problems walking, once seated I hurried to validate my tickets on the at bus application. 30 seconds later, a conductor came to told me very aggressively that our tickets were not valid because we apparently validated them when he got on the bus, I was just looking for a seat because I couldn't even stand without falling. tried to explain to him that I had only gone up a few seconds ago and that I still validating my title. He was very aggressive and forced me to pay 80 euros, even though I had paid for my ticket! Having a disability and needing to sit down before validating your ticket should not be punishable by a fine. Tottally SHAMEFULL! ( No help from "client service").

Ticket machine didn’t work and they fined us. Don’t use them. Other guests had the same issue. Seems they do this to rip off tourists.

They are cheaters. They cheat tourists. They have intentionally left loop holes and know tourists can be trapped easily. Unjustly fined. Stupid company and also I found Italy to be very unfriendly in general for tourists. Will never visit Italy again.

Pesima esperienza customer service

A bus service that really works good: it's everywhere, it's reliable and it's there when you need it. It's for sure a 5 star service, there can't be less star for a review about it, the organisation of the service is here just great. It works great in all the territory of Florence, it has so many rides every day and it connects all the part of the city very quickly and easily. The price is cheap anyway for the quality of the service and it offers many subscriptions for month or year. There are many bus stops and even in the city centre many mini-bus helping you moving all along. The drivers are usually very friendly, it's easy to pay on board, by the app, from the website or to buy a ticket in bars or tobacco shops. The buses are very clean and very cozy, the rides very enjoyable. I very reccomend to use this bus service.

Worse service ever.

The Tramway found me at the De André stop this evening and did not open the doors. Beyond prejudiced drivers.

I regret buying the yearly subscription.

More details: the tram was going from Villa Costanza to Careggi Ospidale at 22:34. I was there 5 minutes earlier. Go figure

The bus system in general is good, with new buses covering the town and coming frequently. The problem is you can't pay on the bus with either cash or credit. We couldn't figure out how to pay, and got a big fine of 40 Euros each (that's 200 for the 5 of us), Ouch !!

The conductor guy would not listen to our explanations, would not let us pay cash or just give us a reasonable fine.

The signs on bus stations are unclear, the code to the app is very small on the bottom, and the warning that you must buy a ticket before boarding is tiny and hardly noticeable. It looks like they make it unclear so they can get more money on fines. They have no mercy on innocent tourists, or maybe it's really a scheme on purpose 🤔

Getting hit like that spoiled our mood, and made us spend less money on restaurants, cafes, shopping etc. So eventually the bus company hurts not only tourists, but also local businesses.

We loved Firenze, it's so beautiful and the atmosphere is lively and friendly. The only unpleasant part of our visit was that rip-off by the bus company. Tourists beware !!

some bus drivers close the doors and drive away even if you’re already in front of the doors

Tourist scam. Driver do not sell tickets and after the ride need to pay penalty of 86 euros. Do not use busses in Livorno. Stay away