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We came to Bratislava from another country for just one night and were on our way back to the train station with our luggage and our small child. We bought our tram tickets properly from the ticket machine before boarding because, of course, we wanted to follow the rules.

What we did not realize was that the tickets also had to be validated after boarding the tram. We come from a country where this is not how public transport tickets normally work, and in the chaos of getting onto the tram with a child and several pieces of luggage, it simply did not occur to us. We fully accept that this was our mistake.

However, what happened next honestly felt like a tourist scam.

Ticket inspectors appeared almost immediately after we boarded and came directly to us. We had valid tickets in our hands, it was obvious that they had just been purchased, and it was also obvious that we were tourists travelling with luggage and a small child. There was clearly no intention whatsoever to avoid paying for the journey.

Nevertheless, we were fined €79 PER PERSON — almost €160 for the two of us — simply because we had failed to validate tickets that we had already paid for.

What made the situation even more uncomfortable was the payment process. They refused to accept card payment and insisted that we pay the fines in CASH, even though there appeared to be a card/payment terminal with them. Being foreign tourists and being asked to hand over almost €160 in cash on the spot made the whole experience feel even more questionable and added significantly to the feeling that this was a scam.

Yes, there is apparently information about validation on the ticket and a small notice inside the tram. But expecting every foreign tourist to immediately understand a ticket-validation system that may be completely unfamiliar to them is unrealistic. A €20 or €30 penalty would already have taught us the lesson. Almost €160 for two people who had actually bought their tickets feels completely disproportionate to the mistake.

What made the experience even worse was the feeling that we were specifically targeted because we were obviously tourists. The inspectors came directly to us, and we did not see them asking anyone else around us for tickets before approaching us.

We accept responsibility for not validating the tickets. But there is a huge difference between deliberately travelling without a ticket and a tourist who has paid for a ticket but does not understand that it needs an additional validation.

Tourists visiting Bratislava should be VERY careful about this. Buy your ticket, but most importantly, remember to VALIDATE it immediately after boarding. Otherwise, a tiny and completely unintentional mistake can cost you €79 per person.

For us, this left a very unpleasant final impression of Bratislava and its public transport system. A penalty should be a reasonable consequence of a mistake — not something that feels like a trap designed to catch tourists.

Ipjon in der Öffis laut telefonieren oder Video Telefonnats no gooo...verboten😅😅😅😅😅 gottse dank

Bratislavský hrad kompletne vyhorel  v roku 1811 "vďaka" napoleonským vojakom. Opravený bol v rokoch 1956 až 1968. Nebol rekonštruovaný preto, aby turisti v ňom niečo našli, je to dominanta Bratislavy. Neviem, čo je to sovietska éra. Slovensko nebolo súčasťou Sovietskeho zväzu.