Problems with Italy's public transportation

[Exterous]

We spent 10 days getting around Italy by various forms of public transportation (busses, vaporettos, metro, regional and high speed trains) and it was the least well run operation we've encountered in Europe, which includes most of Western Europe and some Eastern European countries.

While the high speed trains were mostly on time we basically didn't bother to consider the time tables for anything else because there was no point. Trains scheduled to be 30min apart could actually be 5 minutes apart. Bus arrival signs would count down from 10 minutes to 1 minute and then be listed as "In Arrivo" yet still take another 9 minutes to actually arrive.

At the train platform the digital display might tell you one train number and destination while the train's digital display would have a different number and destination. It was a toss up as to whether the train or the platform display was correct.

Bus routes were changed in Florence due to construction but there were no posted change signs or announcements - just a lot of confused people when the driver pulled the bus over, turned off the engine and left, still a 10 minute walk from our stop (The main train station).

Displays would stop working mid trip. On our trip to MXP it stopped working halfway through so we had to guess which stop was correct as there was no other method of seeing the stop names (No signs at some of the stations -Thanks cell phone GPS!). For one metro train every stop was announced as "San Giovanni"

And the sharp eyed among you may notice that while I was ticketed for seat 9A, that seat does not actually exist:

(8A was on the other side of the post).

It wasn't terrible and certainly worked to get us around but the negative things I had heard about their public transportation seem well deserved

 

[feralkid]

My God, what hell; you must be traumatized.

 

[IronWing]

Sounds like they offed El Douche prematurely.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

It's not just public transportation and it's not really a problem, it's the Italian way. In Italy timetables are more of a suggestion, not an absolute. La dolce vita, relax, have an espresso and a pastry, it will happen eventually. They make American cable repair appointment schedules seem rigid and inflexible. If you want precision go to Germany or Switzerland.

 

[eng2d2]

When I was there it wasn't as bad as people say. I never had any problem at all. It is not switzerland but its not third world schedule. My thirty minute connection from milan to rome was perfect. The bus was not bad too.

 

[Exterous]

It's not just public transportation and it's not really a problem, it's the Italian way. In Italy timetables are more of a suggestion, not an absolute. La dolce vita, relax, have an espresso and a pastry, it will happen eventually. They make American cable repair appointment schedules seem rigid and inflexible. If you want precision go to Germany or Switzerland.

Sure the delays make more sense to me. The frequent broken/missing equipment and conflicting information less so

 

[Exterous]

My God, what hell; you must be traumatized.

Yes. My life is very hard.

 

[MrSquished]

I wonder if the goddamn millenials in Italy suck as much as our goddamn millenials here stateside

 

[WelshBloke]

When I was there it wasn't as bad as people say. I never had any problem at all. It is not switzerland but its not third world schedule. My thirty minute connection from milan to rome was perfect. The bus was not bad too.

The further south you go the more "relaxed" everything is.

 

[Herr Kutz]

This thread is no joke. I had a hell of a time finding platform 9 and three quarters.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Seat 9a probably still exists, it's likely just no longer in the train

Did you get to travel by Piaggio Ape?

 

[feralkid]

This thread is no joke. I had a hell of a time finding platform 9 and three quarters.

Try England next time, not Italy.

 

[zinfamous]

so what if the bus driver pulls over to grab a glass of wine and a smoke at the Enoteca? You just roll with it, man.

 

[zinfamous]

Sounds like they offed El Douche prematurely.

Who is that, some Spaniard?!

 

[DigDog]

remember when i specifically told everyone this was true?

remember when you read it and went "pfft, it can't be that bad" ?

 

[Exterous]

Seat 9a probably still exists, it's likely just no longer in the train

Did you get to travel by Piaggio Ape?

Heh - no we didn't although we did see quite a few

so what if the bus driver pulls over to grab a glass of wine and a smoke at the Enoteca? You just roll with it, man.

But the spreadsheet has very specific times!

remember when i specifically told everyone this was true?

remember when you read it and went "pfft, it can't be that bad" ?

Not particularly - although my understanding is that its also been getting progressively worse

 

[Humpy]

What sa madda U? Shaddap you face!

 

[zinfamous]

What sa madda U? Shaddap you face!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6dFEtb06nw

 

[DigDog]

it's been bad since i was old enough to understand it was bad - somewhere during the 80s. And i have it from many people that it was bad before, as well. It's ... it's just the way we italians *are*. We don't do infrastructure well; the individual drivers might be good people, maybe even the depot chief too, but the higher you go up in the structure the larger failings you get.

Rome is 200 Km away from Naples. The two cities are in a straight line to each other.

The train takes FOUR HOURS. It always has. There are no obstacles, major centers, deviation along this way. But for SOME REASON the train will just f* stop in the middle of nowhere, for like 40 minutes at the time.

And that's four hours without delays, and there is --always-- delays. And the train is some wreck from the 80s, and somewhere someone looks at it and says "ye, this is fine, this will do".

The same applies to ALL public transport. Buses don't have a electronic times schedule billboard, you just go to the bus stop and HOPE the bus passes through. And sometimes it's 45min between buses, and because of this when the bus does come, it's too full and it won't stop. And the routes are ridiculous, some locations in the middle of Rome have ONE bus that goes there, and it's packed, and it's once every half hour.

The subway is generally so packed that you will miss the first 2-3 trains because the people in front of you, queueing on the platform, are just so many and there is barely any space in the carriage.
Am i making this up ? You tell me:

people queueing at the platform, and the carriage will be just as full.

Coaches will have schedules such as "three times a day, except wednesdays, no holidays, no summertime, times are only published in the local newspaper, tickets must be bought from the train station 3 miles away".
Then you go there and the coach doesn't show up and you talk to the locals an they are like "today is the first monday of the month, MORON" and yo face like 0.o

 

[feralkid]

it's been bad since i was old enough to understand it was bad - somewhere during the 80s. And i have it from many people that it was bad before, as well. It's ... it's just the way we italians *are*. We don't do infrastructure well; the individual drivers might be good people, maybe even the depot chief too, but the higher you go up in the structure the larger failings you get.

Rome is 200 Km away from Naples. The two cities are in a straight line to each other.

The train takes FOUR HOURS. It always has. There are no obstacles, major centers, deviation along this way. But for SOME REASON the train will just f* stop in the middle of nowhere, for like 40 minutes at the time.

Very outdated and inaccurate info.

Where in Italy do you live?

Perhaps you haven't been riding Italian rail lately, but Rome to Naples Takes just 70 minutes on the Frecciarosa (high speed line).

There is also Italorail, a whole other corporation which also runs high speed on that line.

Sure, if you take the old "regionale" train, you may spend 3 1/2 to 4 hrs, but that's because it makes dozens of stops along the way.

You get what you pay for.

 

[zinfamous]

Do they still have the scheduled train strikes at least once a month? When I was over there ~2001-2002 for a few months, you had to make sure your weekend travel plans to other destinations within and without Italy didn't occur on the planned strike day(s).

It was rather annoying...but somewhat charming? after you got used to it. Not sure how I'd feel about it if I actually lived there, though.

 

[NetWareHead]

Id like to see what you would say if you tried driving in Italy and had forgone public transportation. Its like playing carmageddon. Traffic lights are a mere suggestion. We were honked at for stopping at a red light. Nobody pulls over for fire trucks or ambulances. And then there are the <i>motorini</i>, the scooters. The little piaggios, vespas etc... These people drive with a death wish. No helmets. 90 degree turns when changing lanes in heavy traffic. The taxis are another group of serious offenders. No kidding I saw a cab drive up onto a sidewalk and use the walkway to bypass a red light intersection. The pedestrians are the worst though. Old ladies, mothers pushing strollers, entire groups of students, nuns etc... step into the street with little regard for their own safety; presumably with the assumption the cars/trucks/buses will always stop. We happened to arrive in Napoli during rush hour around 5:00 PM and no kidding we almost killed 12 people in the span of 2.5 hours of gridlock driving to get to our hotel; I kept a running count of how many times we came inches away from murdering somebody. If you stop for every obstacle you wont get anywhere.

Driving in Italy reminds me of driving in rural Mexico or Domenican Republic. Now to be fair, the highways are fine. They have an automated speed control mechanism that fines you if you are caught speeding. You drive under these automated speed measuring devices spaced at regular intervals. They look like e-zpass or fast lane toll systems. Even the mountain roads that are wide enough for one car at a time were less stressful than the cities. And I agree with the statement made above that the more south you go the worse it is. Our recent honeymoon started us off in Venezia and the Dolomite Alps and we traveled down the peninsula leaving from Napoli. Most of the major northern cities were decent, Pisa, Firenze, Bologna etc... We began to notice a difference in Roma but Napoli took the cake. I cant even imagine what Sicily must be like...

 

[IronWing]

Who is that, some Spaniard?!

WTF? Italians can't spell for shit.

 

[DigDog]

Where in Italy do you live?

.

i'm trying really hard to phrase this in a nice way: i do not live in italy, and haven't since 2005. i'm sooo happy for you if there's a new service that doesn't suck balls, but i had given up on it as most others have. Also i'm curious if frecciarossa doesn't cost in the region of three times as much. And i'm still having a hard time believing it doesn't have any delays.

As for the corriere and the regular trams n buses, and the metro, yeah, that's exactly the same as it was when i left - unless something has somehow completely changed everything since 2016, last time i came to visit.

But it hasn't. i still speak with friends and everything's just the same. Here you need to wait 5 mintues for a bus, not 50.

 

[Exterous]

Id like to see what you would say if you tried driving in Italy and had forgone public transportation.

I've driven in Italy before but driving in cities is not my idea of a fun vacation activity so I try to avoid it as much as possible. Although that just means I get even angrier when I have to drive into work after over a week of not getting behind the wheel at all...

Buses don't have a electronic times schedule billboard

Not true - while they weren't everywhere we did see quite a few electronic bus schedule billboards while we were there.