To buy a ticket just sms ATAF! Just send a text “Ataf” to the number 339 9941264 and within seconds get an alphanumeric code back to show to the controller for verification. Isn’t that cool! No additional cost to passengers, its the same euro and 20 cents. So instead of buying a ticket on board which costs 2 euros and one must have the right amount with him, one can just send an sms to solve the problem.

Its a normal 90 minutes ticket for now plus of course the charge of a normal message according to the tariffs of your phone operator. To be able to buy tickets via SMS you must have a credit card (Visa or Master card) which will be charged for the ticket. The purchase, as all SMS payments in Italy, works only after registering prior to the service: Passengers must register(iscriviti in Italian) only once to the site Bemoov, managed by the consortium.

Thats not all! The service also kicks off “TempoReale Ataf” which, thanks to a satellite monitoring lets you know exactly what time the bus passes through a particular stop SMS messages and the site www.temporealeataf.it simply logs on to site from your computer or mobile phone and enters the number in the search window, then selects the station of interest (indicating the code on the poles) to verify the bus arrivals in the next 20 minutes.
Alternatively, to get the exact step of the bus timetable information you can send an SMS message to the number indicating the line number 3424112512 along with the code of the stop to receive within a few seconds an SMS with the complete timetable.

Unfortunately for now the website is just in Italian…the important thing is that at least slowly slowly there are always more options for a solution. Till then those who do not know Italian and still find themselves in a situation of not having a ticket before going onboard, one can take it from the parking machines(the signs with the letter P in white and blue) as well! Just insert the 1 euro and 20 cents in the machine and keep the ticket to show the controller. The ticket will be valid f0r 80 minutes from purchase.

special thanks to virtualtourist

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