# MISC | Buying train tickets from a regular shop



## poshbakerloo (Jan 16, 2007)

I'm in Italy on holiday done quite a bit of traveling around on the train, but one thing I don't understand is why you have to buy train and bus tickets in a shop unrelated to the station. Why isn't there a machine or a ticket office (I know some larger stations have them) or like in the UK on small lines, buy on the train?


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## Momo1435 (Oct 3, 2005)

There aren't ticket machines because it's Italy, there isn't a ticket office since you don't really see ticket offices anymore in smaller towns in most European countries.

Using regular shops to sell tickets is actually a good solution to still give this service to the passengers, even if there's a ticket machine. 

And it's not just something limited to train tickets, you often see that banks or the postal system also uses normal shops to provide service if their own offices are closed down in smaller towns.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Please post all new threads in the thread finder.


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## zaphod (Dec 8, 2005)

In Houston and Dallas you can get transit and toll road passes at grocery stores. The latter is probably more important and useful in those cities, of course.

In Chicago, if you want to buy the almost mythical single day "CTA fun pass" you have to go a "Currency Exchange", a chain of cash shops for wiring money, etc. Don't trust CTA's website or mobile app, some of the ticket vending machines that do passes have them disabled. Particularly O'Hare and Rosemont, so if you are a tourist coming into the city, well, sorry  Thankfully on my last trip the nice CTA lady at Rosemont station gave me directions and let me go through the fare gate with a one-way ticket.


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