I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The other night, on the way back from a review of every varitel, DOC and DOCG in Lazio, Abruzzo and Campania (can you actually get a degree in wine?), I walked passed the vap stop at the train station. For some reason, something caught my eye from behind the ticket booth. I wandered toward it, and there it was, the long-overdue prodigal of the Automatic Ticket Machine sitting just inside the station: a ticket machine that issues vaporetto tickets! And iMob passes! And Alilaguna tickets! And Venicecards! And event tickets! And that allows you to both apply for long term pass and print it immediately! It’s a miracle!

Maybe.

I don’t even know if it works. I haven’t seen a press release, or maybe I missed it. I’ve only seen this one machine, and have to say that I immediately started to imagine lines forming around it in summer heat. Will there be more machines, here at the train station, or placed at other stops like Piazzale Roma, San Zaccaria, Rialto, etc.? Does it even work yet?

Stay tuned…Maybe I’ll try it out the next time I top up my imob card. Or, try it out yourself, and let me know what happens (thought maybe I’d get in on the whole crowd-sourcing approach to things).