The problem is not new:
Yeah, this is annoying that the app try to be smarter than you selling you a ticket valid from the time of departure of the connection you see in the app. For this reason I tend to use ongoing tickets only in ZVV area. I activate it at the time of departure and leave it active until return if it's just for shopping. I only bother to deactivate it if I'm going to stay somewhere for ~1h or more.
So, if you suddenly find out that you've forgotten to buy ticket you suggest to continue your journey without a ticket instead of buying the ticket from the next stop? Why?
And why is it a wrong ticket? Imagine that a person leaves a train on the next stop (which is a reasonable thing to do if you find out that you don't have a ticket) and immediately enters the same train again but now with a valid ticked. Would it be wrong?
I think we discussed this already in the forum. A lady took SBB to court because she got a fine for boarding an earlier train that came late, as her ticket validity started only after that train should have left. I can't remember if she won the case.
In any case, due to numerous complaints, in the past year the app has been updated an now the app will show you a choice to buy a ticket valid immediately , even if you have been looking up a particular train/tram/bus leaving in the future.
I decided not to contest it in the end, because we are traveling and I didn't want it to go to the Betreibungsamt when it doesn't work and I'm out of town. But I've definitely learned my lesson. Thanks for the replies.
If i am not wrong, she lost as the rules clearly exclude late trains from the scope of the ticket. She should have waited for the right train or bought an earlier ticket
Actually that is wrong - regular tickets are valid from the time on them
ZVV 3.8.1
Single tickets, stamped fields on multi-journey tickets and short-term group tickets are valid for the following periods:
Local network (tariff level 1): 1/2 hour
Short distance (tariff level 9): 1/2 hour
1-2 and 3 zones (tariff levels 2 and 3): 1 hour
4 and more zones (fare levels 4 - 8): 2 hours.
24-hour tickets, stamped fields of multi-24-hour tickets and 24-hour group tickets are valid for 24 hours from the time they are issued or stamped.
They're even more explicit on the day tickets:
ZVV 3.8.3
9 a.m. day passes and stamped fields of the multi-ticket 9 a.m. day pass are valid as follows on the day of issue or validation:
Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. ( the effective departure time is decisive, not the timetable ) until 5:00 a.m. of the following day.
You both can be correct. Posting todays rule is not relevant for a case which has happened in the past. In the past the rule might have been that you need a valid ticket for scheduled departure time, while today (actually already for many, many years) the rule is that you need a valid ticket at actual departure time (Still: with FairTiq/Easyride you need a valid activation BEFORE you BOARD !!)
That's a fair point - the current rules for pricing and validity are quite recent (1.6.2023) but as it doesn't highlight what changed you'd have to ask for the relevant version at the time of travel.
But I very much doubt they've ever said you can't get on a late running train with a ticket valid according to the time, it would cause chaos. It couldn't work for buses where there's no roadside indication of what service it is.