Caught without a valid ticket (€60 notice)

Sort it inside the deadline — the paths differ:

1. You actually had a valid personal ticket (semester ticket, Deutschlandticket) but not with you: go to the transit company's service centre or website within the stated deadline (often 14 days) with the ticket — the fee typically drops to ~€7.
2. You genuinely had no ticket: pay the €60 within the deadline. It's a civil fee at this stage; unpaid, it goes to Inkasso and grows.
3. Never sign anything you don't understand at the check beyond confirming your identity, and never give a false name or address — that turns a fee into a criminal matter instantly.
4. Know the real risk: repeated fare-dodging can be prosecuted (Beförderungserschleichung) — and any criminal record is poison for residence-permit processes. One €63 monthly ticket is cheaper than one prosecution.
5. Dispute only with substance (e.g. the app ticket was valid but scanned badly) — in writing, with screenshots, before the deadline.