public transport in rome
in rome
public transport in rome
in rome
HOW TO TRAVEL BY
Public Transport in Rome
Sure, you can absolutely walk from the Colosseum to Saint Peter’s Basilica.
But if you don’t fancy pounding the pavement for 45 minutes, you can make the most of the city’s public transport network instead. We don’t want you to end up getting lost, so we’ve put together this handy guide just for you.
HERE’S WHAT
YOU NEED TO KNOW
- There are two underground train lines (A/orange and B/blue) that only cross at Termini, Rome’s biggest train station. Now, there is also a third line (C/green). But only part of it is in use because construction work is still ongoing. There are plenty of buses, not very many trams and a decent urban railway network (Trenino).
- There’s no general overview of all the lines and departure times.
- The metro only runs during the day, so you have to travel by bus at night.
- Make sure you keep a close eye on your belongings. Never carry your phone or money in your pockets. (Let’s not make life too easy for pickpockets on public transport!)
- Bus drivers unfold a ramp to help passengers in wheelchairs get on and off the bus.
Prices
and Tickets
Prices
Single: EUR 1.50 (max. journey time of 100 minutes in one direction, with changes included).
Children aged 10 and under travel for free.
Tickets are valid across the whole Rome ATAC Zone (including trains and urban trains to places like Ostia/Lido).
Important info! Fiumicino Airport is not inside this zone.
Top tip:
Since we’re talking about getting around by bus…
Why not explore the city on a hop-on, hop-off bus!
Transportation tips
overview
Moovit app
find out more
Tickets
find out more
Signage
find out more
Travel vocabulary
find out more
Roma Pass
find out more
Tip 1
Moovit app
I would go as far as saying that you MUST download the app if you’re planning to travel around Rome on public transport.
Sure, you can more or less trust Google Maps to tell you when the next train/bus is leaving and where the stop/station is. But Moovit is linked to the public transport network, so you can check it for updates on which lines are running and whether there’s a strike (which is at least once a month). Best of all, Moovit counts the stations on your journey and tells you when you’ve reached your destination. (You have to activate location services to use that feature.)
If you’re not convinced that you’d need this service, you’ve clearly never travelled by bus in Rome before! You usually won’t have any idea about which stop is coming up next because it won’t be announced or shown anywhere 🙂
Tip 2
Tickets
Buy your ticket before you travel from a kiosk, a Tabacchi (a tobacco shop with a T on the sign outside it), a ticket office at a train station or a ticket machine at a metro station.
Try to use the right money in the ticket machines if you can because they don’t always give change. And just be aware that the ticket machines in Rome don’t accept card payments. You cannot buy your ticket on the bus, tram, urban train or underground train. You also have to validate your ticket before you start your journey (on the bus/tram or at the urban/underground train station).
Remember! Keep hold of your ticket until you’ve left the metro station because you might need it to exit at some stations.
Tip 3
Signage
Underground stations have an M for metro outside them.
You can spot bus and tram stops by looking out for yellow or green signs. Planning to check the departure times on those signs? I’m going to have to disappoint you, I’m afraid. It’s not as easy as you might expect! Here’s a quick guide to reading the signs:
U means buses that run during the day.
E means buses that only run on bank holidays.
N refers to night buses.
X refers to all express bus services.
The name of the stop you’re waiting at appears right at the top of the sign. This will normally be accompanied by the rest of the stops on the bus/tram line. The route follows from the top down. So the stop under the stop you’re currently waiting at is the next one and so on.
Tip 4
Travel vocabulary
To start with, it can be a bit annoying to constantly hear noisy passengers saying the same old Italian words and phrases before each stop, rather than the sound of the stop button being pressed. The locals seem to have an irrational fear that they won’t be able to get off the bus for some reason, so they go out of their way to check where the people around them are travelling to.
Here are some handy words and phrases that should avoid you staring back at people with a confused look on your face…
– “Permesso” (pronounced as you’d expect) means something along the lines of “May I”. This is used by Italians to ask other passengers to move when they’re getting ready to get off the bus.
– “Scende/Scendi” (pronounced: Schende, Schendi) means “Are you getting off here?” Italians will ask you this when they want to get off at the next stop, so they can get past everyone and make their way to the door in plenty of time. (In more than plenty of time if you ask me – especially when you think about how laid back they are usually). They also seem to expect other passengers to ask them this before they want to get off themselves…
– “Si” or “No” (pronounced as you’d expect) mean “Yes” and “No”. So now you know how to answer the previous question.
Tip 5
The Roma Pass
Public transport is included with the Roma Pass.
When you activate the pass, it is validated and your 48 or 72 hours begins. The Roma Pass gives you discounts on tickets to many of the museums as well as free travel on the local public transport network (Trenitalia FL trains are not included). The best thing about the Roma Pass is that you don’t have to worry about which ticket you need to buy or panic about where and how to buy it 🙂
Find out more about the Roma Pass here.
STRENGTH LIES
IN PEACE
You can’t truly understand the saying “Strength lies in peace” until you’ve tried to get around on public transport in Rome or attempted to understand how the system works.
The public transport system does work somehow even though it may sometimes drive you to despair. The worst bit about it is that you can end up with a massive wait for the next bus. Even though this might be super annoying, try to focus on the positives. Remember that a problem shared is a problem halved. Waiting around for a bus might present you with a nice opportunity to get chatting and meet new people. You’ll find that it also slows down the pace and gives you a chance to take a break from all the sightseeing. You could always use the extra time wisely and read up about the top sights and attractions in the city like Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Colosseum 🙂
But you know what it’s like – as soon as you start wishing you had more time, it ends up flying by even more quickly than you were expecting.
All of the prices and information shared on this page were correct as of April 2022. We can’t guarantee that these details won’t change!
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2020 – 2024
With support from Susanne Vukan
Other image rights:
Official page of the Roman public transport: https://www.atac.roma.it/
www.moovit.com and Moovit App
www.romapass.it
Other
Practical tips for rome
From the airport to the city
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Districts of Rome
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Bank Holidays
coming soon
Parks in Rome
coming soon