How to Take Rome's Bus and Metro

5 Tips on Using Rome's Transportation System

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As mentioned, Rome's transportation system if often vilified, but the truth is, it's far more useful than it seems at first glance. Not only can it pretty much take you anywhere in the city for a euro fifty, it can also take you out of the city to Ostia, Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, and even as far as the city of Viterbo.

Rome's Metro.

Plus, if that weren't enough, Rome's current mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, is pushing to make public transportation free for everyone—including tourists. It could be, by the time you're reading this, it's free to travel within Rome!

Even if it is free, there are still a few tips and tricks I wanted to pass on, to make the experience easier.

But first...

How to buy a ticket on Rome's bus and Metro

I cannot stress this enough. Do not ride in Rome without a ticket. It feels attractive, sure, since there is no one around to see if you've stamped your ticket or not. But if you're caught, it's a minimum of a 55 euro fine, and that goes up to 400 euros. As I mentioned in this article, tickets are available at edicola, tabacci, and at Metro stations.

As mentioned in our article here, they have recently put in card machines on all the buses that will accept contactless payments (cards that can be tapped). So if you have a card on you, or on your phone, it's best to tap it to pay if you forgot a ticket.

When the ticket checkers who come around to verify that you paid using your credit card/debit card, they do so by tapping the card to their device to see if they get confirmation of a recent purchase. Rarely, it's possible that their machine will show a negative. Meaning, you didn't pay. The best thing to do in this situation is to, if you can, bring up your recent transactions on your bank app to show them you did, in fact, use the card.

And now, let's talk about some tips that will help you take Rome's bus and Metro.

If you're interested in the hop-on, hop-off tours instead, you can check out our link below. We don't represent Viator or Big Bus Tours, but if you book through our link, we receive a small commission.

1. When you get on board, don't stop

It's natural to want to get on the Metro or bus and have a look around, see if you can spot any empty seats. However, chances are, there are a few people behind you who are impatiently trying to get on as well, and standing in the doorway can cause the bus or Metro to leave late.

Plus, it's not uncommon for people to run to the bus or Metro and throw themselves through the door at the last minute. So if you're standing in the door, looking for seats, you might get hit from behind by someone who can't afford to miss the bus/Metro.

The best thing to do is get on and immediately choose a direction (if you got on the middle door of the bus, or any door of the Metro). Left or right, move forward until everyone is on the bus.

Getting on the front or back of a Metro (and so, standing at one of the very far edges of the platform) gives you a far higher chance of finding a seat. Everyone seems to get on in the middle of the Metro, so either end tends to have a few free seats.

2. Hailing the bus

Believe it or not, the buses in Rome (and in many cities) don't stop unless there's someone who needs to get off or someone who needs to get on. This is unlike the Metro (and even the tram) which will stop at every stop.

I can't even begin to tell you the number of times that my partner and I were on a bus and watched it go past a filled bus stop because no one at the bus stop flagged down the bus. This is because most bus stops might have multiple buses servicing the same stop, and the drivers don't know who needs the bus until someone hails them. I feel awful as soon as we speed past and there's an immediate look of "Oh my god, we just missed the bus, what are we going to do?" on the face of the people waiting.

So you don't end up like this, the best thing to do is, when you see the bus you need, stick out your arm, like you're hailing a taxi.

Don't put your arm down until you see them put on their blinker. Sometimes, I've hailed a bus and I put down my arm too soon, and the bus driver takes this as a sign of "Nevermind, not the bus I thought I needed."

3. Checking the Metro direction

Thankfully, the Metro system only has two subways, and each run back and forth from Point A to Point B. However, even with this simplicity, we used to get on the wrong subways often, thinking they were going in the direction that we needed to go.

In each of the Metro stations, there will be a sign that says "In XYZ Direction" and a line map next to it. If the stop you need is "highlighted" rather than grayed-out, then that's the line you need!

If you're staying at a hotel or AirBnB on the Metro line, it can be helpful to know which direction you're staying in (Battistini, Anagina, Jonio, Rebibbia, Laurentina) in order to have an easy idea of how to get back, i.e. "We're staying near the Vatican at the Ottaviano stop, so we're almost always going in the direction of Battistini to go home."

4. Get on in the middle of the bus

I mentioned this earlier in the article, but in nearly all of Italy (it's possible that it's Italy-wise, but just to be safe, I'll just say "most") it's common to get on the middle of the bus. Most buses have three doors: the middle door for embarking, and a rear and front door for disembarking. Of course, in true Roman fashion, this isn't adhered to 100%. However, as a tourist, it's often best to adopt the intended practice rather than the ol' adage of "do as Romans do". To be clear, there's no penalty for using the wrong door, but it can make getting on and off the bus a lot easier if you do use the correct door. Plus, when you go north to Florence or any other city, it will be expected that you do use the correct door for the intended practice.

5. Use Google Maps

I know, this is such a cop-out, however, if you're visiting Rome for a few night and you've planned part of your stay around proximity to a bus stop, it can also be valuable to get familiar with the Google Maps app. You can choose any two points and it will find the relevant bus between the two points, how soon the next one is coming, and approximately how long the journey will take.

Plus, because it's almost impossible to see the name of the bus stops (it's written in the tiniest font on top of the bus schedule), you can use the map to figure out where you can and get off when you're close to your destination.

Bonus 6. Hop on, Hop off and other tours

If you're only in Rome for a few days and you're not sure how to make the best use of the time, you can try a guided tour, either through the hop-on, hop-off buses, or through the private golf cart tours. They will hit all the major sites without you having to worry about navigating the bus system yourself.

Below you can find affiliate links for three of the tours we recommend. We are not employed by these companies, and if you book through them, we receive a small commission. These are our recommendations and we do not represent any of these businesses.