How to ride public transportation in Rome

Rome doesn’t make you think hard about which ticket to buy. One ticket — the BIT — covers the metro, city buses, trams, and trolleybuses for 100 minutes, and the same card taps onto the regional trains that reach into the suburbs. The catch is the city itself: three-thousand-year-old streets don’t leave much room for a modern subway, so the metro network is thinner than you’d expect for a capital this size, and buses fill in the rest.

The basics

Four bodies run the network you’ll actually use:

• Metro has four lines — A (Battistini to Anagnina, crossing the center near the Spanish Steps and Termini), B/B1 (Rebibbia/Conca d’Oro to Laurentina, serving the Colosseum and EUR), and C, the newest line, built slowly around ancient ruins that keep turning up during construction. In December 2025, Metro C finally reached the center: it now stops at Colosseo/Fori Imperiali, right at the Colosseum, where it connects to Metro B.
• ATAC also runs city buses (the backbone of the network — useful lines run every few minutes, others every 20–30), trams, trolleybuses, and three suburban railways: Roma–Lido (to Ostia), Roma–Viterbo, and Roma–Giardinetti.
• Trenitalia runs the regional FL trains that cross the city and reach Fiumicino Airport, plus the premium Leonardo Express airport train.
• COTRAL runs the green regional buses that head out into Lazio beyond Rome’s edge, including a couple of routes toward Ciampino Airport.

How to pay

You’ve got two ways to ride, and neither requires planning ahead:

1. Tap a contactless bank card or your phone right at any metro turnstile, or on the reader aboard any bus or tram. It’s accepted everywhere on the network — metro, surface lines, the works — and if you tap the same card all day, the system automatically charges you the cheaper day-pass rate instead of stacking up single fares, so there’s no real downside to just tapping every time.
2. Buy a BIT ticket (paper or digital) from a metro station machine, a tobacconist or newsstand (there are roughly 2,700 authorized resellers around the city), or the official ATAC Roma app.

Whichever you use, validate at the start of every ride — tap or stamp the ticket the moment you board or enter the turnstile, even if you’re switching from a bus to the metro. An unvalidated or re-validated ticket counts as no ticket at all if an inspector checks.

Fares

Kids up to age 10 ride free. If you’re staying a month, residents pay €35 for an unlimited monthly pass — not something most visitors need, but it tells you how cheap this system runs for the people who live here.

Fare inspectors do check, and riding without a valid ticket costs €100–500, cut to €50 if you pay within 5 days — and if an inspector catches you on the spot, you’ll need a card or phone to pay, since cash to the inspector isn’t accepted.

Getting from the airport

Rome has two airports. Nearly all international flights land at Fiumicino (FCO); budget and charter carriers often use Ciampino (CIA) instead.

From Fiumicino:

• The Leonardo Express is the easy option: a non-stop train straight to Roma Termini in 32 minutes, every 15 minutes, for €14. Trains run Termini→FCO from 05:38 to 23:27 and FCO→Termini from 04:50 to 23:05. Your BIT or Metrebus ticket does not cover this train — you need the dedicated Leonardo Express fare.
• The FL1 regional train is the budget move: it’s the same station, but the train makes local stops (Trastevere, Ostiense, Tuscolana, Tiburtina, and beyond) instead of running non-stop. A single ticket to any station within Rome’s “Zona Anello” costs €8 — and a standard BIT or Metrebus ticket works too. It runs every 15 minutes on weekdays and every 30 on weekends and holidays.

From Ciampino, there’s no train to the terminal. Your options:

• ATAC city buses — line 720 to Roma Laurentina (Metro B) or line 520 to Roma Cinecittà/Subaugusta (Metro A) — both take a standard €1.50 BIT ticket.
• Private coaches (SIT, Terravision, Rome Airport Bus–Schiaffini) run direct to Roma Termini for a separate fare.

Apps to download

• ATAC Roma — the official app: buy and activate tickets, see real-time arrivals, and check which stations are step-free.
• Google Maps — dependable step-by-step routing across metro, bus, tram, and regional rail.
• Moovit — a popular alternative for live bus and tram arrival times.

When it runs

The metro runs 05:30 to 23:30 every day, stretching to about 01:30 on Friday and Saturday nights. There’s no true 24-hour service, but a network of night buses (routes starting with a lowercase “n” — nMA, nMB, nMB1, nMC, nME) traces the metro lines overnight once the trains stop, so you’re never fully stranded — just slower.

Frequent bus and tram lines run every few minutes through the day; many quiet down substantially by mid-evening, so don’t count on a quick wait after dark off the main routes.

Accessibility

Every metro station is step-free except Spagna, Barberini, Repubblica, Vittorio Emanuele, and San Giovanni — all on Line A. At several other Line A stations without elevators, a staff-operated stairlift is available by phone reservation (06 46954444, Sunday–Thursday 5:00am–9:30pm, Friday–Saturday 5:00am–11:30pm). Elsewhere, elevators are the norm — but Rome’s are old infrastructure, so check ATAC’s real-time status page or the ATAC Roma app before you rely on one.

Etiquette & local quirks

• Validate every single time, including transfers — a ticket that hasn’t been tapped or stamped is treated as no ticket at all, monthly pass or not.
• Rush hour on Line A and Line B is genuinely packed, especially the Termini–San Giovanni–Colosseo stretch now that Metro C connects there too.
• Buses fill in for the metro’s gaps — if a route looks indirect, it’s usually because it’s routing around a hill or a ruin the metro can’t tunnel through.

Good to know

• Rome has two airports — double-check which one your flight uses. Ciampino is common for low-cost carriers and has no train link, so budget extra time for the bus.
• Skip Leonardo Express if you’re on a budget — the FL1 regional train serves the same station for close to half the price, and takes a standard transit ticket.
• Fare enforcement is real. Inspectors do board buses and trains, and the fine is steep enough that it’s not worth chancing a ride without a validated ticket.