Rome Public Transport: Fares and Passes

Rome's integrated urban network combines buses, trams, trolleybuses, Metro A, B/B1 and C, and specified urban sections of regional rail. A Metrebus Roma ticket is a territory-based product, not a promise that every train or coach carrying the word Rome is included. ATAC lists its city tickets for travel within Roma Capitale on ATAC and Roma TPL surface services, the metro, urban Cotral journeys and the approved urban rail sections. Airport expresses and travel beyond the urban boundary need a separate check.

Use the metro for the long movement between sightseeing areas, then walk inside a compact cluster. Metro A is useful for the Ottaviano area near the Vatican Museums and for Spagna; Metro B serves Colosseo, Circo Massimo and Piramide; Metro C now runs between Pantano and Colosseo. These examples are orientation, not a complete itinerary. The historic centre is not covered by a dense grid of metro stations, so a bus, tram or walk often completes the route from a rail stop. Termini connects Metro A and B with many surface services, but changing there is not automatically quicker than using a direct surface route.

The official ATAC Roma app provides journey planning, scheduled information, arrival forecasts, ticket purchase, service status and accessibility information. Enter the actual origin, destination, date and time. A forecast is operational information, not a guarantee: road traffic, works, demonstrations and station incidents can change the trip. The official route planner and service notices should decide the final departure, while a static network map is best used to understand which mode connects the day's districts.

Group sights geographically before comparing tickets. Colosseo and the Roman Forum form one walkable cluster, while the Vatican area is a separate movement. A day built around two clusters may need only an outward and return fare; repeated crossings can justify a timed pass. Count chargeable journeys after the route is chosen rather than buying a pass because the network looks large.

The basic BIT costs €1.50 and is valid for 100 minutes from first validation. It covers buses, trams and trolleybuses, one metro journey, and the specified urban portions of Cotral and regional rail. A metro journey may include a transfer between metro lines without leaving the controlled area, subject to ATAC's interchange rules; leaving through the gates and entering again is not an unlimited second metro journey on the same BIT. Validate a paper or electronic ticket at the start and again when the published rules require it. Keep the ticket until the journey has ended.

The current unlimited urban products are ROMA 24H at €8.50, ROMA 48H at €15, ROMA 72H at €22 and CIS at €29. The first three run for 24, 48 or 72 hours from first validation. CIS follows a different clock: it is valid through midnight on the seventh day, including the validation day. Do not describe CIS as 168 rolling hours. All four cover unlimited journeys inside the stated Rome territory on the modes listed by ATAC, with the published airport and special-service exclusions.

A simple arithmetic check prevents waste. Five separately charged BITs cost €7.50, less than ROMA 24H; six cost €9, more than the €8.50 day ticket. For two days, ten BITs cost the same €15 as ROMA 48H. The timed product can still be useful below that count when its rolling validity crosses calendar days, but convenience is not a fare saving. Count journeys that require a new ticket, not every vehicle boarded during a valid transfer.

Roma Pass is a different product. Rome's official tourism site lists a 48-hour card at €38 and a 72-hour card at €62.90, including public transport plus a cultural-attraction package and P.Stop toilets. Compare it with the separate €15 or €22 transport travelcard only after deciding which included attractions you will actually use and checking their reservation rules. Buying Roma Pass solely for transport costs more at the listed prices. The transport inclusion does not turn excluded airport rail into an ordinary city journey.

Start with ticket validity rather than airport-route speed. The useful question on this page is where the Rome urban product begins. A Metrebus Roma ticket covers eligible travel inside its stated territory; it does not cover a service merely because that service finishes in Rome. Use the dedicated Rome airport-transfer guide for terminals, current departures and airport-only fares. Use this guide to decide whether the city portion needs BIT, a timed travelcard or Tap & Go.

At Fiumicino, integrated Metrebus tickets are not valid on the non-stop Leonardo express. Do not price an FL1 airport journey from the €1.50 BIT assumption either; check the selected train with Trenitalia. Begin the urban-ticket calculation at the Rome interchange where the airport product ends, then apply the validation and transfer rules of the city ticket or payment medium chosen for the next ride. (Trenitalia Leonardo express, checked 2026-09-08; Trenitalia Fiumicino connections, checked 2026-09-08)

Ciampino has a specific urban-network exception. Bus 520 connects the airport with Metro A at Cinecittà, while bus 720 connects it with Metro B at Laurentina. Roma Mobilità lists each at €1.50, and ATAC includes both routes in its urban products. Choose the bus by the useful metro corridor and final address. The inclusion belongs to these named routes; it does not extend to every private coach, Cotral product or combined rail-and-bus offer. (Roma Mobilità Ciampino, checked 2026-09-08; ATAC tickets and passes, checked 2026-09-08)

Keep the airport product and the city-day calculation on separate lines. A Fiumicino arrival may reach Rome before the first BIT or contactless tap. A Ciampino arrival on 520 or 720 can start the urban product at the airport, with the following metro handled under that product's interchange rules. Count chargeable urban journeys instead of vehicles, and keep airport concessions attached to the operator that publishes them.

Tap & Go is the simplest option for one adult using a compatible contactless bank card or payment device. Tap at the reader on every boarding or required interchange and wait for the green confirmation. Taps inside the same 100-minute validity period do not create another charge when ATAC's transfer rules apply. Use the exact same card or device throughout: a physical card and its wallet version count as different payment media, even if they draw from the same bank account. One payment card cannot validate simultaneous travel for a companion.

ATAC's best-fare system charges €1.50 BITs and applies the €8.50 ROMA 24H fare when the sixth separately charged BIT is reached within 24 hours of the first tap. This cap is not the same as automatically buying 48-hour, 72-hour or weekly products. It also depends on using the same payment medium. A pre-authorisation visible in a banking app is not by itself the final journey total; use MyAtac or the completed bank charges when reconciliation matters. For Cotral urban buses or Metromare and the urban Roma-Viterbo railway, ATAC requires its Tap & Go Android NFC app for inspection, so a paper or digital ticket may be more practical for an iPhone user on those modes.

Metro is usually the predictable choice for the long part of a central journey, but station access matters. ATAC reports that all metro stations except Spagna, Barberini, Repubblica and Vittorio Emanuele have lifts or stair lifts connecting to platforms for reduced-mobility access. It also advises checking current station accessibility before travel. The bus fleet is reported as fully equipped with boarding platforms and wheelchair areas, while 70% of trams have low-floor boarding. These fleet percentages do not guarantee that a particular stop, lift or arriving vehicle will work for an individual journey.

Surface travel fills the gaps in the historic centre and can avoid a long walk between a metro station and the destination. The official daytime surface network runs broadly from 05:00 to 23:30 by last departures, but each line has its own schedule and road conditions. Use arrival forecasts as forecasts. When step-free access or a timed booking matters, check the named station, stop and vehicle path rather than relying on the general network claim.

Do not board with an unvalidated paper ticket. ATAC requires validation at the beginning of the journey and when transferring to the metro under the ticket rules; the ticket must be kept for inspection. Do not assume that possession, purchase time or a receipt starts a paper travelcard correctly. For digital tickets, follow that channel's activation instructions before the required validation point. With Tap & Go, look for the green confirmation and tap again at required changes even when the continuing transfer should not create a new charge.

Do not confuse 100 minutes with unlimited metro entries. The BIT permits one metro journey under ATAC's controlled-area interchange rules. Do not leave a station to meet someone or use a different entrance and expect the same ticket to reopen the gates. Do not mix a plastic bank card and the same card in a phone wallet: ATAC treats them as different devices, which can break transfer and best-fare calculation. Each accompanying adult needs a separate payment card or another valid ticket.

Do not extend an urban product to Fiumicino because it is sold at an airport information point. The place of purchase does not change the validity area. Leonardo express needs its own valid ticket, and ATAC identifies special Fiumicino connections as excluded. Conversely, buses 520 and 720 to Ciampino are specifically included in the urban product. Keep those two airport rules separate. Children up to age ten travel free with a paying adult on eligible services inside Roma Capitale, but ATAC publishes different rules for Trenitalia vehicles and special connections; confirm the rule for the actual airport route.

Do not treat the final metro departure as the end of all transport. Roma Mobilità currently lists first terminal departures around 05:30 and last terminal departures around 23:30 Sunday through Thursday, with later Friday and Saturday service. ATAC's July 2026 night plan names nMA, nMB, nMB1 and nMC as the routes replacing Metro A, B/B1 and C after the last trains; enhanced Saturday-night service is scheduled every 8–10 minutes. Those are scheduled patterns, not guarantees for a particular stop. Check the live route and direction before leaving a venue, and allow time to find the night-bus stop, which may not be beside the daytime entrance.