Guide to using buses in Rome: how to pay for public transport and where to buy bus tickets in Rome

In Rome you’ll walk a lot, and walking is never a bad option here. When the distances or the heat make it less appealing, the metro is the fastest way to cross the city, but there are only three lines (the newest, line C, is still expanding, with recent stops at Colosseo and Fori Imperiali), and they leave out a good part of Rome: Trastevere, Monteverde, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona all sit well away from a metro stop. That’s where buses and trams take over, and where you’ll end up spending most of your rides. The good news is that paying has become much simpler: tap a contactless card straight onto the reader and you’re done, no ticket needed. A standard ticket costs €1.50, lasts 100 minutes and works on all three.

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How much do buses cost in Rome?

Bus tickets cost €1.50 and are valid for 100 minutes from first activation. Remember, as soon as you get on the bus you must validate your ticket in the machine found near the doors. Not validating your ticket is the same as not having one and you are risking a fine from €100 to €500, reduced to €50 if you pay within five days. If the ticket validation machine isn’t working, use a pen and write the date and time you got on the bus, this way you won’t risk any fine.

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How the ticket works and what it covers

One ticket covers everything: buses, trams and the metro all use the same BIT, which costs €1.50 and lasts 100 minutes from the moment you validate it. Within those 100 minutes you can take as many buses and trams as you like, changing as often as you need, but only one metro journey.

You can change between metro lines on the same ticket, though you can’t go back through the turnstiles between lines A, B, B1 and C. The only exception is the change between line A and line C.

What’s not covered by Rome public transport tickets

While the same ticket will allow you to travel on buses, trams and metros, they aren’t valid for other means of transportation. These include:

How to pay for buses in Rome

There’s no buying a ticket from the driver in Rome (except on a few lines). The quickest way to pay is simply to tap a contactless card as you board, but if you’d rather have a physical ticket there are plenty of places to get one. Here are all the options.

Tap & Go

You can skip the ticket machines entirely and use Tap & Go: just tap your contactless card, or your phone or smartwatch, at the metro turnstiles or on the readers on board buses and trams. It charges you a standard €1.50 BIT, valid 100 minutes, with no ticket to buy in advance and nothing to validate. The clever part is the daily cap: if you tap more than five times in 24 hours with the same card, the system automatically switches you to the €8.50 daily fare, so you never pay more than a ROMA 24H ticket.

Two rules to remember: one card per person, so everyone travelling with you needs their own card or device, and always use the same card all day, because if you alternate between phone and card the cap doesn’t add up. If an inspector boards, just show the card or the wallet you tapped with.

Tap & Go works on all ATAC and Roma TPL buses and trams, across the whole metro network and on the urban stretches of the Roma-Lido and Roma-Viterbo lines. It does not work on the Leonardo Express, Cotral regional buses or Trenitalia regional trains.

Tabacchi Shops

In Italy, Tabacchi shops are the go-to shops for many different purposes: buying cigarettes, buying public transportation tickets and paying your bills, to name a few. Just go to any Tabacchi in Rome (the shops with the black and white T sign) to purchase your bus ticket. If you’re staying in Rome for a while and are planning on using the public transportation system often, we recommend you get a monthly pass, which you can top up at most Tabacchi shops.

Edicola (newsstands)

The newsstands you see spread around the city are called edicole. In addition to purchasing magazines and newspapers, they also sell bus tickets.

Ticketing Apps

If you’d rather buy on your phone, the main option is MooneyGo, the app formerly known as myCicero, which sells ATAC tickets and passes and works with more than 140 transport operators across Italy, so it’s useful well beyond Rome. You need to add a payment method or top up your wallet before buying, so set it up before you travel rather than at the bus stop. ATAC also accepts tickets bought through other partner apps, including Telepass, Wetaxi and Urbi, and all of them display a digital ticket you show to inspectors.

Metro Stations

Buses, trams and the metro all use the same tickets, so the self-service machines in every metro station are one of the easiest places to buy. You’ll find the €1.50 single ticket, the MULTIBIT with ten rides for €15, the ROMA 24, 48 and 72-hour tickets and the weekly CIS card. The machines take cards and cash and switch to English. The queues at Termini can be long in high season, so if you have a contactless card, tapping straight at the turnstile saves you the wait.

Roma Pass

If you’re in Rome for a few days and plan to visit museums, the Roma Pass combines unlimited public transport with free or reduced entry to the city’s cultural sites. It’s sold in 48 and 72-hour versions and can be bought online before you arrive.

Buy your 48 or 72 Hours Roma Pass

Types of public transport tickets in Rome

Beyond the single BIT, there are tickets for unlimited travel. The ROMA tourist tickets cost €8.50 for 24 hours, €15 for 48 hours and €22 for 72 hours, each valid from first validation. If you’ll be taking several rides a day without needing a full pass, a MULTIBIT gives you ten single tickets for €15. For a longer stay, the weekly CIS card costs €29 and runs until midnight on the seventh day, while a monthly pass is €35, or €53 for the transferable version that more than one person can use. Children up to the age of 10 travel free when accompanied by a paying adult.

Worth knowing: if you use Tap & Go, you don’t need to work any of this out. Tap more than five times in 24 hours with the same card and the system charges you €8.50, the price of the daily ticket, automatically.

Rome Bus Map

Clik here to download the Rome City Centre Bus Map