Contactless in Rome

Yes, on ATAC's metro, buses and trams, and not on the airport coaches. ATAC calls it tap&go, and it takes your own contactless card, phone or watch — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, V Pay, Maestro or UnionPay. On the metro you tap the reader on the turnstile at any station on lines A, B/B1 and C and the gate opens. On a bus, a tram or a trolleybus you tap the reader on board and wait for the green light. There is no tap out anywhere in Rome: the first tap buys a €1.50 BIT that lasts 100 minutes and the price is fixed at that moment.

What the 100 minutes buys differs by mode, and this is the part that catches people. On the surface it is unlimited changes — bus to tram to trolleybus, day or night lines — but you must tap again on every vehicle you board. A re-tap inside the window is a validation, not a second charge, and skipping it is what turns an inspection into a fine of between €100 and €500, reduced to €50 if you pay within 5 days of the notice. On the metro the same ticket is one entry only: you may change between A, B/B1 and C without leaving the turnstiles, but once you go back out you tap and pay again.

A busy day stops getting more expensive on its own. Tap the same card or device a sixth time within 24 hours of your first tap and that sixth tap, and every one after it, is charged at €8.50 — the price of the Roma 24-hour ticket — instead of another BIT. It has to be the same physical card each time, so do not start the day with the card and finish it with the phone.

Two extensions come with conditions worth reading before you rely on them. Cotral's regional buses and ATAC's Roma–Lido and Roma–Viterbo urban rail are covered, but only if you have ATAC's free Tap&Go app installed to show staff when they check on board: there is no Cotral reader to tap, and the app runs on Android with NFC and nowhere else. On Trenitalia's FL regional lines inside the Metrebus Roma zone, second class, you do not tap either — you show the conductor the card you paid with, or read out its PAN troncato, the first six and last four digits.

The airport is separate from all of it. Trenitalia's Leonardo Express to Fiumicino has its own readers beside the departure platforms and a flat €14 fare, and Metrebus tickets are not valid on it at all. The airport coaches — Terravision, SIT Bus Shuttle, Rome Airport Bus and TAM — take a bank card at their own checkout to sell you a ticket, but none of them has a reader to tap. So pick one card, tap it at the turnstile and on board every vehicle you get on, and buy the airport leg separately.

Yes, at every station on all three lines. ATAC's tap&go readers are fitted to the turnstiles across lines A, B/B1 and C: hold your contactless card, phone or watch against one, wait for the green light, and the turnstile releases. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, V Pay, Maestro and UnionPay all work, and there is nothing to buy or register first. The tap charges a €1.50 BIT and there is no tap out, so the fare is settled the moment you go in.

On the metro that ticket is worth one entry, not 100 minutes of metro. You can change between A, B/B1 and C — and at San Giovanni you cross the turnstiles to change between A and C — without paying again, but the moment you leave the gateline your next entry is another tap and another fare. Travelling without a valid tap risks an administrative fine of €100 to €500, reduced to €50 if you pay within 5 days of the notice.

Use the same card or device all day and the sixth tap within 24 hours of the first is charged €8.50, the price of the Roma 24-hour ticket, and so is every tap after it. So tap in with one card, keep it in the same pocket, and change lines inside the barriers rather than walking out and back in.

Yes, on every ATAC bus, day or night. Each vehicle carries a tap&go reader: tap your contactless card, phone or watch on it as you board and wait for the green light. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, V Pay, Maestro and UnionPay are accepted, there is nothing to buy first, and there is no tap out. The tap charges a €1.50 BIT good for 100 minutes, and inside that window you can change onto any other bus, tram or trolleybus as often as you like — but you must tap again on each one. That re-tap costs nothing; not doing it is what turns an inspection into a fine of €100 to €500, reduced to €50 if you pay within 5 days of the notice. Tap the same card a sixth time inside 24 hours of your first tap and that tap, and every one after it, is charged €8.50, the price of the Roma 24-hour ticket.

Cotral's regional buses are the exception, and not because they refuse your card. Cotral is covered by tap&go only through ATAC's free Tap&Go app, shown to staff when they check on board — there is no reader on a Cotral coach to tap at all, and the app runs on Android phones with NFC and nothing else. The airport coaches are outside the system entirely: Terravision, SIT Bus Shuttle, Rome Airport Bus and TAM each sell you a ticket at their own checkout, where a bank card pays but never validates.

So tap as you get on any ATAC bus, tap again every time you change, and if your route is a Cotral one, install the app before you travel or buy a ticket the ordinary way.