Milan Public Transportation

Posted by Kyle (Richmond, Virginia, USA) on 04/12/19 02:46 PM

We will be in Milan for 3 nights but only need two days of travel since we will stay near airport on last night. We are staying near centrale station and will be on tours for Duomo and Last Supper and also want to go to Navigili area. Since we don't know type of transportation/distance needed for traveling to these areas, we need some help from experienced travelers or locals. We plan to walk a lot to experience Milan above ground. Need help with following:

1) Is my credit card or an ATM card considered "contactless card"? As I understand, the credit card or an ATM allows to enter/exit for travel on metro and above ground transpo on same trip?

2) Or should I purchase a travel card that covers all transportation?

3) If travel card is recommended, should I purchase before leaving U.S.?

Any additional information re traveling in Milan for 2 days will be so much appreciated! Thanks in advance. Love this forum!!

Posted by Lola

Seattle, WA

04/12/19 03:07 PM

17577 posts

Does your credit card have the EMV "wave" symbol as shown in this Wikipedia article?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment

Posted by Jackie

Milan, Italy

04/12/19 03:21 PM

308 posts

Yes, Milan has some turnstiles at each stop where you can use a contactless card to get into the subway. It is only for Mastercard and Visa cards with the wavey thing but not Amex. Keep in mind at most stops you also need to keep your ticket to get out of the metro station too. In your case, you just swipe the same contactless card over the turnstile scanner again to exit.
If you don't want to use your card or buy individual tickets, you can buy one ticket that is for 10 trips at the ticket machines. You get a 10% discount when you do this. You cannot "double up" on this card and share it with your travel partner if you are entering and exiting the same stop at the same time. Btw, always use euros for the ticket machines, it says they take credit cards but only certain ones. It is maddening.
Sorry, I am not familiar with any "travel card".

Posted by Jackie

Milan, Italy

04/12/19 03:51 PM

308 posts

I forgot to add you are staying by one of my favorite restaurants in Milan. Here is the link http://osteriadeltreno.it/, make sure you rsvp. PM me if you need any other help.

Posted by Harold

New York, NY, USA

04/12/19 05:53 PM

11294 posts

I used a lot of transit in Milan, as it's very efficient. I used day tickets, which were a good deal. They were easy to buy from the machines; I doubt they'd be sold outside of Milan, much less anywhere in the US (the same way that you can't buy a ticket for a local ride in Boston or Chicago outside those cities).

Looking at the official website, I see that a single ride is currently €1.50, a one day ticket is €4.50, and a two day ticket is €8.25. So, if you take 6 rides in two days (very likely), you will already be ahead with a two day ticket. That's what I'd get; then you don't have to worry about buying tickets, whether or not you have the right kind of credit/debit card, etc.

If you are in the US, most of our credit and debit cards are not yet contactless. Check if yours has the "waves" symbol shown in the Wikipedia article Lola linked.

Amusingly, the acronym for Milan's transit system is ATM (in this case, Azienda Trasporti Milanesi, not automated teller machine!). Their website has an English option; here's the page on urban tickets (within the city): https://www.atm.it/en/ViaggiaConNoi/Biglietti/Pages/Biglietti%20Urbani.aspx

Posted by Sam

Green Bay

04/12/19 06:05 PM

21274 posts

You can also buy the day tickets at tabacchi. Machines in busy stations get staked out by "helpers".