Taking buses in the Eternal City

I used buses quite a bit when I was there three weeks ago. They got me quite close to where I needed to go.

The secret is to use the CityMapper app to know what bus will be suggested for your route and when it will be coming (and then follow along on the map as you go). And to buy yourself a 24- , 48-, or 72-hour card so that you have it to validate and don’t have to worry about finding a ticket.

It worked great for me, and really got me where I needed to go efficiently !

Watch the route on your phone. Most map apps with gps will show a blue dot that moves in near real time. This does not require data - download the map ahead of time, the blue dot will move even with no data.
When you are to your destination, get off the bus.

Google maps will tell you when the bus is coming and where to get it - just put in your starting point and destination, choose transit instead of car or walking, and it will list several options. Some with more walking, some with more transfers.
This was reasonably accurate as of my last visit in 2018 but I can’t speak to anything more current.

An electronic map on your smartphone (Google Maps, CityMaps2Go, etc.) should have the ability to track your location on the map of the city. Look for the You Are Here dot (usually blue, in my experience). The dot should show your movement whether you're walking or on a bus, based on GPS data if you don't have cellular data turned on. I use that feature to figure out when it's about time to hop off a bus.

General tips when riding a city bus anywhere in the developed world (and the former Confederacy, too) is to have a sense of how many stops or roughly how long it will take the bus to reach your stop, and the name of the stop before and after yours, too. That way you don't have to stare at the blue dot on your phone the whole time but can instead enjoy the scenery and also not miss making friends on the bus, or at least listening in on the chatter around you. Sometimes following along with the dot on your phone is fine, don't get me wrong, but riding the bus can be more than a cheaper option - it can be part of the fun.

Caveat - if the bus is so crowded that you can't even see out the windows, let alone get a seat, then the blue dot is indeed your friend.

Road the buses in Rome for years - quite easy and with all the new Apps out there (plenty of options on Google), it's quite easy. Some good advice has already been provided to you. Be careful on the 64 bus to/from the Vatican - affectionately known as the "pickpocket bus!"

We rode the buses last time we were there, a taxi strike was going on. When we got on we asked the bus driver xxx place, and he nodded then let us know when we were there. It was pretty easy. Not one driver ignored us. But, I’m sure the apps people are posting about would be better.

Yep, bus 64 “got us”. Our only pick pocket in many years of travel.

We did find the bus much different in Rome than elsewhere. Just determine, in advance, how you validate your ticket and DO IT. You may think all the locals are cheating because you do not see them validate a ticket but they are not and it makes no difference to you. The fines for an un-validated ticket is substantial and is not a scam. Whether it is a bus, or train or subway we always focus on the stop before the stop we need to get off at. The stop before alerts us to -- Time to go. We use the local maps and rarely use the gps on our phones. Just easier for us.

Tagging onto Frank's post about the validation - I have ridden numerous crowded buses in Rome , and even when things were mobbed worse than a New York City subway at rush hour , people always managed to vaidiate . Often , by passing the ticket through the crowd to where the machine was . The ticket was then always passed back to the owner .

We used the buses around Rome in December for 5 days and thought they were great! Google Maps told us how to get places and where the nearest bus stop was and how frequently the bus would come and where a shop was to buy tickets and we definitely followed along on our phones to make sure we got off at the right stop.

It seemed like a new thing from the last time we were in Rome that you were supposed to get on the bus through one door and leave through another. No problem validating tickets. Many of the bus stops had lists of the other stops on that route.

The only bus problem we had was that our bus got stuck in an intersection gridlock during rush hour and a little car (trying foolishly to move despite there being no room) backed up into the side door of our bus and damaged both vehicles a bit. There was yelling on both sides. But the bus continued on its route.

Some routes are infrequent, many come every 5 or 10 minutes. I don't remember really, but I think what's displayed on the front of the bus is the route number and the final destination so that you know if you will be going the right way. Push a button before your stop. You just have to learn their system and you'll be fine most of the time.

I had a weeklong pass and took buses, trams and metro. Some areas are best served by bus. The one problem I had was Sunday. I didn't know that buses are very infrequent and I waited nearly an hour. Had I known, I'd have walked in less time.

I’d suggest trying a few just for the heck of it. Just hop on one and ride it a few stops then ride back if you like. You can study the schedules but that’s quite an enormous document and will cover so many routes you’re not interested in. If you jump on a few you’ll get the hang of it and the time spent learning will pay off in the long run. I was apprehensive at first but after a little practice I found a few routes that were convenient and I used them over and over. Good luck!