Metrebus Card

Metrebus Card
LocationRome, Italy
Launched1999
ManagerERG Motorola Alliance[1]
CurrencyEuro (year pass maximum load)
Validity
  • Trains
  • Buses
  • Trams
  • Metro
Retailed
  • Online
  • Ticket offices
Websitehttps://www.atac.roma.it/page.asp?p=20

The Metrebus Card is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for Rome. It has stored value on a paper ticket for either 1, 3 or 7 days. All three versions of the tickets look the same on the front, but on the back of the ticket the magnetic data printed on the ticket varies depending on which version of the ticket was purchased.[2]

Metrebus (an acronym composed of the words "Metro", "Train" and "Bus") is an integrated fare system active in the city of Rome and in much of the Lazio region. It is divided into two categories: Metrebus Roma, which includes all travel tickets that can be used within the municipality of Rome, and Metrebus Lazio, which divides Lazio by area and can only be used in the areas indicated at the time of purchase. The system includes the three main companies that manage local public transport in the Lazio region, namely ATAC, Cotral and Trenitalia.

There is also a single ticket "BIT” (Biglietto Integrato a Tempo), which sells for only €1.50, allowing travel on any bus and one trip on the metro or urban trains. This version of the ticket has a 100-minute expiry period.[3]

BIT ticket (2014)

With the new automatic ticket machines in the Rome Metro introduced in 2022 that adopt chip-on-paper technology, the classic "BIT" paper ticket becomes a rechargeable card "+Roma". It is a paper ticket with the same validity as the classic ticket, it is possible to top it up at any automatic ticket machines on the metro or in authorized sales points (tobacconists, newsstands etc.), only by adding 50 cents more on the first purchase.[4]

Since 2018 ATAC and Mastercard introduced the "Tap&Go" system to all public transport, it is possible to pay for single rides with credit, debit or prepaid cards, contactless cards or cards enabled for offline payments (OTA). Access to buses, trams, trolleybuses and metro lines is possible also with digital cards on NFC-enabled devices (smartphones, smartwatches, wearables).[5]

  1. ^ "ERG Motorola Alliance Wins Rome Metrebus Integrated Smart Card Fare Collection Project". www.thefreelibrary.com. 28 June 1999. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Rome Metrebus tickets and fares". www.europeforvisitors.com. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  3. ^ "bus & subway passes in rome". romebuddy.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  4. ^ "ATAC, con le nuove biglietterie automatiche il classico biglietto cartaceo diventa una card ricaricabile, green e sostenibile". www.atac.roma.it (in Italian). Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  5. ^ "tap & go®: Atac and Mastercard revolutionize public transport". turismoroma.it. Retrieved 1 March 2024.