Is there a subway system in Rome? How much are taxis & buses? How walkable is Rome? Thanks.

<BR><BR>My experience is that taxis are reasonable, it's smart (and easy) to confirm price prior to getting in one.<BR><BR>Buses are for the folks who live there and not easly comprehended by tourists (at least not by this one) and that Rome is very walkable. <BR><BR>We used the "stop and ride" bus that circles the city where you can get on and off at a dozen or so 'major' spots around the city (and outside) for a fixed daily price which was so reasonable that I forget what it was.<BR><BR>There is subway but we never used it. . no reason, just did not seem to need it.<BR><BR>Hope this is helpful . . Rich

The subway system is good for certain things. We used it very effectively to hit some of the perimeter spots on our last day - the churches of Santa Maria Maggiore and San Giovanni in Laterano, etc. I think it is very useful from the Vatican to some other parts of the city, except that the stops are still a good walk from St. Peters and the museums. The buses are far from impossible to use effectively. You can get city maps at kiosks that will show which buses travel which routes. The tough part is knowing when your stop is approaching, especially after dark. We did miss one this way and had to do quite a bit of backtracking. The bus stops around the Termini station are extremely confusing. Many stop outside the station, and others stop across the street. Just ask some of the drivers hanging around if you can't find the right bus. We found the buses very useful between Piazza Navona and the Vatican and between Piazza Navona and the Colosseum area. Taxis are quite affordable and recommended if you need an easy way to get somewhere in a hurry. We paid about $8 to get from Termini to Piazza Navona and a little over $10 for Termini to the Borghese Gallery. The city is very walkable, so you should be able to do most of your sightseeing on foot, as long as you break it down right - it is still a fairly large city. The other means of transportation will come in handy for the skipping around that always comes into play at some point in a trip.

The historic center ("centro storic") is very walkable. You cannot easily flag taxis on the street except at the few taxi stands or in front of a hotel. There are 'dispatch' cabs that, for example, your restaurant host will call for you but you do pay a little premium for this service. <BR><BR>The subway (Metro) is very limited, especially if you compare it to Paris or London.. This is due to the fact that there are so many layers of ancient Rome under the city, they couldn't dig up Rome that much. There is basically an A and B line which serves you on a few occasions (like if you want to go from the Coleseum to the Spanish Steps.<BR><BR>Cabfare is similar to New York city.

Hi Matt:<BR> Whatever mode of transportation you select, watch your wallet carefully. Motor scooters are plentiful and we heard one instance where scooter driver drove by pedestrian--cut the purse straps--took purse--and drove off without ever stopping. Watch yourself in crowded tourist places--especially if somebody bumps up against you. Ditto if you are standing up and holding onto tube/bus strap of bar.<BR> Put your passport etc in hotel safe. Keep photo of passport away from passport in case it is stolen.<BR> If you see a women or child fall down--stand back unless it is your famly. Either the child or the parent will be after your wallet while you are trying to help.<BR> Do not carry more cash than you need for 1-2 days. Use the ATM.<BR> Other than these warnings, enjoy your trip and wear a leather device for your cash etc under your clothes.

Have just come back from a long weekend in Rome.<BR>It's VERY walkable but take comfy footwear!!<BR>The Metro is cheap and cheerful and useful if you happen to need to go between the few actual stations there are. We did, and took 6 trips in all.<BR>Pricing:<BR>The ticket price is 0.77 Euros (about 67 US Cents) and the ticket is valid for 75 minutes from the point at which you validate it. So, say, you want to do a bus then metro trip from the Palatine to the Vatican you can buy a ticket from any streetside newspaper/ciggie seller validate it at the machine in the bus (there are two types of tickets circulating so two machines) get off at the Colloseum, enjoy a cup of coffee and a panini at the Metro entrance bar and take the metro from there all the way.<BR>At 77 eurocents it doesn't seem worth it but you could risk not validating your ticket and using it for the duration of your stay. There are no physical entry/exit barriers on the metro or busses.<BR>Buy your tickets from a news stall and use when required. There are machines in the stations but tourists and Euro-shy locals clog these up as they have a strange quirk to make them interesting (we suspect they might be on Italy's Candid Camera soon!) - they can only give change in coins 5 cents and upwards. If they can't give you change they abort the transaction with a "resto insufficio" message.<BR>So unless you have some small coins -which you will have unless you always tip in shrapnel- you can get stuck having to buy 5 tickets (3.85 Euros). There is a handy chart on every machine telling you the values that will work for the qty of tickets you're trying to buy. The problem will be the folks in front of you (unless you can get the message across in Spanish, German etc).<BR>Taxi's are reasonable but officially you cannot hail them down and must find an official taxi rank. They are known to "take the long way around" if they guess you're not too sure of the area and use the one-way excuse if you mention it. Most major one-way streets have a lane the other way for public transport which includes taxis so don't fall for that one.

Has anyone found it beneficial to purchase daily or weekly transport passes in Rome? From my reading, it sounds as if they are good for both bus and metro, and would help overcome the hassle of getting the tickets each time they are needed. We purchased weekly passes in London and Paris, and found the convenience alone made them worthwhile, even on a day when you didn't take quite enough rides to "break even". I would appreciate opinions on this for Rome.Thanks

Barb: We always buy tickets to cover the days we will be in Rome (at a tobacco shop usually). It is a time saver and since we use public transportation most every day (we are not good at lengthy walks) it works for us, both from a time saving and money saving standpoint.<BR><BR>j

Hello Barb,<BR><BR>It's always the first thing I buy in Rome.<BR>A one-week pass (CARTA INTEGRATA SETTIMANALE) costs EURO 12.40<BR>A one-day pass (BIGLIETTO INTEGRATO GIORNALIERO) costs EURO 3.10<BR><BR>Hope this helps ...<BR><BR>Steve<BR><BR><BR>