Is Italy's public transport running over Christmas and New Year?
If you're spending key dates over Christmas and New Year in Italy, can you expect to find trains and other transport services operating? Here's what you need to know.
Question: My family are spending the holidays in Italy, and we're wondering what sort of public transport services will be in place. I know we should expect a reduced timetable, but will some services still be up and running?
At any time of year, the quality and frequency of public transport services in Italy varies significantly between rural and urban areas, as well as between cities.
Areas that are usually poorly served by just the occasional bus could have an even more reduced service over the holidays - and you may well not be able to find out the revised schedule in advance.
That said, parts of the country that already have relatively robust public transport networks tend to keep them fairly active over the Christmas period.
Even on Christmas day itself, you'll find the tens of high speed and regional trains that provide daily connections between major Italian cities and small towns running pretty much on a standard timetable.
Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP
Local public transport services are somewhat reduced, but don't shut down entirely, as they do in some parts of the world.
In Rome, all bus, tram and metro services should run as normal on Christmas Eve until 9pm, with night buses kicking in from 11pm; as well as from 8:30am-1pm and 4.30pm-9pm on Christmas day.
On New Year's Eve, buses and trams are scheduled to run until 9pm and the metro until 2.30am, with a few dedicated bus lines in place to take people to and from metro stops.
READ ALSO: How to make the most of a Christmas break in Rome
In Naples, it's currently hoped that bus, metro and funicular services will run throughout the day on December 25th and January 1st, with the metro and funicular staying open until 2am on both dates - subject to operator Anm reaching an agreement with workers.
While Italy has been hit with a series of transport strikes over the past few months, there's not much chance of major strike action being announced over Christmas.
That’s because Italian law bans unions from organising strikes which could impact the air travel sector - so general strikes and transport sector strikes are out - on certain busy travel dates (known as periodi di franchigia, or ‘exemption periods’). These include December 18th to January 7th, as well as much of August.
Some cities haven't yet released their holiday timetables, but previous years give an indication of what you can expect.
In Milan last year, buses were operational from 7am-7.30pm on Christmas day, with night buses cancelled on the nights of 24th-25th and 25th-26th. New Year's Eve operated on a Saturday timetable, with night buses running as normal.
Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP
Bus services in Florence last year ran on a reduced holiday schedule until 1pm on Christmas day, on a normal timetable until 9pm on New Year's Eve, and operated on a holiday timetable on December 26th and January 1st, 2nd and 6th.
The city's trams ran on a slightly reduced schedule (every 10 minutes instead of every 5-6 at peak times) on Christmas Eve, Christmas day and New Year's Eve, but ran until 2am on the three days.
If you're in Rome over the Christmas period this year, you're in luck: the city council are expanding the public transport services and have offered several free transport days for the month of December.
On December 24th, all public transport around the city will be free.
And until January 8th, three new bus lines providing shuttle services from city car parks to the centre - 'Free 1', 'Free 2' and the 100 service - will also be free.
The move is part of an initiative by mayor Roberto Gualtieri to reduce traffic in the city centre over the busiest parts of the season.
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Question: My family are spending the holidays in Italy, and we're wondering what sort of public transport services will be in place. I know we should expect a reduced timetable, but will some services still be up and running?
At any time of year, the quality and frequency of public transport services in Italy varies significantly between rural and urban areas, as well as between cities.
Areas that are usually poorly served by just the occasional bus could have an even more reduced service over the holidays - and you may well not be able to find out the revised schedule in advance.
That said, parts of the country that already have relatively robust public transport networks tend to keep them fairly active over the Christmas period.
Even on Christmas day itself, you'll find the tens of high speed and regional trains that provide daily connections between major Italian cities and small towns running pretty much on a standard timetable.
Local public transport services are somewhat reduced, but don't shut down entirely, as they do in some parts of the world.
In Rome, all bus, tram and metro services should run as normal on Christmas Eve until 9pm, with night buses kicking in from 11pm; as well as from 8:30am-1pm and 4.30pm-9pm on Christmas day.
On New Year's Eve, buses and trams are scheduled to run until 9pm and the metro until 2.30am, with a few dedicated bus lines in place to take people to and from metro stops.
READ ALSO: How to make the most of a Christmas break in Rome
In Naples, it's currently hoped that bus, metro and funicular services will run throughout the day on December 25th and January 1st, with the metro and funicular staying open until 2am on both dates - subject to operator Anm reaching an agreement with workers.
While Italy has been hit with a series of transport strikes over the past few months, there's not much chance of major strike action being announced over Christmas.
That’s because Italian law bans unions from organising strikes which could impact the air travel sector - so general strikes and transport sector strikes are out - on certain busy travel dates (known as periodi di franchigia, or ‘exemption periods’). These include December 18th to January 7th, as well as much of August.
Some cities haven't yet released their holiday timetables, but previous years give an indication of what you can expect.
In Milan last year, buses were operational from 7am-7.30pm on Christmas day, with night buses cancelled on the nights of 24th-25th and 25th-26th. New Year's Eve operated on a Saturday timetable, with night buses running as normal.
Bus services in Florence last year ran on a reduced holiday schedule until 1pm on Christmas day, on a normal timetable until 9pm on New Year's Eve, and operated on a holiday timetable on December 26th and January 1st, 2nd and 6th.
The city's trams ran on a slightly reduced schedule (every 10 minutes instead of every 5-6 at peak times) on Christmas Eve, Christmas day and New Year's Eve, but ran until 2am on the three days.
If you're in Rome over the Christmas period this year, you're in luck: the city council are expanding the public transport services and have offered several free transport days for the month of December.
On December 24th, all public transport around the city will be free.
And until January 8th, three new bus lines providing shuttle services from city car parks to the centre - 'Free 1', 'Free 2' and the 100 service - will also be free.
The move is part of an initiative by mayor Roberto Gualtieri to reduce traffic in the city centre over the busiest parts of the season.
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