Driving a car in Rome is one of the more adventurous things a tourist--or for that matter, a Roman--can do. If you're game, it's easier these days with car-share options. [Update: We did it ourselves - see end of post.]
Rome has long been a frustrating city to get around in. For a city of its size, public transportation is poor. Rental car pick-up spots are few, with long lines and often an absence of cars, even when you've reserved one (we write from experience). Taxis, along with rental cars, are notoriously expensive and some taxi drivers are simply scammers (and mostly right-wingers). They also will not take more than 4 passengers. So if there are 5 of you (yes, we've experienced this too), you need two taxis or you are out of luck. Nor can you flag down a taxi as you would, say, in New York City. To avoid all this hassle, many tourists resort to private car pick-ups to and from the airport--and often apartment hosts arrange them. If you're thinking scooters, you can rent them, but at your peril (see Bill's post from 2011). Bicycles? You can rent them as well, but bike-shares went the way of thieves and vandals in Rome and are no more. We've done all of these, and experienced all of them, except the bicycle-sharing, which didn't last long. Nota bene: Uber and other ride-sharing services are illegal.
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| A Car2Go Smart car (parked the regular way) |
The introduction of car-sharing solves some of these problems. And introduces adventure. There are two major car-sharing services in Rome: Car2Go and Enjoy. Car2Go uses only Smart cars that seat 2 (we did have friends who rented one in Florida and managed to squeeze 4 people in!). Enjoy uses Fiat 500s and 500Ls, which barely seat 3 and 4, respectively, and will not accommodate much luggage if you are going to/from the airport. But they are certainly larger than a Smart car, although you can't park them sideways. A third service is Share'ngo, which uses electric cars (it does appear that their Web site has an English version).
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| The electric car-share service, Share'Ngo |
The following is a 'how-to' for one car-sharing service, "Enjoy," sponsored by the electrical conglomerate, ENI. We tried the cars and app indirectly, through our daughter-in-law, who arrived in Rome last year all ready--much to our amazement--to jump in a car-share car. I had queried Car2Go a few years ago as to whether they'd accept a US driver's license and they indicated they would, but I didn't quite trust their answer (the Web site now indicates they probably will, with an International license as well). What I DO know is that you can sign-up with Enjoy with a US driver's license. You will also need an International Driver's License - which you can get at AAA for $30 or so (including onsite photos). We had stopped getting these because we had been told (by police, by scooter and car rental agencies) that they were worthless. Even so, clearly you need them for Enjoy, along with your passport, a third photo, and a credit card of course. You must be over 18 and have had your license for at least one year (if you have issues enrolling because of the date of your international license, just change the date online to that on your state license). You can register on a PC or via the app. Uploading all this info and the documents is a bit of a pain, but worth it in the end. Our daughter-in-law said she waited 3-4 weeks to get approved; so you might want to register well in advance. Our approval took about 3 minutes. The registration fee is Euro 10 (roughly $12), and the cost is about 25 centesimi (about 30 cents)/minute; Euro 50/day. You pay an additional 25 centesimi/km
when you go over 50 kilometers. You don't pay for gas.
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| A small area of Rome--Monteverde--with 8 cars available, one that could gain the renter Euro 5 if he or she filled up (the yellow gas pump symbol). |
Enjoy has over 500 vehicles in Milan and Rome, almost 200 in Turin, and 70+ in Florence and Catania (Sicily).
The app will show you the cars near you. You book one, and then you have 15 minutes to get to it. Our son made a couple sprints to try to get to a car before the 15 minutes ran out. After the fact, he and his wife discovered you don't have to get there in 15 minutes, but you start paying after the 15 minutes, even if you haven't arrived. The app (left) also shows those cars with low fuel levels. If you fill up (you don't pay for the gas), you get a Euro 5 credit. Our family also took a car for the day to a water park north of the city. They simply paid for the day. Remember you avoid having to return the car to the train station, pay for transport from your apartment to and from the location, etc. The convenience factor is worth a lot. The cars have special parking spaces and can enter areas of the city reserved to those with special passes (known as ZTLs), in most cases. In Rome you can drive and park at no extra cost in all ZTL areas, except for ZTL A1 Tridente, between Piazza del Popolo, Passeggiata di Ripetta and Via del Babuino. No smoking, no pets, and you are supposed to have only 3 people in a Fiat 500 and 4 in a Fiat 500L. You can take the car anywhere in Italy, but you have to return it and park it in a designated car-share area, which is very large and plainly marked on the app. For example, you could take a car to the Colli Albani but you can't leave it there. You can bring it back to Rome, where the designated car-share area encompasses most of the city (including as far out as Cinecitta', for example).
A couple other caveats. All the cars are standard (i.e., stick shift), not automatic. And driving in Rome can be daunting for some. Our daughter-in-law, a Los Angeles driver in the Mario Andretti mold, found it fun. She liked the chaos. "Rome is meant for my kind of driving. Everyone is aggressive and everyone is trying to get ahead," she said with fondness. The only aspect of Rome driving new for her was the scooters riding the white line (between traffic in both directions) and going to the head of the line at lights. One advantage she saw was when there was a transit strike: "Who cares if there's a strike, Enjoy was available."
Dianne
The app will show you the cars near you. You book one, and then you have 15 minutes to get to it. Our son made a couple sprints to try to get to a car before the 15 minutes ran out. After the fact, he and his wife discovered you don't have to get there in 15 minutes, but you start paying after the 15 minutes, even if you haven't arrived. The app (left) also shows those cars with low fuel levels. If you fill up (you don't pay for the gas), you get a Euro 5 credit. Our family also took a car for the day to a water park north of the city. They simply paid for the day. Remember you avoid having to return the car to the train station, pay for transport from your apartment to and from the location, etc. The convenience factor is worth a lot. The cars have special parking spaces and can enter areas of the city reserved to those with special passes (known as ZTLs), in most cases. In Rome you can drive and park at no extra cost in all ZTL areas, except for ZTL A1 Tridente, between Piazza del Popolo, Passeggiata di Ripetta and Via del Babuino. No smoking, no pets, and you are supposed to have only 3 people in a Fiat 500 and 4 in a Fiat 500L. You can take the car anywhere in Italy, but you have to return it and park it in a designated car-share area, which is very large and plainly marked on the app. For example, you could take a car to the Colli Albani but you can't leave it there. You can bring it back to Rome, where the designated car-share area encompasses most of the city (including as far out as Cinecitta', for example).
A couple other caveats. All the cars are standard (i.e., stick shift), not automatic. And driving in Rome can be daunting for some. Our daughter-in-law, a Los Angeles driver in the Mario Andretti mold, found it fun. She liked the chaos. "Rome is meant for my kind of driving. Everyone is aggressive and everyone is trying to get ahead," she said with fondness. The only aspect of Rome driving new for her was the scooters riding the white line (between traffic in both directions) and going to the head of the line at lights. One advantage she saw was when there was a transit strike: "Who cares if there's a strike, Enjoy was available."
Dianne
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| Trying to end the rental on our first car-share. Dianne had to intuit the Italian words for "ignition" (not "ignizione") and car door (not "porta"). |
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