Venice, Italy

The waterways of Venice present their own unique challenges to providing a public transport network.

The historic city is built on more than 100 small islands separated by canals; the islands are linked by pedestrian footbridges.  Getting around the centre of Venice can be done either on foot or on water.

Boats provide a waterbus network through the heart of Venice.  The waterbus services are provided by ACTV, the public transport company for Venice.



The waterbus network is quite extensive, with around 30 routes serving more than 100 piers.






The busiest services operate from 05:00 to midnight, while a couple of boat routes operate through the night.

 







 

Venezia Santa Lucia is the railway terminus in Venice.  The pier in front of the station is named "Ferrovia" (for "railway").







The waterbuses aren't the most well-known vessels on Venice's canals.  The waterbus routes keep to the wider canals but tourists can (and do) take a trip around the city centre by gondola.

As well as providing tourist trips (as shown in this image), gondolas are also used as ferries across the Grand Canal which divides the centre of Venice in two.  There are seven "traghetto" gondola ferries , interspersed between the four footbridges which cross the canal



 



Although, for obvious reasons, buses don't operate through the centre of Venice, they do get close to the city.

A road from the Italian mainland crosses the causeway to the city, alongside the railway.  A bus terminus is located at Piazzale Roma, across a canal from Santa Lucia railway station.  Piazzale Roma also has a pier for the waterbus services.

The images below, showing a variety of buses in use, were all taken at Piazzale Roma in 2011.

Although most buses carried an all-over orange livery, some of the newest vehicles wore blue, green, orange and white.












Gas-powered buses were operating alongside conventional diesel buses.











As well as standard single-deckers, articulated buses were operating on several services.

This high-floor coach-type vehicle was wearing blue livery.  Otherwise, as for the standard single-deckers, the older articulated buses wore orange as did some of the newer ones.



























This vehicle was fitted with curtains, undoubtedly to help provide some shade inside the bus in the warm Venetian climate.

Many of the newer articulated buses wore blue, green, orange and white colours.

Like the boat services, the bus network is provided by ACTV.


A third transport system, opened in 2010, is a People Mover.  Similar to systems used at some airports, the People Mover links the main car park and the cruise liner terminal with Piazzale Roma.

Rimini, Italy

Rimini, on Italy's Adriatic coast, is probably best-known as one of Europe's biggest beach resorts.  With miles of sandy beach, it welcomes visitors in their thousands over the summer months.  Yet there is much more to this city than sun, sea and sand.  Rimini is a historic city which dates from Roman times, being founded in 268 BC.  The coastal strip is dominated by modern hotels, bars and restaurants catering to holidaymakers.   By contrast the city centre, a kilometre or two from the coastline, contains plenty of historic buildings.

A network of local bus services operates around the city, radiating from a hub at the railway station.  More information (in Italian only) can be found here.  The bus fleet comprises mainly single-deckers, of various sizes.  Some carry a blue and white livery with waves reflecting Rimini's seaside location:

 

Others carry orange or orange and white liveries:

 

 

 

Articulated buses operate on some services:

 

Line 11, which serves the main coastal strip, is particularly interesting.  It is electrified for trolleybus operation. 

 

Trolleybuses are capable of operating away from the wires, using auxiliary power.  This image shows one doing just that, at the city centre end of line 11:

However, with only 5 in the fleet, there are insufficient trolleybuses to cover the full service.  Diesel-powered articulated buses therefore run alongside the trolleybuses while, during my visit in May 2012, the evening services were entirely diesel-powered.

 

Coach-type vehicles operate interurban services, branded as Ferrovie Emilia Romagna (Italian Railways, Emilia Romagna region):

Rimini is also the terminus for the main bus service into the independent republic of San Marino, less than 20 kilometres away.  Buses run every 75 minutes from opposite the main railway station.  During the high summer months, they also pick up in the coastal strip.  The summer timetable is here while the timetable for the rest of the year is here.