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Rome’s trams set to stop for Jubilee works

The city will take all trams out of circulation from May to October in preparation for the Vatican's 2025 Jubilee.

Published: 28 February 2024 13:35 CET

A tram drives past. (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

A tram drives past in Rome. (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

The trams will be replaced by buses for the duration of the works and stored at the Porta Maggiore tram depot, said Eugenio Patanè, the city’s transport councillor, before adding all six tram lines will be in operation in time for the influx of tourists.

Patanè also announced that the city will upgrade the tram infrastructure during the works.

“We are proceeding according to all the planned phases on the reconstruction of the tramway lines,” he said last month. “This year we will finish all the parts that gave us the most safety concerns.”

Recently, tram number 8 has resumed its usual service whilst numbers 3 and 19 have partially resumed theirs.

Trams aren’t the only method of transport getting work done either: Rome also plans to shut the Ottaviano to Battistini section of Metro A at 9pm during the weekdays in the summer.

The centrally-located Spagna station will also be closed for 80 days. Exact details on this are yet to be confirmed.

The Vatican’s Jubilee is believed to be a year in which there is a remission of sins. The last great one was held by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

Rome’s Mayor, Roberto Gualtieri said last year a total of €4 billion euros would be spent on the occasion.

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Italy’s taxi drivers plan ‘biggest ever’ strike over planned industry reform

Taxi drivers’ unions announced the 14-hour strike in a statement on Wednesday after talks with Business Minister Adolfo Urso over a contested reform of the cab sector reached a dead end.

“In the absence of any updates, [this] may turn out to be one of the biggest protests ever staged by our sector,” the statement said.

Drivers and their families’ futures were “at stake”, it added.

Taxi unions said Urso had failed to give them the necessary assurances over a series of changes drafted by Deputy PM Matteo Salvini in early April, with drivers’ representatives expressing concern over the proposed issuance of new taxi licences and the creation of ride-hailing digital platforms.

The reform was reportedly intended as part of a wider government plan to boost public transport services around the country ahead of the 2025 Jubilee Year, when Rome alone is expected to welcome some 35 million visitors.

But Italian taxi drivers have long opposed attempts to both increase the number of available licences and open up the market to popular ride-hailing services like Uber, whose standard service (also known as Uber Pop) is currently not allowed to operate in Italy.

READ ALSO: Italy’s taxis are often a nightmare, but will things ever change?

Last October, taxi drivers staged a 24-hour strike in protest against the government’s approval of a decree allowing local authorities to issue new taxi licences – a move intended to ease longstanding cab shortages in some of the country’s largest metropolitan areas.

Italy’s major cities have a far lower number of taxis – and taxi licences – available compared to metropolises like London and Paris, with visitors frequently reporting difficulties with finding a ride, as well as long waiting times.

According to a recent report from Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, Rome, which hasn’t increased the number of local taxi licences since 2005, has well over one million ‘unresolved calls’ – that is, people who try and fail to book a cab ride – a month during peak tourist season.

Milan, which hasn’t issued any new licences since 2003, has around half a million unresolved calls per month.

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