Trying to make sense of Rome's ATAC (transit) website

[Steerpike58]

I was trying to plan our early morning visit to the Vatican Museum next week, using Rome's official transit website ATAC.  I'm pretty confident we know what to do, and will ignore the confusion raised here, but I am curious to see if anyone can give me a logical explanation for what I found, and hopefully it may help others who are confused.  

 

To simplify the question, let's consider a basic trip - to get from Euclide station to the Ottaviano Metro station.  Looking at the ATAC "mappa ferro e tram" map - https://www.atac.roma.it/docs/default-source/mappe-tpl/mappa-metro-e-ferrovie-metropolitane.pdf?sfvrsn=e1e83890_20, we see that the 'Viterbo' train line comes down through Euclide, and ends at Flaminio. At Flaminio, we would change to the Metro (MA) in the direction of Battistini, getting off at 'Ottaviano'.  Pretty simple.  

 

 

So we thengo to the ATAC route planning page to get times and such (and to confirm our understanding of the route) - https://www.atac.roma.it/en/home .  We put in Piazza Euclide as the start, and Ottaviano-S.Petro  (Stazioni Metro) as the destination.  'Metro and Train only' is pre-selected and we leave it that way. 'Calculate'. We then refine the search by entering time/date 7:30am and Aug 31. 'calculate' again.  

 

It shows 'Viterbo' and 'MA6' on the left, which makes sense. But when you click on that routing, (to see the details on the map), it expands the details as follows (focusing on the end part of the journey) - 

"Take the line MA6 (Battistini/Soria) for two stops" (makes sense). 
It then shows a graphic with stops P.Le Flaminio (MA); Lepanto (MA); Milizie/Angelico (MA), and it then says "get off at stop MILIZIE/ANGELICO"
and "Walk 240 meters to OTTAVIANO-S.PIETRO". 

 

I can see, from the map on the right, that 'Milizie' and 'Angelico' are the relevant cross streets, but why is it calling the STOP Milizie/Angelico' rather than 'Ottaviano-S.Pietro', which is the name of the STOP on the subway map?  

 

 

Surely, when you are on the subway, the signs are going to be showing 'Ottaviano', not Milizie/Angelico?  The map even suggests that the 'stop' Milizie/Angelico' is not the same as the Ottaviano Metro station.  I note that the stop 'Lepanto' is referenced in the detail AND is the name of the station on the Metro map ... so why is the 'Metro Station' named Ottaviano referred to as Milizie/Angelico in the details?  Is this something unique about Ottaviano station? UPDATE - I changed 'Ottaviano' to 'Cipro' (the next stop along the Metro line) and the same confusion applies - 'Cipro' is referred to in the details as the stop 'Emo'. 

 

We plan to be using the metro quite a bit so I'm using this question as a way to better understand the logic of the ATAC route planner!

Edited August 24 by Steerpike58

[euro cruiser]

First of all, God bless you for even trying to make sense of it.  The site is a lot better than it was even a few years ago, but the route planner still stinks.

 

I have a couple of thoughts about what might be going on, but I'm away from home and I really need more than my phone to confirm or deny my guesses.  

[euro cruiser]

Even though you selected metro and train only, the route you were given includes a bus (the MA6, I don't know why but my first guess is work being conducted on the subway line or the station (or both).

 

And here's the alert about that:  METRO A: LAVORI ALL'INFRASTRUTTURA. DAL 10 AL 25 AGOSTO TRATTA TERMINI-BATTISTINI SOSTITUITA DA BUS (atac.roma.it)

 

It says it will be done by August 25th, but the route planner is working with the current situation, not the planned one.

 

 

[Steerpike58]

9 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

Even though you selected metro and train only, the route you were given includes a bus (the MA6, I don't know why but my first guess is work being conducted on the subway line or the station (or both).

 

And here's the alert about that:  METRO A: LAVORI ALL'INFRASTRUTTURA. DAL 10 AL 25 AGOSTO TRATTA TERMINI-BATTISTINI SOSTITUITA DA BUS (atac.roma.it)

 

It says it will be done by August 25th, but the route planner is working with the current situation, not the planned one.

 

 

OMG! Thanks. So - the 'MA6' is NOT the Metro A (MA) line? Is MA6 a normal bus line, or a special 'substitute bus' and hence the MA in the name?  I noticed that Cipro station is equally 'off' (Emo) but Lepanto is, well, Lepanto.  

 

I tried to follow your link (I was going to translate it with Google) but it's a dead link - https://www.atac.roma.it/tempo-reale/metro-a-dall - that's what it linked to. Could you possibly re-post it so I can try again? it looks like a truncated url.  

 

I guess all this will be over with by August 30, 31 when we will be using it, but it's good to understand all these potential interruptions! 

EDIT TO ADD: - found this page in English - https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/rome-spagna-ottaviano-metro-stations.html - it says "

Two of Rome's busiest subway stations on the Metro A line have closed this summer for renovation works ahead of the Vatican's Jubilee Year 2025.

The Ottaviano station near the Vatican will be shut from 22 July until 9 September, with the central Spagna station at the Spanish Steps also closed from 15 July to 3 October.

For the duration of the restyling works, trains will pass through Ottaviano and Spagna stations without stopping.

The city says that those wishing to reach the area served by Ottaviano can either get out before or after the closed metro station at Lepanto or Cipro, or take the buses 490 and 590."

(no mention of 'MA6' !). 

We need to get to the Vatican Musuem at 8:30am for our tour, so any delay could be critical. I guess a taxi is back on the cards! 

Edited August 25 by Steerpike58

[Steerpike58]

More information - (this may be what you posted in the link that didn't work): https://www.atac.roma.it/en/Metroline-A---2024-closures 

 

Extraordinary closure in August

TERMINI-BATTISTINI

FROM 10 TO 25 AUGUST

To allow some particularly complex interventions on the railway infrastructure

the metro service will be replaced with bus line MA6 in the section Termini-Battistini

---

Usual service between Termini and Anagnina

---

From Sunday to Thursday after 9:00 pm the entire A line is replaced with MA bus service

 

So .... that explains 'bus line MA6'. They are replacing the entire metro service from Termini to Battistini between 10-25 August with a bus service MA6. 

 

And FURTHER - Station Ottaviano is closed from 22 July until 9 September: 

 

Then we have this entry on that same ATAC page above: 

 

STATION CLOSURES

SPAGNA

FROM 15 JULY TO 3 OCTOBER

for station restyling

---

OTTAVIANO

FROM 22 JULY TO 9 SEPTEMBER

for station restyling

So ... if we are being optimistic, we can assume that, by August 30/31, when we need it, we can take the MA metro line to Cipro instead of Ottaviano and still get to the Vatican Museum on time. 

 

Glad I asked 🙂 

 

 

 

Edited August 25 by Steerpike58

[euro cruiser]

You found it all on your own, that's the information.  Sorry my link was screwed up.

[Steerpike58]

What's really quite amusing is - the 'banner' at the top of the ATAC website was written in Italian, and I didn't pay any attention to it.  And even though I allowed google to translate the page, they didn't translate that 'banner'. I'm talking about this: 

 

But if I hover over that banner with the mouse, the alt-text tells me "Metro A - Closure Calendar 2024" - and clicking that link is what tells me all about these closures!  So there's a couple of weird observations here; 1) the main ATAC website doesn't offer language translations (the 'flag' dropdown with italian, english, etc) even though many sub-pages do have that feature, and 2) the huge banner that everyone should obviously look at is completely ignored due to the fact that it's not translatable by google (it's a graphic, not text) (I assumed it was some sort of ad or self-serving statement like 'we serve you'). 

 

[euro cruiser]

Well, keep in mind that this is a local transit system, funded by local, regional and some federal taxes meant to support the citizens of Rome, who primarily speak/read/write in Italian.  The fact that any of it is translated is a plus for visitors, but generally local transit websites are in the language/s of residents only.

[erby2283]

Thanks for this - will be there Sept 4-6 and even though we may not be on the metro too much, it's nice to have this info!

[Steerpike58]

6 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

Well, keep in mind that this is a local transit system, funded by local, regional and some federal taxes meant to support the citizens of Rome, who primarily speak/read/write in Italian.  The fact that any of it is translated is a plus for visitors, but generally local transit websites are in the language/s of residents only.

Another fun observation - if you view that notice, and let Google translate it for you, it tells you that 'Spain' station is closed (and 'Octavian') :). 

 

Luckily, that page is made available in English, so you can view the correct translation. 

 

[euro cruiser]

When I sit in on Italian classes at my local college I can almost always tell you when a student let google translate do their homework.  It's a good enough approximation so you can understand (usually) but it stinks at actual translation in many cases.  However, it's a whole lot better today than in was five years ago, so maybe in another five years ...