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Public transport in Bucharest includes: buses, trams, metro and taxi.

Metro

The fastest way to travel is by metro. Modern trains with air conditioning, security and lots of space arrive every five minutes during the day and at around 15’ during late evenings. If your destination is close to a metro station, it’s a great way of traveling. You can find more details about the metro and the map here.

The price for a metro trip is around 2 lei (~€0,40). Multiple trip cards are available for different prices, of which I mention: 2-trip, 10-trip and daily pass. An electronic wallet can also be used for metro, bus and tram. More details are available here.

Trains are available between 5:00 am - 11:30 pm.

The only downside of the metro is that it doesn’t cover the whole city. Sometimes, you’ll need to use other ways of transportation.

Bus and Tram

Many bus lines are available in Bucharest. A full map of the lines can be downloaded here. A tram map can be downloaded here.

The price for a trip inside Bucharest is ~€0.30+VAT. Tickets can be bought from ticket offices in the bus stations; most of them are cash only. The offices are closed after 6 pm and in week-ends.

The simplest way to get a ticket is for a day-ticket through a SMS with the content ‘A’ sent at 7458. You will shortly after receive a code that you can use on any normal city line (not on express buses). The price is €2.17 including VAT. The ticket is valid until midnight on the day it was bought.

When in the tram or bus, be aware of pickpockets. Police officers are sometimes in the bus to prevent unpleasant events, but not always.

Buses and trams are often full, especially in the morning and afternoon. Also, city buses rarely have a separate lane, making their schedule unpredictable. Trams also have delays due to cars sharing their lines on narrower streets.

Overall, buses and trams have larger coverage than metro but delays are to be expected.

Taxi

Bucharest taxis are very inexpensive, if you know the good companies. The normal price is 1,5 lei / km and another 1.39 lei to start, 13.9 lei / hour when the taxi is waiting. A trip around the Bucharest center will cost maximum 40 lei (~€10), usually around 10 lei (~€2.5).

There are many hidden traps with taxies. Therefore, the most important thing is to choose the right taxi company. Here’s a list of recommended companies:

• Meridian
• Cristaxi
• Cobălcescu
• NaÈ›ional
• Confort
• As

A few things to be wary of:

• Most taxis are cash only. Have small bills available.
• Most taxi drivers speak only Romanian. It’s best to write down your destination and show it to thedriver.
• The trip price has to be displayed on the car and inside the car, in front of the passenger sit. Check that the price is correct.
• The counter should be visible. The driver should start the counter before leaving. Ask him to do so, if he didn’t.
• Drivers will sometimes move around in circles to increase the price. There’s little you can do about it, other than having a local person with you or looking on navigation.
• Before paying look at the hour from the receipt. A few cabbies would give you an older receipt, with a very big amount, and ask you to pay for it. Make sure that hour of the receipt corresponds to the hour when you arrived at the destination.

You can order a taxi by phone, but the simplest way by far is using a mobile applications. Clever Taxi is the most well-known, but others are available in the app stores. Search for Bucharest taxi apps.