Car-share Roman style - for the adventurous traveler

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.

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).

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

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).

when you go over 50 kilometers.  You don't pay for gas.

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

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").



Why you don't have to go to Rome in the Spring

It's April, May, or early June, and airfares to Rome are high.  Too high.  You're worried you can't afford the trip.  Relax.  You don't have to be in Rome to know what's going on there.  Without opening a newspaper or checking online, you can be sure that the following will take place:

--Romans in one section of the city or another will complain about the "movida"--that is, late-night public partying by large groups of young people.  These complaints are especially likely to come from residents of San Lorenzo, Testaccio, Campo de' Fiori, Pigneto, and the area around Ponte Milvio.

--A young tourist will have used a tool of some sort to gouge a piece out of a public monument, carve an initial, or otherwise deface one of the city's treasures. 

Rome garbage is eternal. The photo was taken
in Tor Bella Monaca.

--Citizens will be outraged that once again the city has failed properly to collect garbage, allowing it to accumulate in large piles around city bins and elsewhere.  The mayor will issue a vague statement that he's working on the problem.  Mayors will come and go, but Rome's garbage is forever.


--Romans will be on holiday most of the time, or so it seems, celebrating every aspect of their long and complex history: unification, the Republic, the day when Rome was freed from German occupation, various canonizations, and so on.  When these holidays fall on a Thursday or Tuesday, the Friday after or the Monday before - or both a Friday and Monday - will also be holidays, resulting in a long weekend of play called a "ponte"--that is, a "bridge."  In common parlance, a "ponte" translates as "long weekend." 


--There will be complaints and newspaper stories about the high cost of going to the beach--mostly about renting a space and an umbrella.


--Romans will become sick of tourists, even before the peak of the season, loathing especially the big, ugly tour buses that clog the narrow streets, pollute the air, and park in large numbers where they shouldn't.  At the same time, and without a hint of irony, there will be gnashing of teeth over the decline of tourism in Rome. 

--Alitalia, the national airline, will be in the news, grappling with its decline.

Neighbors complained about this "abusivo" sidewalk sale near
San Giovanni in Laterano.

--Various forms of "abusivo"--basically, illegal--stuff will come under attack: abusivi street vendors, abusivi restaurant tables that extend into narrow streets, abusivi additions to the roofs of buildings, abusivi homes in the countryside, abusivi advertising panels, abusivo parking, especially by "i big"--that is, people who drive, or are driven in, expensive cars and think they're privileged. Not too long ago, at a meeting on via Nazionale, about a dozen bankers used the street for their Mercedes and BMWs, their cars jutting out at a right angle--into a critical thoroughfare where parking of any sort is absolutely prohibited.  Nothing, or almost nothing, will be done about any of this. 

"Prati, the abandoned city: 'a bazaar of street sellers invade streets
and sidewalks'"

--Lots will be written about corruption, at all levels.  This year, a postal employee who drove a delivery truck was found to be carrying mail not delivered for four years.

Anticipating a June 6 strike of thousands of government
workers

--The unions will go on strike, creating "caos" in the city.  The newspapers will describe the city as "in tilt."  It will, indeed, be hard to get around during these "scioperi"--strikes--that seem to occur several times a month.  It will be impossible to determine if those behind the strikes are really getting screwed, or if the unions are screwing everyone else.


So stay home.  You know what's going on.
Bill

According to the story, some large, abusivi advertising boards had already been torn down, and four thousand more
were going to be.  We recently noticed that a long string of cartelloni on the Gianicolo, at the side of Acqua Paolo,
had indeed been removed.