Water bus in Venice
The public water bus is the main public transportation service in Venice. Venice’s historic centre (5km2) is built on 115 inlets and counts more than 400 bridges. The water bus takes visitors along the main canals into the historic centre, the Lido and the other islands in the Venice Lagoon. There are 28 public water bus lines in Venice. The most popular one is water bus Line 1. ACTV is the public company that takes care for public transportation in Venice. The ACTV public transport timetable is here.
Water bus tickets
A Single ticket cost €7,50 and is valid 75 minutes for all lines into one direction.
– One Day Travel Cards €20
– Two-Day Travel Card €30
– Three-Day Travel Card €40
– Seven-Day Travel Card €60
Where to buy tickets
The Day Travel Cards can be used to travel with the public water bus and land bus within Venice. If you want to include the ACTV bus to Marco Polo Airport it cost an extra charge of €4. Tickets are sold at ticket windows, from authorised sellers (often newspaper stores) and from self-service vending machines which are located at embarking points/bus stops. Sometimes there is no ticket office or vending machine. Then you can ask the boat crew for a ticket immediately when you board the ferry boat.
Non-residents pay much more than locals
Residents pay far less than tourists: their fare is €1,50 for a single ticket. Residents pay €21/month to have unlimited travel with all ferry lines. A Belgian tourist complained about this in 2015 to the European Commission. They launched an investigation.
Hotel in historic centre or mainland?
If your hotel or apartment is in the heart of the city it’s not really necessary to take (often) the water bus. There are hundreds of small bridges over the canals. Hotels and restaurants are cheaper on the mainland. You have to travel by bus or train over the Liberty Bridge (5km) to the border of the historic centre. From there ( Piazzale Roma bus station, Santa Lucia Train Station) it takes 35 minutes by water bus to St. Mark Square. Water buses in the centre can be overcrowded. If you want to stay in Venice mainland you must realize this.
Two water buses are embarking at stop ‘Ferrovia’ (Italian for railroad). This stop is 100m from the exit of St.Lucia Train Station.