Milan is a well connected city, and the municipal administration does an excellent job providing various modes of transport thanks to the Azienda Trasporti Milanesi, or ATM for short. Please note that if you want to ask for a place to withdraw money, and you ask for an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine), you’ll be sent to the Metro – ask for a “bancomat” instead.
Milan has a subway, suburban rail, streetcars (called trams), buses, and bikes. Recently there has been an explosion in the number of companies providing “shared” modes of transport, such as carshares, moped shares, and scooter shares.
Apps such as GoogleMaps (iOS and Android), City Mapper (iOS and Android), and Moovit (iOS and Android) are going to be your best friends for the first couple of weeks/months/years (other map/transport apps are available).
How to get to and from the Airport
Getting to and from airports in Milan is simple. There are 3 main airports to fly to and out of.
These are:
- Malpensa, MXP
- Linate, LIN
- Bergamo, BGY
Malpensa
For Malpensa, there is the Malpensa Express that you can take from Centrale or Cadorna (both on the green line, and also the yellow and red lines, respectively). It takes just under an hour to get to and from this airport. The train is rather nice, has outlets to charge your electronic devices, and ample room for any large bags you may have. The tickets are inexpensive too, costing around €7 at the time of writing.
Linate
Linate is the closest to the centre of the city, whilst the others are further out of the city. To get to Linate from the city is relatively easy; there are buses and taxis (the more expensive option) that will take you to and from this airport. Heading to Milano Centrale metro (lines 2/green and 3/yellow) station will usually be the easiest place to take a bus to this airport.
Bergamo
For Bergamo, most people travel by coach. The main place people get to the airport from is Centrale. Most companies offer tickets for €5 – €7 one way, and offer ample room for luggage. The journey to Bergamo takes around 40 minutes, and there are no extra amenities on board. They also do coaches to Malpensa at Centrale Station, so make sure you jump on the right one!
Metro Card
How much does it cost?
The ATM offers student cards that can be obtained at some Metro stops (Centrale, Cadorna, Garibaldi, Loreto, and Duomo, among others). As of the time of writing this, a student card will cost around €22 a month for within the urban area, and around €50 for extra urban, with a €10 initial cost to get the card. It should also be noted that the ATM does not consider you to be a student if you are over the age of 27 (stupid, I know) so an ATM card after this point will cost €40 per month for the inter urban card.
The card can be paid for annually for a slight discount, or you can top it up from month to month. Losing the card will cost around €20 to get a new one. I believe you only need a valid form of ID, and maybe an extra passport photo, to do this.
With this card, you now have access to Milan’s metro network, tram lines and bus services with one card!
You can also buy “bigletti” (single tickets) from machines, and some cafes. A single ticket will run you around €2, and is good for 90 minutes on any form of ATM transport from activation. Handy if you have relatives or friends over to visit!
Please be aware that if you are caught without a Metro card, or valid form of ticket, you will be fined. If paid on the spot it will cost you €36.50, and if you are unable to pay there and then, they will fine you an extra €20, or so. Failure to pay this within the time limit will run you an extra €10. A little tip, ATM like to send out patrol officers at the start of each month, so be aware of that!
What do you need to get one?
You will need to bring the following with you to the ATM office:
- A passport photo (most offices have a machine nearby where you can have a couple photos made for around €5)
- A copy of your enrolment receipt, with your student number
- The form which must be filled out in full; these are also provided in trays at the offices. There’s usually an attendant at the entrance who can help you chose the correct form
- The money for the activation of the card, and if you chose to do so, you can top up the card there and then.
Routes
(Milano’s metro network. A fifth, blue line with a stop at the main university hospital and Linate Airport is coming soon!)
There is also a suburban train network allowing commuters to travel from outside the urban area. There are 11 lines that reach out to various parts of Milano/Lombardy. This is useful for those living outside the city where rent may be cheaper.
Shared Services
Bikes
Milan is an excellent city for cycling, because it is flat, temperate, has numerous bike lanes, and allows sidewalk cycling. There are also websites dedicated to second hand goods, so if you want to be more flexible with your bike use, there are places available to purchase second hand bikes, search around for a good place to buy (like lambrate, or via padova) but be sure to buy a good bike lock, bike theft is a real problem in Milan.
As previously mentioned, there has been an explosion in the number and variety of companies offering sharing services for cars, bikes, scooters, mopeds, etc. Many companies have come and gone over the past couple of years, but the ones covered below have stood the test of time … well, for at least 3 years.
When it comes to bike sharing the ATM has their own service – BikeMi. They have handy app that allows you to track the stations available in the city. This is useful as sometimes stations are full when you need to drop off a bike. Thankfully, another station is often not too far away!
As of 2016, the company has begun to roll out Junior BikeMi that allows you to take up to three junior bikes out at a time. More information on Junior BikeMi can be found on the website. Please be aware that helmets are not provided with the service.
BikeMi is a nice choice, but limits you to certain drop off points which aren’t so numerous and spread out, the bikes can also be quite heavy. There are other companies available that allow you to drop of bikes wherever and whenever within the city limits, some such companies can be found below:
These services differ in the contracts, pricing, and number of available bikes, some research is required.
Car Sharing
Over the past few years car sharing has become a more popular and viable way of travelling around the city. You pay for a membership and utilise an app, or card, to activate the vehicle, which you then use as you will. At the moment there are around 4 car sharing companies in Milan to choose from, each with competitive rates of subscription. The links to each company in Milan can be found below.
- Car2Go / ShareNow / DriveNow
- Enjoy
- GuidaMi – an ATM sponsored service from 2014 that since has appeared to go defunct.
- ubeeqo
Each company has its own tariffs and terms of service, so thorough research is needed to find the one(s) best for you!
Getting to and from University
Currently lectures are held at LITA, but there will soon be a change of frontal lectures being hosted in Niguarda. The affomentioned apps will help you decide the best method of transport to get to where you want to go. A lot of students purchase their own bikes for getting around the city, otherwise public transport is a nice option.
LITA
As LITA is in Segrate/Milano Due, we rely on transport links and there are two popular ways by which students get to our university building:
- The green line metro to Cascina Gobba, then walk through San Raffaele hospital grounds.
- The 925 bus from Udine (Udine is on the green line of the metro) and then walk from the bus stop (“Portineria Milano 2”, careful though as the stop is not announced and there is no stop name on a sign).
Niguarda
For Niguarda there is the Tram 4 that will take you from the centre of the city to the hospital. Failing this there are the yellow and purple lines that will take you to the Niguarda area. We will potentially also have clerkships at other hospitals so be sure to get accustomed to our wonderful city in your down time!