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I've wanted to talk about the transportation in Rome for a while, and seeing as I've had a few questions about it lately, I'm going to do just that.

I'm going to leave public transportation for another post, because I want to do a bit more research (aka using it more) before I do that post. Even though I haven't used the transportation I'm going to talk about, meaning private modes of transportation, I think I've learned enough to write a solid post.

Private transportation consists of cars and mopeds/scooters/motorcycles. Lets talk about each because they are both equally interesting.

Cars first? A car in Rome is not a car in the United States. Cars in Rome are all what we label "smart cars". Many of them actually are the Smart brand, but they're all the same premise: a very compact car that gets great gas mileage and can be parked just about anywhere. These things can be parked parallel, sideways, backwards, probably even upside-down and they fit into just about any space available. The reason they are so common is because of this ease of parking. Most cars are parked on the side of the streets here in Rome. Since many of the roads are narrow cobblestone side streets, using these tiny cars makes it possible to park on pretty much any street.

The next mode of transportation, and probably Rome's favorite, is the scooter/moped. They are all over, and by all over I mean there are I'd say 5-10 scooters for every car on the road. We have 2 wheeled motorcycles in the US, so what's the big deal? The big deal is how the people drive these things. They are some of the most impatient drivers I have ever seen. When a scooter pulls up to a light, they weave their way to the front of the pack, so to right in front of light. So at every light there is a group of scooters at the front, ready to jump ahead of the cars they just cut off. When the light changes, they take off in a frenzy of high pitched acceleration. As they catch up to the next pack of cars on the road, they weave right through them as well. They will do whatever it takes to keep moving. If it means driving on the wrong side of the road, even on a busy road like the one in front of our hotel, they will do it. Red lights for scooters seem to only be a suggestion, as I have seen more than a few scooters not even hesitate at a red light. The light wasn't just turning red, it had been red for 30 seconds, and the scooters showed no sign of stopping.

I was asked about the price of a gallon of gas in Rome. When I read the question it really stumped me. I realized I had not seen a gas station in my entire time in Rome. Living in the center of the historical part of Rome, there seems to be no gas stations. This is probably because the cars and mopeds get such great gas mileage (or kilomerage? maybe?). So I went searching for a gas station and made an interesting find. First off, gas stations here are are not like gas stations in the States. They are not large structures with multiple pumps, convenience stores attached, but are instead 1 or 2 small pumps on the side of the road. Second, the measurement for buying gas is per liter, considering they don't use the gallon. There are roughly 4 liters in a gallon, and a liter of gas here is from 1 euro to 1.20 euro. Quick conversion makes that about 4 euros a gallon. So you must be feeling pretty good about gas prices? Well consider that these small cars get somewhere between 35 and 55 miles per gallon. The scooters? They average about 70 miles per gallon. Gas Guzzling SUV's are unheard of here. They just aren't practical for the city, though they're not practical for any city including US ones, yet I still see plenty of GMC SUV's in New York and Philly every time. These cars are also much less expensive than cars in the US. Maybe it's their size, or that they aren't being shipped overseas, or a bit of both. Mopeds are even cheaper, a couple thousand euro will get you a shiny new moped.