The Bologna tram is almost ready. The first Red Line tram began night-time road tests in Borgo Panigale on 6 October 2026, and Mayor Matteo Lepore has said the first section, from Borgo Panigale to the city centre, should carry passengers from spring 2027, once tests and safety approval are complete. The Green Line to Corticella follows, and two more lines are planned.
Below you will find what the first tests showed, a Holiplanet map of the routes, what the project costs and who pays, the strategy behind it, what residents and shopkeepers criticise, the real numbers on parking, and what the tram could mean for property values along the line.
When does the Bologna tram open?
When Bologna's first tram was presented in September 2026, it stood on the rails inside the Borgo Panigale depot: a gold and red nose carrying the Comune di Bologna crest and the CAF logo. It had arrived on the morning of 8 September, shipped by sea from the CAF plant in Irun, in the Basque Country, to Savona and on to the depot.
The first section: about 7 km of the Red Line, from Borgo Panigale to via Lame and via Riva di Reno, is the first stretch being prepared for testing, according to the project's official site (September 2026). When the first tram was presented in September 2026, the mayor said "Pensiamo in primavera di essere pronti": the city expects to be ready in spring 2027.
What could still move the date: final authorisation comes from ANSFISA, Italy's national rail and road safety agency, and has no fixed deadline. The city's mobility councillor has said service will start section by section, with the full line running by the end of 2027. The city has also said it intends to offer free or discounted fares in the first months.
The first road tests: what happened in October
At 20:30 on Tuesday 6 October 2026, the first tram left the depot and ran along via Marco Emilio Lepido to the junction of via Cavalieri Ducati and via della Salute, watched by residents who had gathered on the pavement, the mayor and the mobility councillor. Signs along the route warned of tram test runs between 19:00 and 04:00, so that tests disturb traffic as little as possible.
What is being tested: the city describes these as the vehicles' first technical road trials. The 750-volt overhead power line on this stretch has been switched on permanently, and the protective barriers along the track have been made lighter so that trams and road traffic can be tested together.
What comes next: tests extend step by step over the first 7 km of the Red Line, from Borgo Panigale towards the centre as far as via Lame and via Riva di Reno. More trams are being delivered over the coming months. After the road tests come the technical and safety checks and the ANSFISA authorisation that open the line to passengers.
The tram itself: each CAF Urbos tram is 34.7 metres long and 2.4 metres wide, with 68 seats and room for 223 passengers at normal load, or 300 at peak, almost twice an 18-metre articulated trolleybus. The floor is fully low, with four double doors per side and two wheelchair spaces. The design is by Italdesign (Giugiaro), the gold and red livery was chosen in an online vote with 29,134 participants, and each tram will be named by Bologna schoolchildren.
The routes: Red, Green, Blue and Yellow lines
Our map draws every stop published by the Comune di Bologna in November 2026. The full plan is a 57 km network of four lines with four interchange stations and one fare system for the whole metropolitan area.
Red Line
The Red Line crosses the city from west to east: from the Emilio Lepido terminus in Borgo Panigale, past Ospedale Maggiore and Porta San Felice, through the centre on via Ugo Bassi and Piazza Maggiore, up via Indipendenza to Bologna Centrale station, then on to the Fiera district and a northern terminus at Michelino. The EU's recovery-plan database describes it as 16.5 km long, with 30 stops, three termini and a tram every 4 to 5 minutes. In the historic centre, about 2 km run without overhead wires, on batteries.
The last 2.7 km, from San Donnino to Facoltà di Agraria in Pilastro, has been postponed. The city lists San Donnino – Casalone as the temporary terminus, after the city government decided in February 2026 to take that stretch out of the PNRR timetable because of uncertainty over motorway works on the San Donato overpass.
Green Line
The Green Line runs north from Stazione Corticella through the Navile district, past the Ippodromo, to Piazza dell'Unità. It then shares the Red Line's track to Bologna Centrale and ends at via dei Mille. A new 46-metre tram bridge over the Navile canal was lifted into place on 30 September 2026. Works continue, and the section from via Shakespeare to Corticella station is outside the PNRR targets.
Blue and Yellow lines
The Blue Line, from Casalecchio di Reno to San Lazzaro, and the Yellow Line, from Casteldebole to Rastignano, are part of the city's 2019 sustainable mobility plan (PUMS). Neither has a construction date yet.
How much does the Bologna tram cost, and who pays?
From above, central Bologna is a tight grid of terracotta roofs and narrow streets where a single bus fills the lane. Fitting 35-metre trams into that city takes a large budget and years of works.
Red Line: the construction contract was awarded in May 2022 to a consortium led by CMB with Alstom and Pavimental, for €320.5 million excluding VAT (Comune di Bologna). The overall Red Line package, including vehicles and other costs, was reported at €509 million when the contract was signed in July 2022, with part of it tied to the PNRR, Italy's EU-funded recovery plan.
Green Line: financed through the PNRR. The ministry approved funding in November 2021 on a request of about €222 million.
Trams: the vehicles are built by the Spanish company CAF. The framework contract, awarded in October 2024, runs for six years and is worth €237.88 million excluding VAT, including spare parts and four years of full maintenance at the Borgo Panigale depot. The first 35 trams are ordered, with a target of about 60.
The strategy: why Bologna chose a tram
Bologna had trams until 1963, then gave them up for buses. A tram plan was approved in the 1990s and dropped in 1999. The current project comes from the metropolitan sustainable mobility plan approved in 2019, which calls for a tram-based rapid transit system integrated with the bus network.
Why the Red Line first: the city chose it because it has the highest forecast demand and links the places people most need to reach: Ospedale Maggiore, the historic centre, Bologna Centrale and the Fiera.
The expected effect: the Red Line is designed to carry 110,000 passengers on a working day, 21% of urban public transport trips, and to take up to 15,000 people a day out of cars (EU recovery-plan project page). Across all four lines, the city expects about 300,000 passengers a day, with 2030 as the horizon for a city that is easier, safer and less polluted to move around.
The vision: rather than a faster bus, the tram is meant to reorganise the city around a few high-capacity corridors, with buses feeding the stops, park-and-ride car parks at the edges and a single ticket across the metropolitan area.
What residents and shopkeepers criticise
Near the Two Towers, buses, scooters, bikes and pedestrians still share the same stone crossings, all waiting for the same light. For three years, many Bolognesi have lived with the tram as fences, detours and one-way streets rather than as a ride. That experience shapes most of the criticism.
Shops and construction: in June 2023 the city approved about €3 million over four years for businesses on the routes, including a 50% cut in waste tax during works and up to €5,000 per business for renovation or marketing. Ascom Bologna expressed "strong doubts", Confesercenti called the package insufficient, and CNA was moderately satisfied, according to il Resto del Carlino. Confesercenti and CNA also asked for the help to reach shops on side streets.
Delays and cuts: the Red Line was originally due "by 2026". Passenger service has moved to 2027, and the eastern end to Pilastro is on hold, together with two planned car parks.
Traffic, bike lanes and parking: residents have worried about congestion at junctions and about losing bike lanes and parking. The city's mobility councillor has answered that the tram will have traffic-light priority and a dedicated lane on about 90% of the route, and that new bike lanes are added to the existing 260 km rather than replacing them.
What people expect: supporters expect faster, more reliable trips across the city and less traffic on the Via Emilia corridor. Sceptics will judge the tram on its first months: punctuality, how many bus routes it replaces and whether the parking promised at the edges actually opens.
Parking: how many spaces has Bologna lost to the tram?
On a wet morning in central Bologna, a small vintage car, a red city bus and pedestrians crowd the same narrow street. Every metre of road the tram takes has to come from somewhere, and kerbside parking is the most visible loss.
The official project figure: the Red Line's final design (2020) counted 2,511 parking spaces along the route and planned 2,454 after the works, a net loss of 57. The balance is very uneven. Porto–Saragozza, which includes the western edge of the centre, loses 401 spaces, and San Donato–San Vitale loses 244. Borgo Panigale–Reno gains 576, mainly through new car parks such as about 383 spaces on via Persicetana, and Navile gains 12.
The biggest single cuts: 176 spaces between via Bainsizza and via Podgora, and 165 on via Riva di Reno. The design expects the existing underground car park on via Riva di Reno, with about 500 spaces, to absorb the cars displaced there.
Earlier estimates were much higher: analysis of the 2019 preliminary design, reported by il Resto del Carlino, counted up to 1,220 spaces removed before compensation. The final design reduced the net loss by adding car parks, but some of those are now in doubt: in February 2026 the city cancelled the underground car park planned next to via Manuzio and the multi-storey car park between via di Saliceto and via Ferrarese.
What has been built: 128 new spaces opened near Ospedale Maggiore in March 2024, with 56 new holm oaks, and the city says the Borgo Panigale park-and-ride will have 338 spaces for cars and coaches. No final count of spaces actually removed has been published. Until it is, the 2020 design figures are the best official guide.
Will property values rise along the tram line?
Under Bologna's orange porticoes, the question many owners now ask is simple: will a stop at the end of the street change what a flat is worth? There is no official study for Bologna yet, but nearby evidence gives a useful guide.
What happened in Florence
A study published by the Comune di Firenze found that, after Florence's first tram line opened, prices rose most around the Scandicci terminus, by about €200 per m², roughly 8% of the average home value, while values near the historic centre were essentially unchanged. A December 2024 analysis by IRPET, Tuscany's regional economic institute, added a second lesson: areas waiting for new lines underperformed during long construction, then caught up once trams were running.
Where to watch in Bologna
Prices today: the city average asking price was €3,841 per m² in September 2026, from about €3,134 in San Donato–Pilastro to €4,700 in the centre (Immobiliare.it, summarised in our Living in Bologna guide). The gap between the centre and the outer districts is where a tram can make a difference.
Borgo Panigale: the western terminus, depot and park-and-ride, and the first section to open. If the Florence pattern holds, a terminus with a direct link to the centre is where the effect can be largest.
Bolognina and Navile: served by both lines and already growing. Nomisma reported in October 2026 that Navile's population grew 3.14% between 2014 and 2024, against 1.7% for the city, and that new housing on the former fruit and vegetable market site will add supply.
San Donato: on the Red Line towards the Fiera, with some of the city's lowest prices. The postponement of the Pilastro section makes timing there less certain.
What it means for owners, hosts and local businesses
For landlords, the tram is mainly a story about travel time. A flat in Borgo Panigale or San Donato with a direct tram ride to Piazza Maggiore can compete with central flats for students, hospital staff and people relocating, at a lower rent: in September 2026 asking rents were €14.99 per m² in Aeroporto–Borgo Panigale and €14.98 in San Donato–Pilastro, against €18.12 in the centre. For short-stay hosts, a stop near the Fiera or the station is a selling point for trade-fair visitors who arrive by train. Shops on the route have carried the cost of the works; the first months of service will show whether footfall returns.
This is general information, not investment advice: the tram's effect will depend on reliability, the final bus network and wider market conditions, which Nomisma expects to slow, with a cumulative rise in average prices of just over 3% in the next three years.
Bologna tram: frequently asked questions
When will the Bologna tram start running?
The city expects the first passengers on the Red Line between Borgo Panigale and the centre in spring 2027, after tests and approval by ANSFISA. Full Red Line service is expected by the end of 2027.
Where does the Bologna tram go?
The Red Line runs from Borgo Panigale through the centre and Bologna Centrale to the Fiera and Michelino, with a temporary terminus at San Donnino. The Green Line runs from Corticella to the station and via dei Mille.
How much does the Bologna tram cost?
The Red Line construction contract is €320.5 million excluding VAT, within a package of about €509 million. The Green Line is funded by the PNRR, on a request of about €222 million.
How many parking spaces did the tram remove?
The official 2020 design of the Red Line plans a net loss of 57 spaces along the route, with 401 fewer in Porto–Saragozza and 244 fewer in San Donato–San Vitale, offset by 576 more in Borgo Panigale. No final count of the spaces actually removed has been published.
Plan your time in Bologna
For neighbourhoods, rents and paperwork, see Living in Bologna, and read what to check before paying a deposit and what daily life costs beyond the rent. For a visit, start with our Bologna City Guide.
Sources
Dates and figures can change as testing continues. Sources read on 10 November 2026: Comune di Bologna, Tram Bologna (network, first tram and vehicle data, first road tests, Red Line stops, Green Line stops, project, testing, Navile bridge, Ospedale Maggiore car park); Comune di Bologna, Red Line contract award and Red Line final design report (parking table, section 3.6); European Commission, Tram Linea Rossa; DIRE, contract signing, July 2022; San Marino RTV, first tram presented, 10 September 2026; InCronaca (University of Bologna), interview with the mobility councillor, May 2026; Gazzetta di Bologna, first test run, 6 October 2026 and San Donnino–Agraria postponement; Eco dalle Città, night tests and 750 V line; il Resto del Carlino, parking in the preliminary design (2019) and business support package (2023); Comune di Firenze, economic impact of the tramway; IRPET, tram network expansion, Florence (December 2024); Bologna24ore, Nomisma on the northern market (October 2026). Green Line funding and the history of earlier tram plans: Wikipedia's article on the Bologna tram network, with its cited sources.
Map: Holiplanet, drawn from the stop lists published by the Comune di Bologna (November 2026), schematic and not to scale. Tram photos (cover and depot): Giorgio Bianchi for Comune di Bologna, © Comune di Bologna, via trambologna.it, cropped and lightly finished by Holiplanet. Other photos: crossing near the Two Towers by Arno Senoner; rooftops from above by Daniel Seßler; vintage car and bus by Marcus Ganahl; porticoes by Jamie Kettle. All on Unsplash (Unsplash License), with light colour and detail finishing by Holiplanet.
