Venice is special because in that Italian city, they use boats and small walking bridges to get around instead of cars and motorcycles.
Public transportation here is just as popular as cars and motorcycles. Modes of public transportation include buses, subway systems, and trams. The buses work similarly to the way they work in New York. One key difference is that buses don't come at set times, so you often have to be prepared to run to catch the bus because you won't know when the next one is coming! The subway (called "metropolitana" in Italian) is more reliable and less confusing to navigate than the subway system in New York City. In Rome (the largest city in Italy), there are only two subways lines! Also, the subway stations are much cleaner than in New York City and even play music sometimes. Finally, there is the tram, which is like a train that runs in the middle of the street but makes stops like a bus. Unlike the bus, though, the tram stops at every stop and you get off when you are ready. Every day, I see students and working adults using a mix of these three modes of public transportation to get around!
I was very excited to ride the tram for the first time because I had never been on one before. To me, the tram looks like a big submarine on train tracks that would make for a smoother ride throughout the city, unlike the bus that constantly stops short and bounces about as it moves. However, my friend and I quickly learned that many of the same rules we follow on the bus, such as holding on to a pole as the bus moves, also apply to the tram. On our first tram ride, my friend actually fell onto another man because she was not holding on!
