Water buses of Venice, Italy

Cars cannot drive into old Venice.

They stop at big parking places at the edge. Then people walk along the canals and over hundreds of bridges.

Venice is a walking city. Apart from the big parking areas at Piazzale Roma and on the Lido, cars are not allowed. You can reach any point on foot along the canal banks, paved streets and squares, crossing about 400 bridges, though you may meet a few dead ends on the way.

Only four bridges cross the Grand Canal. The Rialto Bridge, from about 1590, stands at its most dramatic bend. The others are the Accademia Bridge, from the 1930s, the marble Scalzi Bridge at the railway station, from 1932, and the Constitution Bridge, opened in 2008.

Britannica explains that the city's framework of canals and narrow streets has kept automobiles out, and that apart from the large parking lots at Piazzale Roma (Rome Square) and on the Lido they are banned. Any point can be reached on foot, by canal banks, paved streets and neighborhood squares and over some 400 canal bridges, many of them old arched marble bridges, though many were replaced by wrought iron in the 19th century.

The Grand Canal has four bridges: the Rialto (Antonio da Ponte, c. 1590), the wooden, steel-reinforced Accademia (1930s, replacing a 19th-century Austrian bridge), the marble Scalzi at the station (1932) and the Constitution Bridge by Santiago Calatrava (2008), which links the station to Piazzale Roma.

A vaporetto is a water bus.

It stops at stops along the canals, and people climb on and off. It also goes out to other islands.

Venice's public buses float. They are called vaporetti (one is a vaporetto), water buses run by ACTV, the city's public transport company. They carry passengers along the city's canals and out across the lagoon to other islands.

ACTV sells two kinds of tickets, at different prices, for its water services: ordinary tickets for occasional passengers, and the Carta Venezia rate for regular passengers who hold a Venezia Unica card set up for the boats. When there is fog, or when the tide rises more than 95 centimeters, the water bus service changes to a special plan agreed with the city.

Britannica describes the vaporetti as public water buses run by the municipal transport system, sharing the canals with private motor-launch taxis and specialized craft. The service is run as AVM/Actv; AVM (Azienda Veneziana della Mobilità), which has its registered office on the island of Tronchetto, is directed and coordinated by the Municipality of Venice.

The AVM/Actv fares page states that two types of ticket, at different prices, exist for waterborne services: ordinary one-off tickets for occasional passengers, and tickets and passes at the Carta Venezia rate for holders of a Venezia Unica card enabled for the water network. Some boat services, including Alilaguna and the casino shuttle, are not covered by Actv tickets. Its timetable page says that in fog, or with high water above +95 cm, waterborne services are modified according to a plan agreed with the Municipality of Venice in the service contract.

Lots of other boats use the canals too.

There are water taxis and long black gondolas. Some boats carry fruit and vegetables. There are even ambulance and police boats!

The best-known boat in Venice is the gondola, a long, sleek, black boat rowed by a gondolier. Only several hundred are left today, and many visitors pay to ride one. A few gondolas still work as ferries, carrying people across the Grand Canal.

Most boats on the canals have motors. Besides the water buses, there are water taxis, barges carrying fruit and vegetables, garbage barges, ambulance and police boats, and boats full of travelers' luggage.

Britannica notes that only several hundred gondolas remain, keelless boats long outnumbered by other vessels; their sleek shape and black paintwork have made them a symbol of the city. A number still serve as ferries across the Grand Canal, though Britannica judges that the cost of maintenance makes their eventual disappearance likely.

The working water traffic is motorized: vaporetti, private motor-launch taxis, produce barges, garbage barges, ambulance and police launches and baggage boats. That traffic has a cost. UNESCO's statement of value says that, together with more frequent and higher tides, the wave motion caused by motor boats is one of the main causes of deterioration and damage to building structures and urban areas, and that it erodes the lagoon's seabed and salt marshes.

Fewer people live in old Venice than before.

In 2025, fewer than 48,000 people lived there. Many more people visit every year.

The old city of Venice, its historic districts called sestieri plus the island of Giudecca, has fewer residents than it used to. City figures reported by the Italian newspaper Il Post show more than 62,000 people in 2005, 55,589 in 2015 and 48,489 at the end of 2024. In August 2025, the count dropped below 48,000.

The wider municipality of Venice, which includes towns on the mainland, is much bigger: Italy's statistics office, ISTAT, counted 249,490 residents on 1 January 2025.

Il Post (September 2025) reported that the historic center (the sestieri and Giudecca, excluding other lagoon islands and the mainland) fell below 48,000 residents, with 47,995 on 21 August 2025 according to the Venessia.com counter, which processes municipal data; the city's statistics office series runs from more than 62,000 (2005) to 55,589 (2015), over 52,000 (2020) and 48,489 (end of 2024).

Britannica gives the city's 2022 population as 254,661 and attributes the shrinking center to poor social amenities and high rents. ISTAT counted 249,490 residents in the municipality on 1 January 2025. The two counts differ in area: the municipality includes Mestre and the rest of the mainland, while the shrinking count covers only the historic islands.