With the aim of responding to the needs of travellers and workers in the airport area, especially at night, from Monday 25 November Marconi Express and Tper, in collaboration with the ‘Guglielmo Marconi’ Airport and in agreement with the Municipality of Bologna, are renewing bus services between the city and the Bologna airport. In particular, the night-time connection between the airport and Bologna station will be entirely provided by line 944, a Tper service costing 4 euros, which will offer 12 trips every half hour during the night.
Line 944 operates from 4 a.m. to 2 a.m. the following day. During daytime hours, it connects the airport with the Maggiore hospital, with rides every 20 minutes and stops at ‘Santa Viola’, ‘Pontelungo’, ‘Triumvirato’ and ‘Birra’, useful for interchanging with the other lines of the urban and suburban bus network. At night, the service guarantees 6 trips from the airport to the station (with departures at: 00.15; 00.45; 01.15; 01.45; 4.30; 5.00) and 6 trips from the station to the airport (with departures at: 00.40; 1.10; 4.00; 4.30; 5.00; 5.30). At the station, the stop is in Piazza delle Medaglie d’oro. Line 944 will absorb the 4 journeys (2 from the airport and 2 from the station) previously offered by the night service ‘Marconi Express 940’, which will then cease.
One-way tickets for line 944 include a 75-minute supplement for travel on Tper’s other urban lines. They can be purchased directly on board the buses using the contactless card validator, with the Roger app, on the Tper website, at the automatic ticket machines at the airport, at Tper ticket offices and at the authorised retailers closest to the shuttle stops.
The experimental period of ‘Marconi Express 949’ has also been extended to 5 January. The line with 100% electric buses was activated last 5 June by Marconi Express to offer an alternative means of transport, connecting Marconi Airport and the city centre, with its terminus in Piazza Malpighi and no intermediate stops. Due to air traffic during the winter season and to the night-time transport service provided by line 944, from Monday 25 November the ‘Marconi Express 949’ service will operate from 5.40 a.m. (first run from Piazza Malpighi) to midnight (last run at 11.53 p.m. from the airport), with a frequency of one run every 66 minutes.
In addition to the normal Marconi Express tickets that include the 75-minute supplement for travel on Tper’s urban lines, on the ‘Marconi Express 949’ buses there is a discounted fare worth €9.80 for a single trip, which can only be purchased on the MarconiExpress.it website, at the ticket machine at the ‘Airport’ terminus and through the Roger app, by selecting the title ‘Flex solo Bus 949’.
In the coming weeks, in light of the use of the ‘Marconi Express 949’ line by travellers, Marconi Express, the Municipality of Bologna and the ‘Guglielmo Marconi’ Airport will evaluate together the continuation of the service.
