ATVO, the express bus between the airports and Piazzale Roma

Who ATVO is

ATVO stands for Azienda Trasporti Veneto Orientale. It runs the regional buses across the eastern part of the province: from San Donà di Piave to Jesolo, from Portogruaro to the beaches. For anyone arriving in Venice, two lines matter most: the express bus from Marco Polo and the one from Treviso airport.

It is a joint-stock company with mixed ownership. The public shareholders are the Metropolitan City of Venice and 21 municipalities of eastern Veneto; the private ones are Dolomitibus and ATAP of Pordenone. Its head office is in San Donà di Piave. According to company figures, the fleet numbers 314 buses and the staff 483.

The website speaks of “over 90 years of public transport” but gives no founding date. Wikipedia traces its origins to 1928, with a bus line from Fossalta di Piave, and the ATVO name to 1978.

Line 35: from Marco Polo to Piazzale Roma

The service is called Venice Airport Bus Express. The official timetable promises the trip in about 20 minutes, every day, luggage included. Buses run roughly every half hour.

On the timetable in force when we checked, the first bus leaves the airport at 6:00 and the last daytime one at 23:50; two night departures follow, at 0:20 and 1:10. From Piazzale Roma buses run from 4:20 to 23:20, plus one at 0:40. The 4:20 first departure suits early-morning flights, when water taxis still charge the night supplement.

At the airport, go out through exit D and look for the second lane on the left: for Venice you board at stop 3, for Mestre at stop 4. ATVO also runs a shuttle between Marco Polo and Mestre railway station.

The coach is air-conditioned, offers free Wi-Fi and is wheelchair accessible; tickets can be digital, in the app. Suitcases go in the coach’s hold, and for many travellers that is the clinching advantage.

The bus from Treviso

Line 351, the Treviso Airport Bus Express, links Canova airport with Mestre and Piazzale Roma. According to ATVO it takes 30 minutes to Mestre and 40 to Venice, and the current timetable confirms 40 minutes from Piazzale Roma to the airport. Third-party sources report longer real-world times, up to 65–70 minutes in Mestre traffic: if you have a flight to catch, allow the wider margin.

The fare is not clearly printed on the ATVO website or on the line 351 timetable. On GetYourGuide the ticket cost €14 when we checked: check the current fare at the ticket office or in the app before you travel. ACTV, on the other hand, publishes an integrated ATVO+ACTV ticket from Treviso: €19.50 one way, €37 return, €63 with the 3-day ACTV pass. If you will need the vaporetti afterwards, the integrated ticket is usually the simplest choice.

What it costs and how to do the maths

The Marco Polo–Piazzale Roma ticket costs €12 per person, €20 return: confirmed by ATVO’s online ticket office and the official line 35 timetable. Many websites still quote €10, but that figure is out of date; €10 is now the price of ACTV’s Aerobus, a different service.

The bus, however, drops you at Piazzale Roma. Do the maths on the whole journey, all the way to your hotel’s landing stage. Below, a hotel near Rialto, reached by ACTV vaporetto (€9.50) or by water taxi at the city fare from Piazzale Roma (€50 per boat).

For a couple, bus plus vaporetto costs just over a third of a taxi from the airport. For four the gap narrows: bus plus taxi from Piazzale Roma costs almost as much as a direct taxi at the city fare, with one extra change.

The comparison shifts if you use commercial prices: a private taxi from the airport booked online usually costs well over €110. The details are on the prices page.

Luggage: what ATVO says and what resellers say

On its service page ATVO states that every passenger may travel with unlimited luggage, hand and hold, at no extra cost. Some third-party sources instead give one suitcase of up to 85×45×25 cm plus one piece of hand luggage. The same size appears among the inclusions of the ticket sold on Tiqets.

The operator’s rule is the one ATVO publishes, which also says “luggage included” on the line 35 timetable; the size limit is a condition stated by the reseller. In practice: with one large suitcase each you will have no problems; with bulky equipment, ask at the ticket office before buying.

Where to buy your ticket

• At the airport: ATVO ticket office in the arrivals hall, and ticket machines.
• At Piazzale Roma: ticket office in the bus station and self-service machines working 24 hours a day.
• In Mestre: ticket office in Via Cappuccina.
• Online and in the app: ATVO web ticket office and digital tickets in the app.
• Resellers: GetYourGuide sells an airport–Piazzale Roma bus transfer at €12, rated 4.7 from over 31,000 reviews when we checked; the listing does not name the operator, but the times it gives (from the airport 6:00–1:10, from Venice 4:20–0:40, every 30 minutes) match ATVO’s line 35. Tiqets sells a direct bus at €12, rated 4.6 from 615 reviews, departing from exit D.

Reseller prices match the official fare. The advantage of buying ahead is having your ticket ready as you walk off the plane. Tripadvisor also carries reports of fines for invalid tickets: keep your ticket handy and show or validate it when boarding, as stated on the ticket.

What travellers report

The most-cited strength is speed: twenty minutes or so and two stops. On the Rick Steves forum the recurring advice is to choose ATVO over ACTV’s Aerobus precisely because suitcases go underneath, in the hold. On the Aerobus they stay with you in the aisle.

The most common complaint on Tripadvisor concerns staff: drivers and ticket sellers described as brusque, and passengers having to load their own suitcases. Other reviewers find the fare high for ten kilometres or so. There are also occasional reports of delays. We could not retrieve the overall Tripadvisor score.

We found no specific controversies involving ATVO. Like all local public transport, buses can stop during national general strikes: if you have an early flight, check the notices the day before.

Who it suits, and who it doesn’t

Alternatives to compare

The water-borne alternative, for a little more money, is Alilaguna: slower, but it reaches landing stages in the centre. The competing public bus is ACTV’s Aerobus, at €10 with your bags on board. By road taxi, Radio Taxi Venezia charges a fixed €40 per car to Piazzale Roma.

To sort every option by arrival area, start with the guide from Marco Polo airport. For Mestre, Treviso and road taxis there is the page on land taxis. If you want to do the last stretch by private boat, read the guide to the private water taxi.