The tariff sheet itself, in the kiosk window — headed valid from 1 September 2025, every price including VAT. Photographed August 2026What to look for: the CARDURI ABONAMENTE ELECTRONICE sign marks a kiosk that issues and reloads the blue travel card
A single ticket is 4 lei, a one-day pass 10 lei and a seven-day pass 30 lei. One fare system covers the city buses and both tram lines. Buy at a RAT kiosk before boarding, or tap a contactless bank card on the reader inside a newer vehicle. Passes load onto a blue Craiova Transport Public card, issued and topped up at the same kiosks.
Against a ride-hailing app
Worth doing the sum before you default to the app. Ten rides taken across the city in August 2026 averaged 10.82 lei each, against 4 lei for a single ticket — about two and a half times as much per journey. Spread a 30 lei seven-day pass over two rides a day and the same journey works out near 2 lei. The pass pays for itself against three app rides. Cost is not the whole story: an app wins on luggage, on late nights and on routes no bus serves, and these figures come from one person’s actual spending rather than a survey. Compared on prices in August 2026.
Pensioner travel
A half-price pass costs 60 lei. Free travel is granted under HCL 115/2023 and HCL 221/2023 to pensioners living in Craiova whose net pension is up to 1,992 lei, and to anyone aged 70 or over whatever the pension. Take an identity document and the pension coupon for the month before, original and copy; a data-consent form is signed when a new card is issued.
School and student cards
Pupils need the carnet de elev showing the personal numeric code and registration number, or a school certificate, in the original. Over-14s bring the identity card, under-14s a copy of the birth certificate, and a parent signs the consent form for under-16s. Students have their own thirty-day pass at 120 lei. These rules are set for the school year, so the dates move each summer.
Which pass is actually worth buying
The 30-day and 15-day passes cost exactly the same per day — 4 lei — so the longer one buys no discount at all. Two 15-day passes come to 120 lei, the price of one 30-day, which makes the 15-day the flexible option at no penalty: if plans change you have only committed half as far. The 7-day is the one that costs more per day, 4.29 lei, so it only makes sense for a stay that genuinely ends inside the week. A 1-day pass at 10 lei needs three journeys to beat singles. The 200 lei bearer pass is worse than a 120 lei personal one for any single traveller — it exists so a card can be handed between people, which is the only situation where it pays.
Visitors, in short
None of the paperwork above applies to you. Buy singles at 4 lei, or a day pass at 10 lei if you expect more than two rides. Nobody sells tickets reliably on board, so buy before you get on.
Single tickets
Single journey, any distance
4 lei
Tram, outer section
6 lei
Bought at a RAT kiosk before boarding, or by contactless bank card on the reader inside a newer bus or tram.
Passes, all lines
One day
10 lei
Seven days
30 lei
Fifteen days
60 lei
Thirty days
120 lei
Thirty days, transferable
200 lei
Student, thirty days
120 lei
Pensioner, half price
60 lei
Loaded onto a blue Craiova Transport Public card. A replacement card costs 10 lei.
Worth knowing
Kiosk hours
06:00–21:00, Monday to Sunday
Replacement card
10 lei
Break-even, day pass
3 journeys
Break-even, 7-day pass
8 journeys
All prices include VAT and were read off the tariff sheet in a RAT kiosk window in August 2026; the sheet is headed valid from 1 September 2025. Fares change — check the window before you rely on a figure.
