Public Transport in Tbilisi: Metro, Buses, Minibuses and Fares

Public transport in Tbilisi runs on a single fare: a ride costs 1 lari and gives 90 minutes of free transfers between the metro, buses and minibuses. You pay with a Metromoney card or a bank card right at the gate, and most buses do not accept cash. The metro and buses run from 6-7 am to midnight, and there is no night transport.

Below, section by section: how to pay and what is cheapest, how the metro, buses, minibuses and cable cars work, which apps show routes, and what to do after midnight.

Paying: Metromoney, Bank Cards, Travel Passes

The Metromoney card is sold at the ticket office of any metro station for 2 lari, which is refunded if you return the card within a month. You can top it up there or at Bank of Georgia payment terminals. One card can pay for several people at once: each tap on the validator deducts a separate ride.

A Georgian bank card works the same way as Metromoney: 1 lari and 90 minutes of transfers. A foreign card, Apple Pay or Google Pay also works contactless, but the charge can be higher, up to 1.50 lari, and the free transfer does not always apply. For regular travel, Metromoney or a local card that comes with a bank account in Georgia is cheaper. Russian-issued Visa and Mastercard cards do not work in Georgia.

For daily riders there are unlimited passes for the metro, buses and minibuses. They are loaded onto a separate blue card for 2 lari or linked to a Bank of Georgia or TBC card in the bank's app:

Passes are not valid on the Rike-Narikala cable car. Discounted fares (20 tetri for students and pensioners, free travel for schoolchildren) are for people listed in state registers, and foreigners usually do not qualify.

Metro

The Tbilisi Metro opened in 1966 and was the fourth in the Soviet Union after Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv. Today it has 2 lines and 23 stations, and about 500,000 people use it on a weekday.

• Line 1 (red, Akhmeteli-Varketili): 16 stations, 19.6 km. It runs through Didube, Station Square, Rustaveli, Liberty Square and Avlabari, crossing the whole centre.
• Line 2 (green, Saburtalo): 7 stations, 7.7 km. It goes from Station Square into Saburtalo up to State University station, opened in 2017.

There is one transfer point between the lines, at Station Square, where the metro connects to the central railway station. Trains run daily from 6:00 to 24:00: every 2.5-3 minutes at peak and every 9-12 minutes late in the evening.

Station names are announced in Georgian and English, and signs are bilingual too. Accessibility is the metro's weak point: stations are deep, with long escalators and almost no lifts, so with a stroller or a large suitcase the bus is easier. An EBRD programme plans to upgrade about 12 stations by 2029.

Buses

The bus network covers what the metro does not reach: Vake, Saburtalo beyond the metro line, Gldani, Tskneti, Kiketi. After the 2022 reform the routes were renumbered: three-digit numbers starting with 1, 2 and 3 (301, 337, 380) are full-size buses, those starting with 4 and 5 are minibuses, and routes 20-24 go to Rustavi. By the end of 2025 the city received 200 new 18-metre articulated MAN gas buses, each carrying up to 162 passengers.

You can board through any door and tap your card on the validator inside. Stops have electronic boards with arrival times. Buses run roughly from 7:00 to midnight every 10-40 minutes depending on the route, much less often after 22:00. Bus 337 runs from Tbilisi Airport to Station Square for the same 1 lari.

Inspectors are common: 150-200 of them work on the routes every day. They ask you to tap the same card you paid with on their terminal. Without a valid payment the fine is 20 lari.

Minibuses

The old yellow marshrutkas, where you paid the driver in cash, were replaced in 2022 by blue and black-and-white minibuses of the city company. They follow the same rules as buses: numbers starting with 4 or 5, card payment only, 1 lari, transfers included in the 90-minute window. They stop at regular stops, not on request.

Minibuses serve narrow streets and steep hills: Mtatsminda, Sololaki, the outskirts and suburbs such as Rustavi. Intercity marshrutkas to Kutaisi, Batumi and Kazbegi are a separate system: they leave from Didube bus station and cost 20-35 lari depending on distance.

All Bus and Minibus Routes

Below are all 275 city routes with their terminal stops, based on OpenStreetMap data as of September 2026. The official Tbilisi Transport app shows the stops along the way and arrival times, and route numbers sometimes change, so check your route there before travelling.

Buses

Minibuses

Cable Cars and Funicular

Tbilisi has several cable cars, and some of them work as regular city transport:

Apps and Route Maps

The city transport company has an official app, Tbilisi Transport, with a journey planner and real-time bus arrivals.

Since late 2025, new official maps hang at stops and in the metro: the metro with its links to the airport and railway station, a map of all bus routes and a diagram of the main lines with transfers. The maps are in Georgian and Latin script.

After Midnight and Taxis

Tbilisi has had no night buses since the pandemic: the metro and buses stop around midnight. After that the only option is a taxi in Tbilisi via an app. A ride across the centre with Bolt costs 8-15 lari, from the airport to the centre 30-40 lari, and the price is shown before you order. Avoid street cars without an app: your first week in Georgia most often gets more expensive because of them.

In Short

• One ride 1 ₾ with 90 minutes of transfers between metro, buses and minibuses
• Cheapest: Metromoney for 2 ₾ or a Georgian bank card; a foreign card may charge up to 1.50 ₾
• Monthly pass 40 ₾, annual pass 250 ₾
• Metro: 2 lines, 23 stations, 6:00 to 24:00, transfer at Station Square
• Buses and 4xx and 5xx minibuses take cards only; the fine for not paying is 20 ₾
• After midnight, only app taxis