Company dinners and end-of-year events in Rome: the employee shuttle

A company dinner in Rome is usually decided in November and held in mid-December, on a Thursday or Friday evening. Finding the restaurant is the easy part. The problem comes afterwards: 80 or 150 colleagues who live anywhere from Ostia to Guidonia have to get to the venue and, above all, get home after midnight, when the metro has closed or is about to close and nobody should be driving.

A shuttle solves both, provided it is set up properly. Below we look at how we organise it for HR offices and office managers, including the details that avoid a queue in the cold outside the venue at the end of the evening. It is one of the services of our coach and bus rental in Rome.

When you need a shuttle for a company dinner in Rome

If the dinner is in the centre and the office is two metro stops away, you may not need a coach for the outward journey. It becomes useful in three situations. The first is a venue outside the city: a villa on the Via Appia Antica, a farmhouse towards the Castelli Romani, a restaurant on the coast. From the centre to the Castelli takes at least 45 minutes, and with 100 private cars parking becomes a problem for the venue itself.

The second is the return time. In Rome the metro closes with the last departure at 23:30 from Sunday to Thursday, and at 01:30 on Friday and Saturday, according to Roma Servizi per la Mobilità. A Thursday dinner that ends at midnight leaves many colleagues without a metro. The third concerns alcohol: anyone who has had a glass of wine should not drive, and the company prefers to know they are home.

Outward journey: from the office to the venue

The outward journey is the simplest part. If there is only one site, the coach leaves the office at the end of the day and the group arrives together, on time for the aperitivo. If the company has several sites, for example one in EUR and one on Via Tiburtina, we use two vehicles with two departures and a single arrival time.

In December evening traffic in Rome is heavy, especially in the days before Christmas and around the shopping areas. That is why we send the vehicle off with a margin and, if the venue is in the historic centre, check beforehand where the coach can stop. The centre has ZTL zones and coach parking areas for tour coaches (the ZTL is the Zona a Traffico Limitato, the restricted traffic zone), with precise access rules. When the coach cannot reach the restaurant door, we use minibuses with 16 to 27 seats, which get in where a Gran Turismo cannot.

The return: several stops, staggered times

The return is where the evening is won or lost. Taking everyone back to the office at midnight does not help those who live on the other side of the city. That is why we suggest return runs with several stops at transport hubs: Termini and Tiburtina for those catching a train, metro terminals such as Anagnina, Laurentina, Battistini or Rebibbia for those who left their car there in the morning.

With 120 people the typical solution is two or three vehicles on different routes, each with a clear name on the windscreen (“Termini and Tiburtina”, “EUR and Laurentina”). You can also stagger them: a first run at 23:30 for those who want to get home early and a second at the end of the evening. Ask colleagues in advance for their preferred stop with an internal form: it takes ten minutes and lets us size the vehicles.

Conventions, award ceremonies and evenings with guests

Not every end-of-year evening is a dinner. Many companies hold a convention in the afternoon and a party in the evening, in two different places: the coach takes the group from the conference room to the venue and then home, with stops agreed in advance. For clients and external guests arriving by plane we add the airport transfer and, on request, English-speaking drivers.

When there are more than 100 participants we prepare a written logistics plan, with pick-up points, times, coordinated vehicles and an operations contact who can be reached throughout the evening. If the event is also a team occasion, out of town and during the day, we also organise transport for team building days outside Rome.

The same method applies to the other corporate events we handle with our bus hire for events in Rome.

When to book for December

In December company evenings are concentrated on a few dates, almost all on Thursdays and Fridays, and the vehicles for those evenings are booked first. For a service with several vehicles we recommend booking 2-3 months ahead. If you are reading this in November, call us straight away: sometimes moving the dinner from Friday to Thursday is enough to find the right vehicles.

The service runs 7 days a week, public holidays included, at any hour, and late-night returns are a normal part of our work. For a small management group or a department of 15-20 people, a 20-seat van or coach is enough, or a minibus.

How to request a quote for a company dinner shuttle

Send us this information, even if some of it is still provisional:

• date and start time of the evening;
• address of the venue and of the departure sites;
• number of participants;
• expected end time of the evening;
• return stops required.

The quote is written and detailed: driver, fuel, passenger insurance and maintenance are included. If the evening runs late, extra hours have an hourly rate set in advance, so nobody has to negotiate at two in the morning. The hourly coach hire rates in Rome are indicative and vary with the vehicle chosen.

Many Rome companies already use an employee shuttle service every day for the commute.

For companies that also have an office in Milan, we organise the company dinner shuttle in Milan from our Lainate base.

Phone: +39 06 4882027. Email: info@toddebus.it (subject line: “Company dinner Rome”).

Frequently asked questions