One lari buys 90 minutes on everything in Tbilisi — if you pay the right way

The city transport operator's published standard tariff is one lari for 90 minutes of unlimited travel, valid across the metro, city buses, minibuses and the Bagebi–University ropeway. The 90 minutes is the part visitors miss: within that window you can change from a bus to the metro to a minibus without paying again. A single day pass is listed at 3 GEL, and it is available on a subscription card rather than by tapping a bank card.

Beyond the single fare the operator lists a week at 20 GEL, a month at 40 GEL, three months at 100 GEL, six at 150 GEL and a year at 250 GEL. For a guest staying two weeks the weekly pass rarely beats paying per trip, but for a long-stay tenant the annual figure is worth mentioning in a listing — it is a real, checkable cost-of-living line that makes a flat away from the centre easier to let.

The Rike–Narikala cableway, the one most guests actually want, is 2.5 GEL one way and is not covered by the 90-minute fare. The Turtle Lake ropeway is 1 GEL one way, and bicycles are charged the same. Knowing these two lines saves the conversation at the turnstile, which is the sort of small thing that turns up in guest reviews of a flat or a tour.

The 90-minute package applies when you pay with a Metromoney card or a contactless bank card; paying cash or through the mobile app does not qualify for it. A Metromoney card itself costs 2 GEL at metro ticket offices and at Bank of Georgia branches. If you host visitors, the single most useful sentence in a welcome note is that they should tap the same card each time and keep travelling for an hour and a half.