Transport in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, relies on a combination of city-managed mass transit and individual transportation. Mass transit is composed of 19 inner-city tram lines and 120 bus routes, both managed entirely by Zagreb Electric Tram, commonly abbreviated to ZET. Croatian Railways manages the parallel commuter rail system.
The city is served by the Franjo Tuđman Airport, which carries more than 4.7 million passengers per year. Zagreb Airport is connected to the Zagreb Bus Station via Pleso Prijevoz shuttle and to Eugen Kvaternik Square via bus line 290 which connects the aforementioned square with the satellite city of Velika Gorica via the airport. Zagreb has two unimodal long distance terminals, one for railways (Zagreb Glavni kolodvor) and the second one for buses (Zagreb Bus Station), both situated in the city centre.
History
Public transport in Zagreb has evolved alongside the city’s rapid urban and industrial development since the late 19th century. The first organized system began in 1891 with a horse-drawn tramway, which was eventually when Zagreb Electric Tram was founded. The tram was soon electrified in 1910, marking a major step toward modernization. Throughout the early 20th century, the tram network expanded significantly, becoming the backbone of urban mobility and shaping the city’s spatial growth. The location of the Technical Museum is an important place in the history of ZET because it was the first depot and the place from which, as he stated, on September 5, 1891, the driver Ferdo, accompanied by the conductor Vid and the harnessed horse Belko, set off on his journey along the tracks, then eight kilometers long, at a speed of .
After World War II, Zagreb invested heavily in public transport infrastructure, introducing bus services to complement tram lines and connect newly developed suburban areas. During the socialist period, the system was characterized by centralized planning and steady expansion, while the late 20th and early 21st centuries brought modernization efforts, including fleet upgrades and improved service integration. Today, Zagreb’s public transport system, primarily consisting of trams and buses, remains a vital component of daily life, reflecting both its historical legacy and ongoing adaptation to contemporary urban needs.
Road transport
Zagreb drivers typically use a wide network of avenues and other arterial streets. Due to the shape of the city, most of the trips done in the city are on the east-west relation, causing high traffic on roads like Vukovar Avenue, Dubrovnik Avenue and Zagrebačka Avenue. The Slavonska Avenue is the longest and one of the most congested roads in Zagreb, connecting the inner city to the A3 highway in the east. The number of registered motorized vehicles in the city in the timespan from 1995 to 2006 has increased by 117% (from around 175 thousand vehicles to around 385 thousand), which when adding into account the number of vehicles from the surrounding counties that transit through the city on a daily basis brings the estimated daily number of vehicles in the city to 520 thousand. Compared to its population, Zagreb has more motorized vehicles than Vienna. In 1990 there were 166 cars per 1000 people in Croatia, in 2012 that number increased to 339‰, and in 2022 there were 491 cars per thousand inhabitants (an increase of 45% compared to 2012), marking the 2nd largest growth of car ownership in the EU, after Romania. Zagreb is struggling with the road infrastructure and the number of available parking spaces being insufficient to meet the demand of such an increase in car ownership. The city, nonetheless, has more parking spaces per capita in the city center than Stockholm, Amsterdam and Vienna; however, it lacks a developed park and ride system. Similar to other European cities, Zagreb does not feature a regular grid plan. Donji Grad, the Zagreb downtown, mostly built in the 19th century, features a quasi-rectangular street plan, but the rest of the city depends on the form of wide straight avenues intersecting densely built neighborhoods composed of mostly chaotical street systems. Summer months are commonly used to repair road infrastructure across the city, due to many of the city residents leaving on holiday leave, thus reducing the load of vehicles and subsequent traffic congestion which would ensue due to roadworks.
Zagreb is a regional highway hub with eight highways and expressways radially leading into the city through the Zagreb bypass. Major highways and expressways include A1/A6, leading to Gorski Kotar, the Littoral and Dalmatia; A3 leading west to Rakitje, Samobor, Žumberak and Slovenia and east to Rugvica, Ivanić-Grad, Slavonia and Serbia; A2 leading northwest to Zaprešić, Zabok, Krapina and Central Europe; A4 leading northeast to Varaždin, Čakovec, Hungary and on to Eastern Europe; A11 leading southeast to Velika Gorica, Sisak and Petrinja (still under construction) and D10 leading east to Vrbovec and Križevci.
Bridges Due to years of disrepair, the Adriatic Bridge suffered damage in the 2020 Zagreb earthquake, and was repaired in 2024. Works are planned to start on the reconstruction of the Liberty Bridge, built in 1959, and the Youth Bridge, built in 1974. Zagreb features six road bridges across the Sava river, the newest being the Homeland Bridge. Zagreb road bridges are congested during the rush hour, since there were 3 additional bridges planned in the past 50 years which have not been built as of 2024. Zagreb mayor Tomislav Tomašević announced to the media that he plans to build the planned three bridges in the next several years. There are also plans to expand the Zagreb bypass to alleviate congestion, but traffic experts are skeptical that adding more lanes will solve the problem due to induced demand. NameYear finishedTypeRoad that goes overOther informationRoad bridgesPodsused Bridge1982Two-lane road bridge with a commuter train line (not yet completed)Samoborska RoadConnects Zagreb to its close suburbs by a road to Samobor, the fastest route to Bestovje, Sveta Nedelja, and Strmec.Jankomir Bridge1958, 2006 (upgrade)Four-lane road bridgeLjubljanska AvenueConnects Ljubljanska Avenue to the Jankomir interchange and Zagreb bypass.Adriatic Bridge1981Six-lane road bridge (also carries tram tracks)Adriatic AvenueThe most famous bridge in Zagreb. The bridge spans from Savska Street in the north to the Remetinec Roundabout in the south.Liberty Bridge1959Four-lane road bridgeVećeslav Holjevac AvenueRelieved the congested Sava Bridge. 1,600 tons of steel were used to build it.Youth Bridge1974Six-lane road bridge (also carries tram tracks)Marin Držić AvenueConnects districts Zapruđe and Trnje.Homeland Bridge2007Four-lane road bridge (also carries two bicycle and two pedestrian lanes; has space reserved for tram tracks)Radnička (Workers') RoadThis bridge is the last bridge built on the Sava river to date; it links Peščenica via Radnička street to the Zagreb bypass at Kosnica. It is planned to continue towards Zagreb Airport at Pleso and Velika Gorica, and on to state road D31 going to the south.Railway bridgesHendrix Bridge1939Two-way railway bridge–The first bridge on that location was built in 1862 and was later replaced. It got its name after a graffiti saying "Hendrix", referring to Jimi Hendrix, kept reappearing on the bridge despite the authorities removing it.Sava-Jakuševec Bridge1968Two-way railway bridge–Built by Đuro Đaković.Pedestrian bridgeSava Bridge1938Pedestrian bridgeSavska RoadThe official name at the time of building was New Sava Bridge, but it is the oldest still standing bridge over Sava. It was pedestrianized after the Adriatic Bridge was opened.
Taxicabs
The first taxicab ever in Zagreb started operating on 11 June 1901. It was driven by Tadija Bartolović, a skilled fiaker driver. After a successful test drive where Bartolović drove mayor Adolf Mošinsky through Mesnička Street and Gornji Grad, the first taxicab stand in the city was opened on the Ban Jelačić Square.
The association of taxicab drivers Radio Taksi Zagreb, of over 1,150 taxicabs, was the sole provider of taxi services in the city before 2011, when the first of many competitive services started to run taxicabs in the city. The taxi market has been liberalized in early 2018, and numerous transport companies have been allowed to enter the market. Despite this liberalization, taxi prices were prevented from increasing too much via legislation that capped them on one tenth of the average monthly salary.
Bolt, Uber, Wizi, and Eko taxi operate taxi services in the city.
Cycling
Zagreb has of bike lanes, opposed to of roads. The bike network is mostly concentrated in the city centre and alongside major avenues, while individual neighbourhoods have very little to no infrastructure at all. It is also not interconnected – many lanes end abruptly, forcing the cyclists to either continue on the curb or on the road. Most bike lanes are just a painted curb, on which pedestrians often accidentally step causing clashes and crashes. Because for so long new lanes were only built on the curb, newer, more modern designs that put bike lanes on the road are met with backlash from drivers who were taught that the bikes belong on the curb with pedestrians. Zagreb has scored 90th place out of 100 on the Copenhagenize Index 2025, which ranks bike friendliness of cities. In 2022, Zagreb had 2,023 bike parking spaces on 322 different locations. While less common today, ladder racks can still be found instead of U-racks (the preferred variant). Bikes can only be secured to the ladder racks from the tire, which can be easily detached from the frame, increasing the chance of the bike being stolen. Zagreb is largely flat, except for the northern parts, situated on the Medvednica mountain, which in turn are also more sparsely populated. Zagreb has warm summers and cold winters. Despite the winter weather which can make cycling more difficult, the city has promoted winter commuting by bike, and fared well in a worldwide contest in 2016 called Winter Bike-to-Work Day.
The city has a bike-sharing system called Bajs (Croatian slang for bicycle) which began operation in 2025. Bajs was made in collaboration between the city and Nextbike’s Public bicycle system, who were the only ones to make an offer to build and manage the system. It is the successor of Nextbike’s own system, but with a bigger scope and a new app, for a price of €9.3 million before taxes. It currently consists of 2,000 bikes on 180 locations. In the first month, the system had accumulated more than 20,000 users.
Public transport
Mass transit in Zagreb is managed by the public company Zagreb Electric Tram. ZET's trams used to span the entire city, but due to only two expansions (the Dubec and Prečko routes) in the 21st century, tram infrastructure did not keep up with the city's growth. A bus network supplements the trams and covers large parts of the metropolitan area, as well as nearby towns. The Zagreb Cable Car connects the Gračani neighborhood and the tram line 15 terminal with the highest peak of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb public transit is poorly developed compared to other EU cities, and citizens prefer to use cars instead of riding on the public transit. In 2023, public procurement procedure started for building additional tram lines in Zagreb, specifically connecting Eugen Kvaternik Square via Heinzelova Street with Žitnjak, and connecting Zapruđe with Dugave. Initially, there were plans to connect the future tram railway from Savišće to the Zagreb Airport via the Homeland Bridge, but the plans were altered in favor of using the existing railway infrastructure to connect the airport with the Zagreb Main Railway Station.
Tram