Public transport in Budapest

moldovia

UK pensioners who have a buspass can use them in Budapest on the metro system.

Taffyscot

moldovia
are you serious about the bus passes? what do you get a percentage off or what? I am going to budapest on sunday. Do you have any suggestions and we were wondering how we could book an overnight train to Croatia. Any ideas for us about where to go how much it costs and any deals out there. thank you
Taffy

QuirkyChemistry

Just found this on the Budapest Tourism website:

Hungarian citizens as well as citizens of other Member States of the European Union over the age of 65 years can travel free of charge on BKV Budapest public transport services.

I had a quick look on the public transport website and can't find details so not sure how it works. Might be worth emailing them to check. Not sure if it can get you to Croatia!

Budapest is a great city and the public transport is really great for getting around as it's so regular.

Taffyscot

Thanks so much for that. I wonder if it will work for me as I have a bus pass but I am only 61. The great British pension. taffy

thomasbentley_2

for information about budapest travel:-
As you alight from plane ( this is for terminal 1), go to the tourist information desk in the main hall of airport and buy ticket for train to nyugati ( western) train station-Budapest-300 huf ( circa £1 each).

if you arrive at terminal 2, you would have to go by bus to kobanya- kispest station and would need another ticket for both bus trip and then metro and would need to validate ticket in little orange boxes on tram bus and metro).

leave entrance and go left to train , take train clearly marked to nyugati, the ticket is clipped on the train by the ticket collector.

when you arrive at the station, (train terminates), go through the station to the front of the building , to the left( in the direction of the trams) you will see the downstairs steps to the metro, go down; you can buy 1, 3 or 7 day pass (not the budapest pass that is double the price- a tourist trap in my opinion) which entitles you to the tram, bus and metro and funicular to buda hills- absolute bargain!! The take credit cards here:

dont forget to write your name on the front of the ticket to ensure you are not fined!!

show ticket when requested - not very often.

When returning to the airport, take the blue line 3 all the way to the end of the line to kobanya- kispest station (end of the line: metro terminates here) :to the right is a large bus stop area, over walkway- look for 200e bus ( 93 also goes to airport) but 200e is very well sign posted- 15 minutes to terminal 1 then it goes on to terminal 2 , i believe -- you are covered by your pass so am saving lots of money!

i can understand this may be too much: if you have tons of luggage!

apologies if directions from 2 are not right: as i landed at terminal 1.

dzug1

moldovia wrote: »

UK pensioners who have a buspass can use them in Budapest on the metro system.

Do you mean that literally or is it a bit of journalist speak?

I'd have though it far more likely that a passport as proof of age would be needed rather than a card which they are unlikely to be able to recognise or translate.

phil_solo

QuirkyChemistry wrote:

Just found this on the Budapest Tourism website:

Hungarian citizens as well as citizens of other Member States of the European Union over the age of 65 years can travel free of charge on BKV Budapest public transport services.

I had a quick look on the public transport website and can't find details so not sure how it works. Might be worth emailing them to check. Not sure if it can get you to Croatia!

Budapest is a great city and the public transport is really great for getting around as it's so regular.

I found this page on the BKV site, dating from 2008

www*bkv*hu/english/jegyek/index.html

It seems that some form of passport or ID will suffice, though one suspects you actually have to present this at a BKV ticket window to get a special free pass, rather than just waving your British passport at the incomprehending and often rather surly 'Kontroll' inspectors.

The ticketing validity and pricing is insanely complicated and is set out here

www*bkv*hu/english/jegyinfo2009/index.html

but as a tourist all you really need to know about are the 1, 3 & 7 day travelcards and the 48-hour Family Ticket since these cover pretty much all bases.

Sadly the BKV can't get you to Croatia, whether you have a pensioner pass or not! The BKV is equivalent to Transport for London (TfL) and covers metro, tram, bus, trolleybus, the local suburban HEV rail, the Cogwheel Railway up Svab Hill, the funicular up to the Buda Palace from the foot of the Chain Bridge, and the Janos Hill chairlift, though these last two are not covered by the main BKV tickets/passes (separate tickets must be bought at the funicular or chairlift itself) , and journeys on the HEV suburban trains outside of the city boundary zone need an extension ticket.

This map covers all the main transport modes in Budapest:-

www*bkv*hu/downloads/terkepek/vonalhalozati_090822.jpg

Metro (Tube) lines are the thicker Orange/Yellow (M1) Red (M2) and Light Blue (M3), station names are marked with an 'M; next to the name. Thinner Orange/Yellow lines are trams, electric trolleybuses are thin Red, diesel buses are thin Blue, the HEV Suburbans are Turqoise, the Svab Hill cogwheel is striped Black/White (Grid C6,D6), the Janos Hill chairlift (Libego) is in grid B5, and the Buda Palace funicular (Siklo) in grid E6 near the Szechenyi Lanchid (Szechenyi Chain Bridge). The National rail services, and the scenic "Childrens Railway" from Szechenyi Hill to Huvosvolgy (grid C7 to B4) run by MAV are shown as thin black lines, and are not covered by any of the BKV tickets and pass options.

One of the most comprehensive urban transport maps I have ever seen (also one of the most complicated ) due to the amount of detail printed. Here's one, done "London Underground"-style, without the buses or streets, which is a bit easier

www*bkv*hu/english/downloads/maps/BP-metro_ENG_20090828.pdf

BKV gets a LOT of criticism locally in Budapest for being administratively hidebound, expensive, inefficient, corrupt and so on, but from a visitor perspective it has to be one of the better integrated city transit systems anywhere and with a 7 day travel pass at around £15 and a 48-hour Family Ticket (2 adults and up to 7 children between the ages of 6 & 14) for about half that it's pretty good value for getting around pretty much anywhere because everything interconnects quite neatly. I guess it all boils down to what one is used to - after all, London Underground is regularly rated as the World's Best Metro on international traveller surveys, but those of us who live with it on a day to day year-round basis would struggle to recognise those plaudits.

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PolishBigSpender

I think people have misunderstood the point - they don't want to get to Croatia for free, but rather want to know HOW to get to Croatia.

If so, the best bet is to purchase sleeper train tickets from within the UK - http://www.festtravel.co.uk/ have an excellent reputation and don't charge too much. It's unlikely that anyone will speak English at the train station - and booking sleeper train tickets can be hideously complicated if you don't know exactly what you're asking for.

As for timetables - use the Polish PKP route planner here - http://rozklad-pkp.pl/- which is just the DB planner in a much nicer layout.