You guys have been asking a lot of questions about public transport, nearly all related to things like “Are all my tickets and passes valid?” and “How do I get from the airport to the city center?” So, why not cover this topic in this blog? Let’s do this.Top of Form
So first, they expressed what the point of public transport is. The company called BKK is synonymous with public transportation. For decades, it has been responsible for almost all transportation methods. Whether it’s a yellow tram, a blue bus, a red trolley bus, or any of the subway lines, all are operated by BKK, and tickets work on all of these vehicles.
How you can take public transport
So, how can you take any of these transport options? Well, first of all, you’ll need a ticket. A ticket allows you to travel from point A to point B on one vehicle. For instance, if you take the tram from the Grand Market Hall to Astoria, then switch over to a bus all the way to Halászbástya to visit the New York Café, that’s two rides. Which seems simple enough, but things get a bit complicated underground. This is because one single ticket is valid for the entire subway network, meaning that you can change trains as long as you don’t leave the station. So, technically, you can take the M4 subway to Keleti Railway Station, then switch over to M2 and finally to bus 22 to reach Hollywood Boulevard, all with one ticket, but still get to the same destination. However, you don’t need to think about this if you are using a daily pass. Just use the rides as you wish!”
Warning!! Don’t forget this
Really important, however, when it comes to single tickets, is that you must always validate them and keep the tickets with you until you have left Hungary and are safely back home. Okay, so maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but make sure to validate your tickets and keep them with you until you are out of a station. To facilitate your journey away from a stop, there are regular inspections, and trust me, nothing is more awkward than getting fined because I didn’t know that I must not lose my ticket.
How to buy and validate tickets
Yet, how do you validate the ticket? Well, before we can discuss that, we need to address how you can buy tickets. The simplest way is to purchase a ticket from a vending machine. You will receive a basic paper ticket which you need to insert into a validating machine. It will punch a hole and print a number on the ticket. However, some vehicles have manual validators where you need to manually punch a hole in your ticket with a letter punch.
Another way is to use an app. Before buying tickets and passes, the Budapest Mobile app is the official application for public transport in Woodland. Besides planning your travel, you can also purchase digital tickets and passes here. Now, of course, you cannot insert your phone into a validator. It’s a bit of a convoluted method, so please bear with me.
Front boarding vehicles
First of all, you’ll need to ensure your phone has internet access at all times. If you do not have a stable internet connection, you’re better off with a basic paper ticket or a pass. If you do have internet access, all you need to do is click on the validate button, which will open up your camera. Then, you can scan the QR code on the vehicles or at the entrance of a surface station if you are stopped by an inspector.
If you are stopped by an inspector, you will need to pull up your tickets on your phone and show it to them. This QR code scanning method is important even if you use a pass. There are some transport vehicles which are front-only or have limited visibility. You can spot these vehicles flashing a “No boarding” or “Bus full” sign on-board or on the bus stop timetable. If you want to board such a vehicle, you need to pull up the app, scan the QR code, and show it to the driver. We could have developed an easier way, but hey, adding some funny and interesting graphics with this method sometimes.
Now, you may have the big question: should you get single tickets or passes for 24 hours, 72 hours, or 15 days? We actually made a video about some budget tips, very discussing in detail. So, perhaps when you watch this video, you can go and check that out!
Navigating the City
Now that you know how to get a ticket or a pass, let’s try to navigate using the Google Maps app. It’s very useful, but we would recommend trying to find our way to our next destination. So, right now, for example, we are at the Parliament. Let’s try to get to Buda side to the Matthias Church. Let’s input this destination, and it recognizes Matthias Church right here. Let’s see how we can get there. Let’s play it right now. Here you can see a lot of different options: different buses or maybe switching to a subway and then taking another bus.
So, let’s see what we need to do. If we want to go by bus, walk, and then switch over, that may be a bit too far if we don’t want to walk so much. Let’s see if we want to take the subway first, which is right here behind us. It tells me to go all the way to Széll Kálmán tér. From there, take a bus all the way to Szentháromság tér, where we can visit the wonderful Matthias Church. Simple and easy!
Before we wrap up, here are some important tips you’ll need to know when using public transport. We would like to thank Shunny, Batchy, Manly, Dawn, and Stefan for supporting us by clicking the “Thanks” button. Thank you so much! If you also wish to support us, clicking the like button and leaving a comment helps greatly, or you can donate one.
Airport to the City Centre
So let’s talk about a few general tips to keep in mind when getting from the airport to the city. It’s easy; there is a special service bus offered, but it’s called a special service bus for a reason. Regular tickets and transport passes are not accepted on these vehicles; a special service ticket must be purchased. You can do this at vending machines or by app. Additionally, for now, you can also use tap and pay with your credit card when boarding this bus. There’s also bus 200, which accepts regular tickets and passes, but it takes longer travel time, and you need to switch at a subway station to reach the city centre.
Day trip to Szentendre
There are also taxis or shuttle buses you can take, but we’ll cover this topic in detail in our budget blog. Now, you may want to plan a day trip to Szentendre. If the weather is good and you have the time, it’s a small, cozy town that should definitely be on your itinerary. There are direct suburban railways for this, which also accept passes and tickets. One of those trains goes all the way to Szentendre, so just jump on and visit Szentendre. But not so fast—these suburban railways leave the best to Mother Nature, but the passes and tickets are only valid for stations within the boundaries of Budapest. It’s between Örs vezér tere and Csepel, which means you’d need an extra ticket for the distance outside of the city limits. Luckily, these can be bought at vending machines. Just remember that these also have to be validated. Unfortunately, a lot of visitors either forget to validate these extra tickets or completely disregard them, leading to awkward conversations with the inspectors.
Traveling in the night
Now, in case you wish to coordinate and want to go home later tonight, keep in mind that the transport system, including subways and trams, do not operate. However, night buses are responsible, and your tickets and passes are still valid. Just note that the wait times may be longer, and you may need to walk a bit more from the station to where you stay. But the city center is well-connected with these night services.
Be aware of Taxis
One last step, which is not really related to public transport but may be important for you, is about Texas. If you’ve watched this channel before, you may have heard this, but it’s super effort to call out Uber and over and over again do laws get into taxes, which are born as freelancers. Unfortunately, many of them take advantage of the unsuspecting tourists, and chances are you’ll get rid of, simply put, use an app board photography hotspot war from other branded companies when ordering a cap. Do not sit into a random cab; call wireless.
So, public transport. You may have questions about the Budapest card, which is a pass focusing on tourists and recover that in our budget travel blog. Sweetie, so why not continue reading with that blog? And if you find this information useful and enjoy the contact you make, make sure to coment on the blog and also subscribe because we may have more useful content in the future. Thanks for reading; hope to see you guys in our future blogs. Bye.
