HOW ARE THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES IN BUDAPEST?

Public transport in Budapest is quite well developed. Even if you come by car, it is advisable to leave the car in the hotel’s car park and take the bus and train. Taking advantage of the different time cards (like 24- or 72-hours tickets), the price is not expensive compared to other big cities. It is important that a single ticket is only valid for one journey without changing lines or interruptions. You have to validate a new single ticket every time you change lines!

Exception: the single tickets are valid for 60 minutes on the subway, regardless of the change (interruptions or return journeys are not allowed). It is therefore advisable to either buy the single tickets in blocks of 10 or to use the inexpensive season tickets (24-, or 72-hours ticket). Single tickets and other tickets are available from the counters at the junctions or from the machines.

Finally, in 2022 in Budapest you are able to access all the necessary information about public transport with a practical mobile app and also buy the most important tickets on your mobile phone and have them with you. It is important that an active mobile data connection must be available in order to use a mobile phone ticket. You can find detailed information on downloading and using the app HERE.

An interesting new feature of the app is that you can also purchase single tickets, which, unlike normal single tickets, are also valid for changing the lines. These cards are time-limited, so you can use public transport for 30 or 90 minutes. This time limit applies to the last boarding of a vehicle. So if you get on at minute 29 or 89, you can still travel as far as you like on the respective line. So the actual validity of 30 or 90 minutes can be significantly longer in reality. These tickets can only be purchased electronically, they cannot be purchased from machines or at the counter. The 30 and 90 minute tickets must be validated electronically using the QR code on the vehicle every time you change.