Budapest’s public bike sharing system during the COVID-19 pandemic: online registration and a monthly fee of HUF 100

In compliance with the announcement made by Mr. Mayor Gergely Karácsony as of 14 March 2020, the MOL Bubi system, Budapest’s public bike sharing system is temporarily available for a symbolic fee of HUF 100. Simultaneously, in order to provide a more simple use, BKK launches even the possibility of online registration as a pilot. The public bike sharing system is available with 157 docking stations and with 2,071 MOL Bubi bikes from Óbuda to Kelenföld and from Városmajor to József Attila-lakótelep.

BKK Centre for Budapest Transport is doing its best with every available means to support citizens who wish to avoid the crowd during the pandemic, by using the MOL Bubi service. Therefore, BKK takes two significant and immediate steps in relation to the public bike sharing system, as follows:

Provides the MOL Bubi service temporarily for a symbolic fee of gross HUF 100/month for every single user.

The online registration and online conclusion of contract will be possible as a pilot, as a consequence of which, administration in person will no longer be required from this day to use the MOL Bubi public bike sharing system.

Developments planned to be made in the near future will be implemented sooner than planned, given the exceptional pandemic situation. Novelties have been already tested several times, yet we would like to kindly ask passengers to be patient and understanding, should technical errors occur in the very first days.

Originally, we were planning to renew the MOL Bubi system in the spring. Budapest’s public bike system launched in 2014 is compelling in terms of the number of its bikes and docking stations, yet we are doing our best to introduce a more simple registration and payment process, a new pricing policy, new discounts and even we are dealing with how we could improve the bike’s user experience. Thus, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are introducing such developments, whose preparations have been already begun and have been already in an advanced stage, declared Dr. Ivett Varga, BKK’s CEO. She added that when the pandemic is over, a tariff system higher than the recently-introduced HUF 100 but lower and more favourable than the previous one could be applicable for the MOL Bubi public bike sharing system.

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Further information on how to use Budapest’s public bike system
Online registration is possible at MOL Bubi’s website (molbubi.hu) and via the MOL Bubi app (Google Play http://bit.ly/molbubi_android, App Store: http://bit.ly/molbubi_ios). User account becomes activated after a short registration process. After the monthly fee in the amount of the symbolic HUF 100 has been settled online, the public bike system can be used right away.

Further good-to-know information for users:

In possession of the pass purchasable for HUF 100, a 30-minute ride is possible per occasion, without the need to pay any further fee. In case MOL Bubi bikes are used beyond 30 minutes on a continuous basis, a usage fee must be paid, whose amount is increasing, depending on the usage time. Thus, it is practicable to top up the user balance before using the public bike sharing system. Please find information on how to top up balance and also on the overusage fee at: hu/dijszabas.php.
Users purchasing the product for an amount of HUF 100 are allowed to use one bike at once.

Passengers who are currently in possession of an active MOL Bubi ticket or pass are entitled to continue using Budapest’s MOL Bubi public bike system with their active product. After the validity date of the ticket/pass has been expired, passengers who are currently using the system are entitled to purchase a monthly pass for the amount of HUF 100.

By taking the pandemic situation into account, BKK would like to kindly ask its customers to purchase the product available for the amount of HUF 100 primarily via the MOL Bubi app or the MOL Bubi website molbubi.hu, resulting in much lower health-related risks, compared to payment at docking stations. We would like to kindly call our customers’ attention to the fact that they are not required to visit the Customer Service Centres in person, and owing to the pandemic, we do not recommend that they do so, to purchase the pass in the amount of HUF 100. In case a MOL Bubi user wishes to visit a Customer Service Centre to settle the product in the amount of HUF 100, we recommend the usage of contactless bankcards, as even cash flow could pose an inherent risk of infection.