Complete overhaul of Hungarian public transport tickets coming, extending free travel

There are signs that Hungarian public transport will change fundamentally in the near future. The aim is to keep only a few of the current around 100 fare types. At the same time, free travel would be extended to children under 14.

Public transport ticket system to be changed

According to the preliminary timetable, the government will discuss on Wednesday the fare policy of the state public transport–MÁV and Volán. It was previously known that this might include the extension of free public transport for under-14s, vg.hu reports (until now, those concerned have been able to travel at half price). The main aim is to keep only a few of the current 100 or so types of tariffs.

Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár spoke openly about his proposal when asked by Világgazdaság at a press event. However, the reply from the minister also revealed that there is much more to it than free access to MÁV train and Volán buses for under-14s. Lázárr said that the entire fare policy would be discussed at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting (and that Wednesday had already passed).

Too many unnecessary fares

According to János Lázár, four million country and county passes have been sold. This has opened up the question of how the fee system should evolve in the future. In other words, if roughly all passengers use these two types of season ticket, what is the need for additional ticket types? This is what is being discussed.

The problem, he said, is that there are currently about a hundred different tariffs available at the MÁV-Volán group, most of which have become meaningless. The minister wants to simplify the charging system. In practice, this would mean that only a few simple fare types and tickets would remain. At the same time, free transport for under-14s would be opened up and, of course, free transport for over-65s would be maintained.

New MÁV and Volán tickets

Exactly what these new fare types and tickets would look like is not yet known. The minister has only shared basic ideas about them. According to him, the tickets should be understandable, transparent, accessible, affordable to everybody and should work in a professional way.

The simplification of the MÁV-Volán Group’s ticket products would also make the digital switchover much easier. The question is whether the government will support the transport minister in this. Lázár said that he hoped the cabinet would support it. He added that free public transport extended to under-14s would not cost much.

Even until now, travel for children between 0–6 has been free, and for those between 6–14, a 50% fee applies. Thus, compared to this, the 100 percent exemption does not seem like a significant expense. On the contrary, it could be a major step forward in making public transport more popular.

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