BREAKING: Budapest public transport monthly pass price falls from 1 March!

Yesterday, the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, and Hungary’s transport and construction minister, János Lázár, signed an agreement to maintain the validity of the Budapest pass even on the public transport vehicles of state-owned companies. This morning, Mr Karácsony announced that the Budapest monthly pass’s price will fall considerably from 1 March.

As we wrote yesterday, Karácsony and Lázár agreed that the Budapest monthly pass will remain valid on MÁV, Volán, and HÉV trains. Furthermore, from 1 March, the monthly season ticket for Pest County and the national season ticket will be applicable on BKK lines.

As a result, people living in the suburbs around Budapest but working in the capital will have to buy only one monthly pass, meaning they will save half the money they used to spend on travelling. On average, that means HUF 9,450 (EUR 24) more will remain in their purse each month. But for example, students will pay 72% less because their monthly season ticket costs only HUF 945, and they will not have to buy a Budapest season ticket from March. That is good news for the passengers. However, everything comes with a price: the new system will generate incredible losses for public transport companies.

Passenger will pay much less for Budapest transport

After the new system’s implementation, fewer people will buy Budapest monthly passes, probably only those who live and work inside the boundaries of the capital. Therefore, BKK, Budapest Public Transport Centre, will lose a lot of money.

Considering all that, Karácsony’s morning announcement is quite a disappointment. According to his statement, the season ticket will cost HUF 8,950 (EUR 23) instead of HUF 9,450, so the price fall is symbolic.

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Huge losses

Of course, the price reduction may mean Mr Karácsony will have better chances in the upcoming municipal elections this June.

However, the new system generates huge losses.

Dávid Vitézy, a former Hungarian transport secretary and director of the BKK, wrote today on Facebook that the loss reached HUF 20 billion (EUR 51 million). That is how much money will remain in the people’s purses. That is the amount BKV, Budapest’s transport company, spends on development annually.

Neither Karácsony nor Lázár talked about what the state-owned or Budapest-owned transport companies will do without that money. Furthermore, there is no information about how they will divide their revenues. The Budapest-government relationship has been hostile since the opposition’s victory in 2019, so such agreements were hard to reach. We can only hope that the new system will work well, and it will not mean in the long run that needed developments will be postponed or cancelled in Budapest.