BKK announcement: public transport in Budapest to change by March
According to the latest announcement by the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK), front-door boarding will be gradually introduced by mid-March on buses and trolleys operating after 8 PM on weekdays. Although Dávid Vitézy, the former state secretary for transport, criticises the move, BKK says it will be easy to get used to the change.
The Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) will gradually introduce front-door boarding after 8 PM on weekdays on the vast majority of its bus and trolleybus services until mid-March, with the exception of buses on Rákóczi Street, the company announced on Tuesday.
According to BKK’s announcement, this measure will allow passengers to travel more safely and comfortably in the evenings. Moreover, the company will be able to more effectively detect those who travel without tickets or passes and violate the terms and conditions of travel.
As a first step, from Friday, 19 January, drivers will check the validity of passengers’ tickets and passes on the entire route of buses 11, 182, 184, trolleybuses 70, 74 and 78, as well as on the Buda section of buses 110 and 112, from 8 PM on weekdays, BKK wrote.
They added that front-door boarding on these lines at weekends is already a common and proven practice.
To speed up boarding, BKK asks passengers to:
- make sure a front-door service is approaching,
- check the vehicle displays or timetables,
- have their digital or paper ticket or pass ready at the stop,
- and present it to the driver when boarding after validation,
- move to the back of the vehicle to facilitate boarding for other passengers.
Former state secretary: this is getting out of hand
Commenting on the post on the company’s social media page, Dávid Vitézy, former state secretary for transport, said that he thinks “BKK is going too far”, Index reports.
According to Vitézy, front-door boarding is justified in many low-traffic periods. He has also supported its introduction on some previously low-traffic lines.
However, he wrote, “on the one hand, the traffic on many of the lines concerned is much heavier at 8 PM on weekdays, which will slow down traffic. On the other hand, the system will become increasingly untraceable for passengers. Especially as it only applies to services departing from terminals after 8 PM. Will passengers at 8.25 PM know what to expect on that particular service? It’s not worth that much.”
BKK reacted to the expert’s comment. They wrote the following:
“Our experience – and not just Facebook comments, of course – shows that the majority of passengers are very positive about front-door boarding: they report an increased sense of security, and for many who buy their season ticket or ticket, it makes a big difference to filter out those who don’t.”
They added that the system will be very simple by mid-March: all buses and trolleybuses, except for those on Rákóczi Street, will be accessible at the front door, “and you only need to remember whether it is every day or only on weekday evenings and all day on weekends”.
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Frankly this is becoming excessively confusing and complicated. There should be a citywide policy for all buses and trolleybuses. Either the driver is tasked with checking ticket validity and all boarding takes place through the front door at all times, or board through any door and tackle fare evasion with inspectors, as used to be the case. Tourists will certainly not appreciate after boarding through the rear doors having seen the public use this technique before 8pm or on Rakoczi ut, then being loudly berated by irascible drivers in Hungarian while under suspicion of fare evasion. It’s enough to put some people off ever coming back to Budapest and to warn others against travelling there.