Digital tickets soon to be introduced in Budapest!
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Political debate on Facebook between government politicians and the opposition-led transportation company made BKK announce the planned developments for the near future. Purchasing digital tickets is becoming more and more popular, and the transportation company is adapting to this shift.
The removal of ticket selling machines from streets
Dávid Vitézy, the head of the Budapest Development Centre, became aware of the removal of BKK ticket machines. The Budapest Development Centre is a government body, but Vitézy was previously the CEO of the currently opposition-led BKK, so these vending machines were previously installed at his request back in 2013.
Vitézy and BKK shared their differing views on the matter in quite a few comments on Facebook, and they did not seem to be able to find a common ground.
However, BKK defended itself by stating that the number of ticket purchases by the machines in question decreased while the number of tickets sold online increased in recent years. BKK also states that the monthly operating cost of an automatic machine is EUR 350, which is how much the capital saves by dismantling each machine.
It is not the first time that the government and opposition leaders have been arguing over traffic and transportation issues in Budapest, and a few weeks ago, the possibility of the complete shutdown of the transportation company arose in connection with a financial debate. Read more here.
For a proper system that is fully integrated and flexible one needs look no further than London’s Oyster System. That is what BKK should be aiming for, rather than the half baked and not very flexible system they have been trialling on and off in Budapest. In true Hungarian fashion, something that should be simple for the end user has been made unnecessarily complicated.