Further delay in the introduction of the electronic ticket system in Budapest

Barely a year ago, we reported that the introduction of the electronic ticketing system in Budapest is much needed and is expected to be delayed. A couple of days ago, it was revealed that instead of the planned twelve years, the project would be finished in thirteen. Index conducted a short investigation into the matter, contacting BKK.

The first deadline for the electronic ticketing project was set to be 2006, the latest 2018, however, we cannot expect the launch earlier than 2019. Let us take a look at the numbers:

• Hundreds of gates were planned to be installed by now, but only a dozen of them were, and none of them function properly.
• Eleven thousand validating devices were set to be installed, but only three buses are equipped with some at the moment.
• So far, zero electronic tickets were issued, not even for testing.
• By the end of 2017, 840 vehicles should have been equipped with the validating device, but only three buses were (the situation has not changed since)
• Again, by the end of 2017, gates were supposed to be installed at 21 metro stations, but only one was (the situation has improved since)
• Already 5.3 billion forints (16.5 million euros) were spent, with the total budget being HUF 17 billion (EUR 53 million).

Upon requiring information from the Centre for Budapest Transport, Index found out that the gates and validating devices are being installed gradually on the vehicles and at stops.

However, it seems that the testing of the already installed equipment went well, as the devices excelled at the GPS and communication testing, performed well under different physical, road and weather conditions. The devices worked well in the past five months, though the gates at Deák square were in need of a bit of touch up.