Here is how you can use the new digital single ticket in Budapest
The digital single ticket became one of the most popular products nearly at the time of its birth. There are passengers who familiarize themselves with this type of ticket these days, thus it is worthwhile to be thoroughly informed on its usage conditions. This ticket entitles passengers to use, except for the metro, for a single trip until the trip is finished and is required to be validated in all cases upon boarding, by scanning the code.
For the last ten days, over 300 thousand passengers started to use the BudapestGO app, with the help of which, trips can be planned and, among others, also tickets and passes can be purchased. Passengers getting about in the Hungarian capital have initiated so far over 30 thousand purchases in the new app. One of the most popular products is the digital single ticket, out of which, a total of 21 thousand pieces were purchased during ten days.
How to use the digital single ticket
The usage conditions of the single ticket purchased via a smart phone and those of its paper-based version are completely identical, however passengers using the digital single ticket for the first time are recommended to pay particular attention to its use. The most important information is, as follows:
The digital single ticket is required to be validated upon boarding a line, by scanning the code.
The single ticket purchased via a smart phone is required to be validated before starting the trip, likewise the paper-based ticket. However, the electronic validation of the digital single ticket is slightly different. In practice it means that upon boarding a line, the code displayed on the external side of the vehicles’ door or at the metro entrances is required to be scanned. After the code has been scanned, “Validated” appears with green on the ticket.
Validation is required to be verified
When boarding a vehicle, on which the front-door-only-boarding policy applies, the animated symbol appearing after validation is required to be shown to the driver and at metro entrances to the BKK staff. Passengers who bump into a ticket inspector en route are obliged to present their ticket on request by the ticket inspector.
The single ticket entitles passengers for a single trip until they leave a vehicle.
The digital single ticket is valid for a single uninterrupted trip and is not valid for a return trip. Exceptions are the metrolines, in whose case one transfer between metro lines, just like in case of the paper-based single tickets, is permitted. Single tickets are to be used for all BKK lines, regional buses and also for suburban railway lines within Budapest’s administrative boundaries. Similarly to its paper-based equivalent, this ticket is valid until the user leaves the vehicle, in possession of this ticket or for 80 minutes calculated from the ticket validation (which occurs sooner). As night services have longer routes, singles tickets are valid on night services for 120 minutes.
Let us describe two examples on its use, as follows:
- In case a passenger boards a bus and leaves the bus in ten minutes, the same ticket is not permitted to be used on the other line. This is indicated by the app when the code is scanned the next time, as the animated symbol is not presented when boarding a new line.
- If a passenger gets onboard metroline M4 at Bikás park and transfers to metroline M2 at Keleti pályaudvar, then one single ticket is sufficient to be validated, as the single ticket entitles to one transfer between metrolines in one direction.
The BudapestGO app can be downloaded by anyone from the App Store and also from the Google Play stores. Further information on the digital single ticket’s usage conditions is available under the Tickets and passes menu at BKK’s website and on BudapestGO at bkk.hu/budapestgo.
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Source: bkk.hu
I tried it out today and it was not a great success. To validate the ticket on the phone, you have to scan a QR code. Fine, except for buses. The QR code is on the OUTSIDE of the bus. If, as today, the driver is in a hurry and you are the only person boarding (and no one is disembarking) they can’t be bothered to wait while you fiddle with your phone to get the camera to scan the QR code. They just close the doors and drive off. It would make much more sense to have the codes on the inside of the bus as well.