Hungarian railway company introduces a simple process to purchase tickets

MÁV (the abbreviation of the Hungarian State Railways) is determined to adapt its service in all respects to the current expectations of passengers.

Vg writes that over the past years, MÁV has placed a great emphasis on the modernisation of its platforms for purchasing tickets: an application was created for both Android and iOS which is constantly being updated. Moreover, it is already possible to store our tickets and passes with the help of an e-ID. If we purchase a ticket online, it can be presented in PDF format on your phone during ticket inspection.

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If you get on the train at a station where there is no opportunity to buy tickets, you could also buy your ticket with a credit card from the ticket inspector.

These solutions have come into prominence and are especially important in the current state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic as they allow us to purchase tickets and travel safely without physical contact.

What guidelines shape and have been shaping the development of ticket purchasing at the railway company?

Ever since the planning process, one of the foundations of MÁV’s ticket purchase system has been the need to store all sold products in the form of a unique electronic ticket in the central system. The goal for the near future is to have all their sales interfaces operated by a central background system and for the monitoring to also take place online. Ticket offices at the stations, postal railway ticket purchase accounts, partner ticket offices (e.g. travel agencies), on-board purchases, and the MÁV application are already operating on this background system, but the railway company would like to add their ticket vending machines and their online webshop to the system this year.

The next milestone of the renewal process at MÁV in 2020 is that the previous ticket purchase interface on the website, introduced in 2008, will be completely renewed.

Following the option to buy domestic tickets, you will be able to purchase international tickets, and it will be possible to buy passes online by the end of the year. According to the plans, customers will also receive the ticket in PDF format from the app, and vice versa, the tickets purchased online will also be loaded onto the account of the registered user in the application.