Hungary’s public transport changes from 1 July: this concerns everybody

No, the trains in Hungary will probably not stick to the timetable better than before. However, there are fundamental changes in how to use Intercity trains, public transport prices and price reductions provided you buy your ticket online or in the vending machines.

According to index.hu, MÁV, the Hungarian state railways, will no longer sell IC supplementary tickets from 1 July. Instead, you will be able to buy universally-priced seat reservation tickets. Furthermore, you will be able to use the newly-introduced country passes with reservation tickets on the 2nd class, making life easier for each passenger.

The new pricing system will be in effect from 1 July. It will make it possible for everybody to use IC trains with Minister János Lázár’s brand-new country passes. In advance, such IC seat reservation tickets will cost HUF 650 (EUR 1.77). Meanwhile, on the day of the trip, it will be HUF 990 (EUR 2.7), regardless of the direction.

Bus, train ticket prices increase

In carriages which do not reach IC quality, you will have to buy a HUF 300 (EUR 0.82) supplementary ticket. That will also be a universal price everywhere in the country. Meanwhile, MÁV’s Friday announcement highlighted that the new county passes would not be valid on trains and railway segments that require a seat reservation. To make matters worse, the new county and country passes will not be valid on IC+ trains either. Tickets for IC+ trains will increase to HUF 1,990 (EUR 5.41) universally.

The price of distance-based tickets will also increase from 1 July. The new costs include the services of MÁV-START, Volánbusz, MÁV-HÉV and GYSEV. The prices are the following:

• HUF 400 instead of HUF 250 for distances of 0-10 kilometres;
• HUF 450 instead of HUF 310 for 10-15 km,
• HUF 500 instead of HUF 370 for 15-20 km,
• HUF 550 instead of HUF 465 for 20-25 kilometres,
• HUF 600 instead of HUF 560 for the 25-30 kilometre sections.

The figures show that both in nominal terms and as a percentage, shorter trips are getting more expensive, we wrote HERE. The main aim of the price increase is to encourage people to buy the newly introduced county and country passes.

Other important changes

MÁV is to terminate or reduce its price reduction scheme for those buying tickets online or in the ticket machines. In the case of the vending machines, the reduction ends. In the case of online-bought tickets, it will go down from 10 percent to only 5 percent.

The good news is that county and country passes will be accepted on the Volánbusz buses of Zalaegerszeg. The new county and country passes were introduced on 1 May in Hungary following PM Viktor Orbán’s announcement in his State of the Nation speech this February. These passes allow passengers to travel on the regional lines of MÁV-START, Volánbusz, MÁV-HÉV, and GYSEV.