After the 20 August fireworks, Budapest’s streets will host all-night celebrations, Dávid Vitézy, the Minister for Transport and Investment, said on Tuesday. But to ensure the fun is not just for the capital’s revellers, early-morning trains, buses and suburban rail lines will run to every corner of Hungary.
Public transport changes after the 20 August fireworks
The fireworks display will be slightly shorter than usual, Vitézy said in a video posted on Facebook. But from 11pm until 3.30am, the city will throw “massive street parties” in locations such as Kossuth Square in front of Parliament, Margaret Island, and the quayside by the Budapest University of Technology and Economics near Szent Gellért Square, MTI wrote.
“The idea is that people can stay out and enjoy themselves after the fireworks,” Vitézy said, though he warned that, as always during the celebrations, public transport in the city will be disrupted. The Chain Bridge, Elizabeth Bridge and Margaret Bridge will all be closed, so underground trains are the best bet for getting around, he said.
The 20 August festivities will be much cheaper than before
To make sure the celebrations are not just for Budapest’s young crowd, for the first time early-morning services will run nationwide, so everyone can get home after the parties. The Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) is preparing for metro trains to run until 3.30am, with more frequent night buses and tram 6 operating, making it easier to reach train stations and bus terminals, where special services will depart in all directions, particularly to county seats and cities with county rights.
All necessary information is available on the websites of the MÁV Group and BKK, he added.
Vitézy also revealed that the entire event series will cost just a third of what the previous Fidesz government had planned: 4.9 billion forints instead of 17 billion. “So it seems there was some significant overcharging here, and we are able to offer far more for far less,” he said.
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