Outrage: Reaching Lake Balaton from Budapest becomes significantly harder

It is safe to say that it is easy to reach Lake Balaton via public transport from the capital. There are many direct trains and buses connecting both the southern and northern shores of Hungary’s largest lake with Budapest. However, this is about to change.

Outrage

According to 24.hu, people are outraged by the latest announcement of Volánbusz, the main bus company in Hungary. There will be changes and adjustments to bus services between Budapest and the northern shore of Lake Balaton. While locals are angry, it seems that the changes will mainly affect their lives.

Several north shore settlements will no longer be directly accessible by bus. So what can locals do now? MÁV, the Hungarian railway company, suggests the following:

To travel between the capital and the northern shores of Lake Balaton, we now recommend using the railway.

The changes regarding Lake Balaton transport

The direct bus 1201 from Budapest to Tihany is being discontinued. Passengers are advised to use a combination of train and bus (railway to Balatonfüred and bus 7355 to Tihany) instead, impacting especially elderly travellers who previously enjoyed a direct, three-hour bus ride.

The bus 1190, which previously connected Budapest with multiple towns including Hévíz, will now only operate between Balatonfüred and Hévíz, significantly reducing direct connectivity from Budapest and limiting daily operations to two pairs of buses.

Photo: facebook.com/VOLANBUSZ/

The reasons behind the changes

When 24.hu asked about recent changes to bus services, Volánbusz did not provide specific reasons, stating that their operations follow directives from the Ministry of Construction and Transport. They confirmed that these changes affect two daily routes, increasing to three in the summer, specifically impacting the direct service between Budapest and Balatonfüred. Additionally, Volánbusz mentioned that their system does not allow for detailed passenger traffic analysis on individual routes, so they could not provide data on past passenger loads.

Why is it problematic?

Bence Király, a board member of Közlekedő Tömeg, believes that eliminating overlapping bus and rail services at Lake Balaton is not inherently problematic, as they should complement rather than compete with each other. However, he points out issues with the recent changes in Hungarian public transport, particularly the removal of certain bus services without increasing the frequency of alternative routes or ensuring easy transfers, such as from Balatonfüred to Tihany or Hévíz.

This creates inconvenience, especially with no unified traffic management leading to required transfers in areas like Hévíz. Additionally, Király criticises the ad hoc approach to modifying the north coast services and notes a procedural lapse, as changes were not announced 30 days in advance as required by the corresponding law.