Pay as you go?

What a great answer! Thank you! and darn!

and darn!

?
The present system works great. Stick your credit card in the machine and buy a day pass for $6.00 US, or a single ride for $1.25 US.

Great. Thanks!

In London, with your Oyster Card, a single trip on the subway will cost you $2.75 to over $4.00. In Paris about $2.50. In Budapest a single ride will cost you $1.25. But when I end up touring friends and family around town, on a typical day we will get on a tram or a metro no less than 4 times, and 6 wouldn’t be uncommon. The trams are so much like tour buses, that you hop on, hop off and see something and then hop back on to the next site. The Metro, especially the M1, is to reach a couple of places further out or to tie you back to the center of town from your hotel. Do that in London and you are looking at a daily cost of $15 to $20.

If you are only staying 24 hours, well, buy a book of tickets I guess. Otherwise get a Travel Card. I think they use the short-term travel cards to subsidize longer term cards used by locals, so if you are staying 4 days or more, buy a 7 day card.

Budapest Cards? You have to be a very special type of tourist for those to pay off. But they do for some.

Single ticket
HUF 350 / $1.25
Block of 10 tickets
HUF 3 000 / $11.00
Budapest 24-hour travelcard
HUF 1 650 / $6.00
Budapest 72-hour travelcard
HUF 4,150 / $15.00 ($5 a day)
Budapest 7-day travelcard
HUF 4 950 / $18.00 ($2.60 a day or $4.50 a day if you are only staying 4 days)
Budapest Card for 24 hours
HUF 6,490
Budapest Card for 48 hours
HUF 9,990
Budapest Card for 72 hours
HUF 12,990
Budapest Card for 96 hours
HUF 15,990
Budapest Card for 120 hours
HUF 18,990

Great info James. Do they sell one for two people or all of these for each person? When I'm in Munich I always buy a ticket for my wife and me, which is cheaper than 2 individual tickets. Thanks

Budapest 24-hour group travelcard (for 1-5 passengers traveling together) 3,300 HUF

Thanks James, hopefully this will help out everyone else.