Update on BudapestGo and passes

You are going to get in sooooooo much trouble!

Same happened to me last week. We will both get in sooooooo much trouble. I looked at the rules about a year ago and because of my residency i "think" I qualified but it required me to get some sort of a pensioners ID card or someting. Now when they look at me at the check points I just point to the white hair.

You are so confused!! 🤣

I guess I could try pointing to my hair - would save time pulling out my DL, which I am pretty sure no one but the first guy for the bus has actually looked at. But it works!

TTm, maybe they changed the rules so you wouldn't have to carry a paper pass? ;)

I definitely think there are new rules (and not just for me 🤣). But wanted others to know they should definitely check, but may not need to buy a pass if over 65.

Thanks for the travel card information update. I did go to the bkk.hu website and under the frequently asked question "What kind of discounts are available to seniors?" It stated "Over 65 years, you can travel free with any original identity card or any other personal identification document (photo ID). No photos/copies of the ID are accepted!"

Marce, it appears to be working just fine - I have used my DL because it is easier than my passport to pull out if asked. Not that it was expensive before, but I am enjoying the benefit!

Do you keep your passport and drivers license in your money belt?

On that subject, I can think of three ocassions where somehting was left behind in a bar.

First was this tourist lady that left her purse haning on the hook under the bar. 20 minutes later she returned and it was handed to her by the bar staff.

Then the local guy left a scarf, a nice scarf, a christmas gifts scarf from a lovely young lady behind in a bar. An hour later he returned and the bar staff opend a drawer and pulled out a nicely folded life saving scarf.

Finally another knuckle brain left a backpack with a fairly nice camera and a few extra lens in a bar. Returning about 2 hours later (took him that long to realize and he went to the wrong bar looking for it) the bar staff handed it to him.

Cell phones on bar counters are common, cell phones in back pockets are less common but the local girls do. Never met a theft victim here, not in 20 years. But I am certain it happens so do be a bit aware of your surroundings especially on the crowded 4/6 tram.

We are going to be in Budapest for a few days next week as we start our Viking Grand European cruise to Amsterdam.
Can you give me an English version of bkk.hu? When I went there, I couldn’t read a thing.

Thanks
GrandAkela

The English version:
https://bkk.hu/en/

Well that will be something to look forward to. Because I am so tired of paying the exorbitant $17.24 fee for a 15 day transit pass! 🤣

@Grandakela, and here is the page for tickets and passes. https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes/prices/
If you are there for more than 72 hours, the 15 day Travel Pass is your best deal (one each). Otherwise, the 72 hour Budapest travelcard (one each).

You can use single tickets, but that adds layers of purchasing, validating, etc. that have not ever been worth it to me unless someone is on a really tight budget. Not useful for you, but for others is the 24 hour Travel Pass. (Depending on your length of stay - possibly a 72 hr plus a 24 hr, but you have to buy the 24 hr later when the 72 hr runs out)

If you buy a paper pass either at the airport upon arrival or at one of the metro stations after you are here, you just need to carry it (and show it to an inspector if asked). No validations necessary. If you buy it through the app (should the update finish) - well, in the past you validate by scanning each time you enter a metro station (I have described this process elsewhere). But who knows what the future iteration will look like.

@ CW, right? or paying the price of $9 for the amazing concert I went to last night…. LOL.

Before Hungarian age discrimination polocies prevented me from buying my Monthly Pass (over 65 is free) the cost was 8950 ft which worked out to 80 cents a day. Before moving here, in Texas, my automobile cost between $25 and $30 a day.

I will miss the BKK ladies. The one who fussed at me for not speaking Hungarian. The one who came close to refusing to sell me a monthly pass at the end of February last year. Because its a monthly pass and if I buy in February it is only good for 28 days. So wait two days, buy in March and its good for 31 days. She was disgusted when I bought it anyway. So March cost me 85 cents a day.

Just out of interest I clicked on this link, from what Mister E said about his daily costs, and CW Social said about the huge cost (!) of a 15 day Budapest pass.

I am sure I am reading this wrong that you can have a monthly pass for almost all trains and many buses in the whole of Hungary for 18,900 forints (£41).

Surely that is only for locals, not for visitors. There has to be a catch there somewhere- £1.30 a day for the whole of the country- surely not.

You are not reading it wrong. I guess the catch is that most tourists don’t stay a month. So they would buy the less expensive passes (or travel cards) that would theoretically work out to more per day - but you aren’t staying that many days, so overall you pay less. Did that make sense? I usually buy the 15 day pass, since I am usually here about a week - at a cost of 5,950 ft. So it would make no sense for me to buy a monthly Hungary pass at 18,900 ft - or even a monthly Budapest pass at 8,950ft.

However I am not sure about whether or not the monthly Hungary pass covers ALL trains (probably not those that are inter-country), but it definitely covers a lot for locals. And yes, anyone can buy these.

Some of this train coverage is very new, which is why the BudapestGo app is in transition as far as being able to buy passes through it. But public transportation is really affordable here. And if you are over 65, it apparently just got even more affordable, like in Prague, although that may not be reflected in the website yet.

It's election year. Need I say more.

I have a friend (TTM, was Andy) who went someplace in Hungary on holiday and buying the country passes for his family of four was cheaper than 4 return tickets on a single trip.