Hungarian Rail Ticketing Overhaul

[Segedunum]

Came across this on the MÁV START website this morning (salient points translated below)

mavcsoport.hu/mav-csoport/julius-1-jetol-megszunik-vasuti-potjegy-es-mar-orszagberlettel-lehet-utazni-ic-ken

Budapest, June 30, 2023 - As of July 1, IC supplementary tickets and high-speed train supplementary tickets will cease to exist on MÁV-START and GYSEV flights, and will be replaced by new, uniformly priced seat tickets for long-distance rail transport. Another change is that starting tomorrow, national passes can also be used to travel in the second class of IC or other trains requiring a seat ticket. The pricing of smart tickets will also be adjusted to the new pricing system. All in all, the amendments effective from Saturday mean that the new county and national passes offer even more passengers a cheap and simple solution for their daily commute.

From the first of July, the complex system of additional IC and seat tickets will simultaneously become simpler with several price changes, and passengers on InterCity trains and non-IC quality but seat ticket trains will be able to take advantage of the price advantage offered by the country pass introduced in May.
Based on the order of the Ministry of Construction and Transport (ÉKM), which exercises ownership rights, according to the new fare system that will enter into force on the first of July, the previous IC supplementary tickets will cease to exist , and their function will be taken over by seat tickets with a uniform price , which can be redeemed by holders of a national pass to travel on IC trains. An IC seat ticket in advance - i.e. redeemed the day before the train departure - will be HUF 650, and HUF 990 if redeemed on the day of travel . The price of tickets for the premium (1+) class also varies, and you have to pay HUF 1,990 for them.

After the first of July, the price of the seat ticket will be changed to HUF 300 uniformly on trains with non-IC quality carriages , but with a seat ticket , or on train sections .
From tomorrow, those with a national pass can travel in the second class of IC or other trains requiring a seat ticket - by redeeming the appropriate seat ticket . However, the county pass will still not be valid on trains or sections requiring a seat ticket, and in the first and premium (1+) classes, one of the two new price products – i.e. neither the county pass nor the national pass – will be able to be used for travel, even the additional tickets nor in case of purchase.

The tariff for kilometer-based tickets will also be changed . From July 1, it will be HUF 400 up to a distance of 10 kilometers, HUF 450 between 10.1-15 km, HUF 500 between 15.1-20 km, HUF 550 between 20.1-25 km, HUF 600 between 25.1-30 km the price of full-price, one-way tickets for intercity transport on MÁV-START, Volánbusz, MÁV-HÉV and GYSEV routes. The price of tickets and passes valid for trams between Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely will not be affected by the tariff reform. The prices of full-price and discounted tickets can be found in Sections 2-6 of the Railway Fare Table valid from July 1 . passengers can find information on the website .
The price of tickets with a discount will be changed in proportion to the above, while the current price of passes and tickets for distances greater than 30 kilometers will remain the same.

So it looks like an end to the weird practice of having multiple "trains" in one (if I'm understanding correctly) where you'd have different fares depending on whether you sit in an InterCity or non-InterCity quality carriage (or a local/regional quality one) and just one uniform fare with a seat reservation fee that those with passes can purchase rather than the faff on with supplement.

Also mentioned in the article is that the 5% discount for buying at a TVM ceases - but is retained for app purchases.

From observations this morning - InterCity passengers are much like in GB - with a heavy move towards eTickets (no doubt on local lines it's still very paper-heavy).

This is effective today.

As an aside - I'm travelling on an under-26 discounted ticket (33% off) and was a little nervous I'd get a rollicking off the "MÁVia" for claiming a discount I wasn't meant to have. But all is good - in any case its just one that automatically applies when you select the passenger type. I don't know if this is also new or I've overlooked it before.

 

[yorksrob]

So even Victor Orban's Hungary can manage a national railcard.

In terms of different prices for "inter city" and "regional" style carriages, isn't that the same as 1st and 2nd class here ?

 

[Segedunum]

So even Victor Orban's Hungary can manage a national railcard.

In terms of different prices for "inter city" and "regional" style carriages, isn't that the same as 1st and 2nd class here ?

Sort of (though First Class also exists). The difference is that when you bought a ticket - you'd see two (or more) duplicate services to choose from.

Usually this was a Gyorsvonat (fast train) and InterCity (self-explanatory).

Over here you also have Szemely (all stops, basically), Sebes (Semi-fast), InterRegio (mostly Stadler FLIRT and Desiro operated stuff that's a bit of a halfway between regional and InterCity) and Express. All had their own pricing levels...

 

[yorksrob]

Sort of (though First Class also exists). The difference is that when you bought a ticket - you'd see two (or more) duplicate services to choose from.

Usually this was a Gyorsvonat (fast train) and InterCity (self-explanatory).

Over here you also have Szemely (all stops, basically), Sebes (Semi-fast), InterRegio (mostly Stadler FLIRT and Desiro operated stuff that's a bit of a halfway between regional and InterCity) and Express. All had their own pricing levels...

Ah thanks. My sister travelled a bit in Europe in the late 20th century and she mentioned once that it wasn't unusual to have different pricing for IC and local services on the same route.

 

[Alfonso]

Ah thanks. My sister travelled a bit in Europe in the late 20th century and she mentioned once that it wasn't unusual to have different pricing for IC and local services on the same route.

This is different...you have/had two "trains" in the same train. For example the eleven o'clock express to wherever and the 11 o'clock intercity to the same place. The train actually has second class normal carriages, second class intercity carriages with Aircon etc, and often a bar/bistro and first class. I've just treated the family to first class from budapest to balaton in first and I have 30QR codes...a ticket, a first class supplement, and a reservation each, each way.

 

[Segedunum]

This is different...you have/had two "trains" in the same train. For example the eleven o'clock express to wherever and the 11 o'clock intercity to the same place. The train actually has second class normal carriages, second class intercity carriages with Aircon etc, and often a bar/bistro and first class. I've just treated the family to first class from budapest to balaton in first and I have 30QR codes...a ticket, a first class supplement, and a reservation each, each way.

At least this has done away with you having a QR code for the base fare, then an InterCity supplement as well!

 

[yorksrob]

This is different...you have/had two "trains" in the same train. For example the eleven o'clock express to wherever and the 11 o'clock intercity to the same place. The train actually has second class normal carriages, second class intercity carriages with Aircon etc, and often a bar/bistro and first class. I've just treated the family to first class from budapest to balaton in first and I have 30QR codes...a ticket, a first class supplement, and a reservation each, each way.

Sounds like plenty of choice for the passenger.

Sounds like the equivalent to having a train here with 1st and standard mk3's with a few mk1's added on the back as a budget option.

 

[Alfonso]

Sounds like plenty of choice for the passenger.

Sounds like the equivalent to having a train here with 1st and standard mk3's with a few mk1's added on the back as a budget option.

Yes, and sometimes the intercity part is reservation compulsory and the normal part is optional or unreserved. As well as catering to different budgets I think it's likely the intercity is full of longer distance passengers and the normal bit people making short hops

 

[yorksrob]

Yes, and sometimes the intercity part is reservation compulsory and the normal part is optional or unreserved. As well as catering to different budgets I think it's likely the intercity is full of longer distance passengers and the normal bit people making short hops

Cheers for the confirmation !

 

[Alfonso]

Strangely, for the journey I just checked it is slightly cheaper in second class intercity than in the more basic second class express

 

[dutchflyer]

Köszonöm=thank you for drawing attention to it.
That 2 traintypes are combined is AFAIK ONLY for the hourly Bp-Szeged trains. In the now distant past there were also InterPici=Small ones, some rebuilt CZech railbuses serving doing some accelerated runs on a few major branches to serve some minor towns off the main network. But these have ceased.
In fact in some other cases this is also possible in other railways-notably some overnight trains in/to DE=Germany that may have part NJet and part IC (mostly lower quality and not-mandatory REServations. And that IC cost more as local trains is indeed quite common in many other countries-and in GB too by that use of different companies excluding tickets from others.
A national pass is equal to the free travel for 65+ from EU: in effect this thus means that any trip on IC goes up to even more as double extra to pay as one had to pay yesterday-and even more for same day REServation-which I always did simply, quick and easy on a machine.

 

[Segedunum]

The InterPici units are still rattling around - I believe in the east of the country somewhere around Debrecen.

Yes there's now a bit more of a cost for flexibility - even last year I used to just book single tickets for every train as and when, seeing as they were so cheap (for us folk anyway).

In advance - I paid 9£ total to go from Budapest to Osijek today via Pecs and Beli Manastir. I wouldn't normally book more than a day in advance - but the itinerary I'm following is basically the only one each day that allows you to then go onwards to Vinkovci and Zagreb (currently have the delights of a 6111 EMU for five hours on the last leg...)

 

[dutchflyer]

Additional: as I used to visit this country to enjoy the free travel for some years-untill now I´ve done most of the lines and hold the new german 49€/month season:
from other english sources, (site like hungarynewstoday) as there is not really much on it on the MAV site:
there is this new network ticket since 1/5: for 1 county or the whole country, at around 9.500/19k HUF= around 25/50€. It is unclear if this a permanent season and how difficult/easy this is to get. It since 1/6 also includes the regional Volan (=wheels) buses, as these are nominally merged with MAV,
It EXcludes BKK in Budapest-and though not stated probably also the same type local transit systems in Miskolc/Debrecen/Szeged, that also run trams and trolleyś. That is even a little cheaper as what Germany now offers.
Prices for normal tickets have also gone up-with around 50% on the shorter distances. In all fairness it should be said these have not been raised some 2-3 years, and as the HUF went down, in €-and GBP-these are/were thus cheaper as before! The discount offered for buying from machine etc is also gone (was 10%-to stimulate this type of sale). By now some 1/3=33% of fare paying pax buy via app. I think that non fare -paying pax are a substantial part of total.
The Czech railbuses as IP now run as normal locals, the brand IP as such (with surcharge) has gone.
When they still ran, the fare for the direct Bp-Beograd trains was 15€-pay the rate of the day in local money either side.