Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The metro
The second oldest underground system in the world after London, the Budapest
metro
has
four lines, usually referred to by their colour and shown on the colour map at the end of this
book. Line #4 was completed in 2014 and runs from Keleti station to Kelenföld station; the
three other lines intersect at Deák tér in downtown Pest. Line #1 - also known as the Mil-
lennium Underground railway - was the first to be constructed, and in 2002 it was listed as
a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Trains run at two- to twelve-minute intervals. There's little
risk of going astray once you've learned to recognize the signs
bejárat
(entrance),
kijárat
(exit),
vonal
(line) and
felé
(towards). The train's direction is indicated by the name of the
station at the end of the line. The trains on the superb new metro line #4 have announcements
in English telling you the next stop (and some line #2 trains too), but on lines #1 and 3, these
are in Hungarian only (and barely audible), so you're better off looking out for the signs at
each station.
Buses, trams and trolleybuses
There is a good
bus
(
autóbusz
) network across the city, especially in Buda, where Széll
Kálmán tér (on the red metro line) and Móricz Zsigmond körtér (southwest of Gellért-hegy)
are the main terminals. Bus stops are marked by a picture of a bus on a white background in
a blue frame, and have timetables underneath; most buses run every ten to twenty minutes
(
utolsó kocsi indul
… means “the last one leaves …”). On busier lines express buses - with
an E at the end of the number - run along the same route making fewer stops: for example,
the bus #7E that runs along most of the route of the #7. There is a comprehensive network of
nightbuses
, all of which have a three-digit number beginning with a 9, and which run every
hour or half-hour from around midnight or whenever the service they replace finishes.
The network of yellow (or the newer orange)
trams
(
villamos
) is smaller, but they provide
a crucial service round the Nagykörút and along the Pest embankment.
Trolleybuses
(
trolibusz
)mostlyoperatenortheastofthecentreneartheVárosliget.Interestingly,theirroute
numbers start at 70 because the first trolleybus line was inaugurated on Stalin's 70th birthday
in 1949. Trolleybus #83 was started in 1961, when Stalin would have been 83.
