BKV

BKV (Budapesti Közlekedési Rt.) is the unified public transport company of the city of Budapest, capital of Hungary.

The city-owned BKV company runs a very extensive network of surface mass transportation, including 1200 diesel buses on 200 routes, 15 electric trolley buses lines, 35 tram lines and five municipal railways. The articulated bus is a hallmark of Budapest, such diesel and ETB vehicles have been running since the late 1950s and still form the majority of BKV buses.

The underground railway network is less extensive, including two full-sized metros (east-west red M2 and the north-south blue M3) and one small sized underground tramway called MFAV. The MFAV line is more than 100 years old. A third full sized metro (called M4) is about to be built between 2005-2011, as well as a high speed rail to connect the Ferihegy BUD international airport, which is currently served by a single bus line. – See the main article Budapest Metro.

About 55% of traffic in the 1.7 million populated Budapest is still carried by BKV vehicles, with 45% remaining for private cars. During 2003 all-together 1.4 billion people travelled with BKV. During the socialist era, Budapest had 2 million residents and the public vs. private travel proportion was 80% / 20% in favor of mass transit. Since the fall of communism BKV has been constantly plagued by a lack of funding and seen its fleet become obsolete (the average BKV bus is now 15 years old). BKV operates on a net loss basis, state-mandated ticket prices cover less than 50 percent of its costs. The state circumvents EU regulations by failing to fully compensate the BKV company for costs and amortization, thus funds for new vehicles is scarce.

The presence of homeless people on vehicles, the degraded comfort and reduced speed of BKV public transport prompts more and more people to use a car, causing constant traffic jams in the narrow streets of Budapest. BKV vehicles enjoy few privileges over private cars in traffic, there are few reseved road lanes or fully isolated tram tracks. The BKV's safety record is good, the frequency of routes (time between vehicles) is good on paper, but the timestables are often not adhered to.

BKV sells paper-based single tickets and passes, a 25 euro pass allows an adult unrestricted travel on any BKV vehicles for one month. There are plans to introduce smartcard based passes and tickets in a few years, which shall reduce unpaid travel (which is currently app. 10 percent of all passanger-kilometers). This initiative is weird, because it would mean installing high-tech on-line cancelling machines on by-then 20 years old buses which are already literally falling apart from excess use. The BKV conductors (who randomly check passangers for tickets on the vehicles) are among the most hated elements in hungarian society and often made fun of.

Only a minority of regular BKV vehicles are accessible to severely handicapped people (e.g. IK-412 diesel and ETB low-floor buses, Volvo articulated buses and a few select stations of the MFAV underground tram line). There are a few small-sized BKV buses, which can be called by phone to transport wheelchair-bound people. The M4 metro line will have public elevators installed for every station, current M2 and M3 metro lines only have escalators.

A surrealistic thriller titled "Kontroll " has been filmed in the M2 and M3 underground railway line tunnels during 2003-2004. This movie release was very well-received both domestically and abroad and it is competing for the foreign language Oscar Award. There is some talk about a Hollywood remake with Tom Cruise in the lead. The ironic beginning of the movie features Botond Aba, CEO of BKV, who declares all events and locations shown in the film are purely fictional.

The official website of BKV Rt. can be accessed at http://www.bkv.hu.