In this first for Hungary, travellers will be eligible for a 50% refund if their train arrives 20 minutes or more behind schedule.

Passengers with passes will get a 10% discount off their next purchase of a pass if they arrive more than 20 minutes late on five occasions during the month, Lazar said.

The same refund policy will apply to delayed Volán bus services as well.

Public Transport Boost

The rollout of cheap passes for public transport in counties or nationwide in 2024 boosted passenger numbers "radically", over 1 billion, Lazar said.

Monthly sales of passes reached 800,000, lifting revenue from ticket sales to around HUF 111bn, he added.

In 2025, monthly sales of passes reached 900,000 in March and April, he said, adding that higher sales of cheaper tickets had generated more revenue than the dearer, but fewer, fares in earlier years.

Lazar acknowledged the work of the some 50,000 employees of state-owned rail and bus group MAV-Volan and said talks with union representatives on a one-off pay supplement would take place early in June.

Cleaner Public Transport Services

Lazar said 1,200 public restrooms at 750 train and bus stations would be renovated by year-end, at a cost of HUF 6.5bn. A fee will be introduced for the use of some of those facilities, he added.

Cleaning staff have started working around the clock on InterCity trains from April 1, he said.

Hungary has acquired 1,000 new buses, of which 100 will arrive in days, Lazar said. He added that efforts had been made to buy the buses from local suppliers.

The new buses will lower the average age of the Volan fleet, which stands around 5,700 at present, from 10.5 years to 8 years, he said.

MAV will add another 100 rental locomotives to its fleet in 2026, he added.

Source:

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