Budapest's first tramline was opened in 1887 on the Great Boulevard, between Nyugati (Western) Railway station and Kiraly Street. Interesting thing is that the first public tram in the world was open only six years earlier, in 1881, near Berlin, Germany. In fact Budapest was the first city in the world with a permanent town central tram system. Before the World War I, Budapest experienced rapid growth, and by the end of the war the length of tram network reached 175,5 kilometres, and trams annually carried 300 million passengers. In that time tram routes were very long; a journey from terminus to terminus took more than an hour. During the World War II many lines and vehicles were destroyed. Our public transport system changed and there were introduced more and more bus lines. By the first half of 1970s, the first heavy metro line opened and parallel tram lines were closed, so our tram network became shorter and shorter. The international trend was the same. Many capitals closed their tram network, because it was "too expensive, too noisy, and old style".
Fortunately, Budapest kept many lines. Nowadays there are 30 lines and the 762 vehicles carried more than 370 thousand people last year on the 155 km long network. The line of Great Boulevard (number 4 and 6) is one of the busiest lines in the world. The system is operated by the Budapest Transport Company (BKV) (http://www.bkv.hu/angol/home/index.html ) My opinion is that tram is an important part of our city's life and tradition. If you want to know more about our trams you can visit Museum of Transport in the City Park or Museum of Public Transport in Szentendre (see also my earlier article). According to the latest survey people insist on trams and also their traditional yellow colour. BKV wanted to change its colour but people want to keep the yellow one.
How can you use trams? You can travel in vehicles only with pre-purchased tickets that you have to validate on the vehicle when starting your trip. A single ticket is 140 HUF (0.56 EUR in 2004), and valid for one trip without any transfer. A monthly pass is 5200 HUF (20 EUR) and valid for bus, tram, metro, trolley bus and HEV (suburban railway) within the boundary of Budapest.
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