START BUDAPEST BLOG

The passengers of a night bus are a cross section of the night: young people going to or from a club, workers travelling through the city to an early shift, homeless sleeping on the bus.

Night buses in Budapest operate between 23.00 and 4 o’clock the following day. Around midnight the night buses can turn into clubs because many so people use the time of the journey to get hammered. On the weekends at around three or four is the after party time when you can see at least one person who is more fucked up than you are. The night bus on the way home is your last chance to pick someone up. It sounds strange but actually you can often succeed.
Night buses are usually punctual and reliable. They are quite safe, the biggest trouble you get is from the drunkards and the controllers. Sometimes stinky homeless can be a problem, they used to consider the night buses as shelters with a sightseeing tour. Now BKV seems to put more effort into keeping the night buses stink-free.

The ultimate night bus party line is the 906 (formerly known as 6É) between Moszkva and Móricz Zsigmond Körtér on the Nagykörút running every 12-15 minutes all through the night. Another major line is 907, operating between Bosnyák tér in Pest and Kelenföld in Buda. Its total travel time is 53 minutes, which not at all unusual for Budapest night buses, some of their routes are even over 1.5 hours long.

A bit rougher are the night buses 950É and 914É, especially near the end-stops in the North or in the South. For a ride into the darkness of the outskirts try 909É tp Kőbánya, leaving from Deák.

Update:
Since January 2008 BKV has changed the travel conditions ans introduced strict control on night buses. Theoratically, you need either a monthly pass or a special night bus ticket, which is 350 forint (early 2008) compared to the 285 forint normal ticket. Day passes are not valid on night buses. Practically you can board if you have a valid ticket.

Security (in green visibility vests) and beefy controllers board the night buses frequently, especially 906 and 907. They also check your ticket before you board at major bus stops and night life spots such as Nyugati, Oktogon, Astoria, Boráros tér, Árpád híd. The two main hubs in the inner city, Astoria and Nyugati are almost always guarded by hordes of controllers and security.

At 01.15 on a Wednesday night in March 2008 we counted no less than 17 (seventeen!) controllers and security people. Most of the controllers looked like ex-bullies who turned into toothless half-homeless alcoholics. They were aggressive, foul-smelling and looking for trouble, more like nazis on a hunt then people who want to help their company power-sell their product. In fact, none of them sold tickets, and it was impossible to buy tickets on the bus.

Now, that is typical stupid Hungarian BKV mentality. I want to get home, they want to sell tickets. So, being obliged buy a ticket before I board could be interpereted as ‘mutual benefit’. But no, they want to teach a lesson, so they will stop you from boarding, but don’t sell a single ticket. I don’t see the point.

The way to beat the system:

• Use a less frequented, smaller stop to board, such as the stop between Astoria and Blaha, Jászai Mari tér etc.
• If there are bigger (bendy or articulated) buses and smaller buses serving your destination, use the latter

Update2:
You can actually rent out a whole nightbus for your party.