Budapesti Közlekedési Zrt.
Budapesti Közlekedési Zrt. or BKV Zrt. ("Budapest Transit Company", the abbreviation BKV stands for its earlier name Budapesti Közlekedési Vállalat) is the main public transport operator in Budapest, Hungary. BKV was established in 1968 as a unified public transport company with the merger of the companies responsible for the different means of transport; bus operator FAÜ, tram and trolleybus operator FVV, suburban railway operator BHÉV and riverboat operator FHV. The metro was added in 1973. The transport in Budapest underwent another reorganization in 2010 when the BKK ("Budapesti Közlekedési Központ", "Budapest Transit Centre") was founded for the  management of the city transport and infrastructure. Since then, BKV is the largest public transport contractor of BKK, operating 4 metro, 33 tram, and 15 trolley bus lines, and most vehicles on the 231 local bus and 40 night bus lines. Road vehicle operation. City-owned BKV runs most of the vehicles of the extensive network of surface mass transportation in Budapest, with the emphasis on buses. The 1200 buses in Budapest (the majority of which are Mercedes-Benz Citaro) circulate on 231 routes. The buses are painted skyblue. Trolleybuses in red livery are operated on 15 lines. The night  service is provided exclusively by buses and by the trams on Great Boulevard. The articulated bus is a hallmark of Budapest; both diesel and ETB bendy vehicles have been running since the late 1950s and still form the majority of BKV's fleet. The road reconstruction program of the late 2000s (affecting 50% of the city's main roads) also modified the lanes, e.g. created separate lanes for vehicles turning left at crossings controlled by traffic lights. This reduced the travel time of the buses. Completing the eastern sector of M0 beltway around the city in 2008 significantly reduced traffic  congestion, the inauguration of Metro Line 4 in 2014 further helped the situation. Competitive wages are still a serious issue as bus drivers are often lured to the trucking industry. Rail services. BKV operates 33 city tram lines, including the Budapest Cog Railway that operates as tram line 60. The once-extensive network of tram tracks and the brown striped yellow streetcars were a characteristic of Budapest, but the network was curtailed under Communism owing to lack of funding. Line 4-6 is still the largest capacity tram-line in Europe. The tram services are now set to have a  renaissance as there is no further road capacity for bus lanes in Budapest. Replacing the more than 40-year-old rolling stock started in 2006 with new 54-meter long Siemens Combino Supra giants completely replacing former carriages on the 4-6 line. The underground railway network is less extensive, consisting of four lines. The M1 line (or Földalatti), whose colour is yellow, is a small underground tramway inaugurated in 1896. The other three are full-sized metro lines: M2 (red), M3 (blue) and M4 (green). M2 and M4 run roughly east–west, while M3 runs mostly north–south. There  is a plan for a high-speed rail link to Ferihegy BUD international airport, which is currently served by bus from the end of the M3 metro line. – "See the main article Budapest Metro." In 2005 a "BEB" monthly pass was introduced for a 10% extra cost over the regular price, which permitted the use of the MÁV national railway lines within the city area, effectively increasing the tracked service for BKV's passengers. Since 2009, all monthly (and 15-day) passes, now called a "Budapest Pass", are valid on the national railway and suburban bus lines within city boundaries . Passenger statistics. As of 2009, approximately 54% of the passenger traffic in Budapest, a city of 1.7 million inhabitants, is still carried by BKV vehicles, with the remaining 46% using private vehicles. During 2003 a total of 1.4 billion people travelled by BKV. During the Socialist era, Budapest had 2 million residents and its public vs. private transport ratio (the so-called modal split) was 80% : 20% in favor of mass transit. This ratio was a result of artificial restriction: COMECON rules did not allow Hungary to produce private cars domestically and Dacia / Lada / Škoda / Trabant / Wartburg (marque) car imports  were never enough. (After the Iron Curtain fell, a large number of second hand cars were imported from Austria and Western Europe, leading to rapid private motorisation of Budapest's streets.) Funding. After the fall of Communism, BKV was traditionally plagued by a lack of funding. It survived by selling some of its garages and repair bases for mall and housing development. As of October 2009 the average BKV diesel bus was 16.5 years old and the oldest one of the 1,400 strong fleet was 24 years old, with 3.5 million kilometers to its track record. Yet starting in 2010 , a bus replacement program scrapped most of those old buses and increased the ratio of modern, air-conditioned low-floor buses to 80% by 2016. Their share is planned to reach 100% by 2018. In 2006, Siemens Combino Supra trams completely replaced the carriages serving the Grand Boulevard. In the same year, French Alstom metro trains were ordered to replace all Soviet carriages on metro line 2 and to serve on metro line 4, the construction of that line started in that year. All units for both lines entered service by 2014, in which year 47 air-conditioned, low-floor  CAF trams were purchased. Their delivery will be completed by 2017. In 2016, the more than 30 years old Russian trains running on Metro Line 3, produced by Mytishchi Machine-building Factory, started to be reconstructed by the legal successor Metrowagonmash. BKV operates on a net-loss basis; state-mandated ticket prices cover less than 50% of running costs. The state circumvents EU regulations by failing to fully compensate the BKV company for operating costs and amortization. Corruption Scandal. In 2009-2010 investigations into corruption led the police examine all money logs and contracts of the 20-year period individually , to find issues unrelated to the already detected ones. Many high-level employees and independent or in-company participants were arrested and sentenced. This issue led the owner, the Local Government of the Capital City making BKV accept a new Company Inner Regulation System and its assembly enacting local government degrees guaranteeing complete transparency in the contracts, billings, and job descriptions for the owner, and for all representatives of its assembly even individually. This regulation was extended to all enterprises owned in majority by the city council. Season tickets and passes. BKV uses a paper-based system of tickets and  passes; as of December 2015 a monthly pass allowing one adult to travel on any BKV vehicle costs (approximately , ). Students (of any age) and children get a discount of around 65%; the elderly travel free. Passes are not transferable. There are plans to introduce smartcard passes and tickets within a few years, in an attempt to reduce the significant fare evasion (estimated at around 10% of all passengers). People with disabilities. Most of the BKV buses are wheelchair accessible. There are also a few small-sized special BKV buses, which can be reserved by phone to transport a person using  a wheelchair. The M4 metro line has public elevators installed in every station. Most of the current M2 and M3 metro stations only have escalators. After the renewal, all of the stations will barrier-free accessible at M3, except Pöttyös utca and Ecseri út. After the renewal, all of the stations will barrier-free accessible at M1. Currently available regular service line with handicapped-compatible low-floor vehicles: Metro Tram Nearly all of the bus and trolleybus lines have low-floor cars most of the time, except for bus lines 39, 116, 121, 161A, 171, 225, 251 (most of them  due to traffic engineering characteristics). The metro replacement buses (operating on the southern part of Metro Line M3) are only serviced by low-floor buses. Livery and colours. BKV paints its vehicles different colours by type. Originally the buses had a dark shade of blue, most of the vehicles have been repainted in the mid-2010s to match the today used lighter blue shade, but occasionally a few spare darker buses can be seen. The four metro lines are marked on the map in different colours: The current livery of the trains on the M2, M3 and M4 lines are white -black, on M1 vehicles are painted yellow, though until recently the trains on M2 and M3 lines were blue (shade between the buses' former and current color). In pop culture. A surrealistic thriller titled "Kontroll" was filmed in the M2 and M3 metro tunnels during 2002-2003. The movie has won several awards and has developed a cult following. The ironic beginning of the movie features Botond Aba, former CEO of BKV, who declares that all events and locations shown in the film are purely fictional.