Hungary Extends Free Travel in Public Transport in Budapest for Ukrainians Refugees

The Hungarian capital Budapest has decided to extend the use of free public transport for Ukrainian refugees until the end of March this year.

As the VisitUkraine.today (Ukrainian information portal for help) reports, free transportation for refugees from Ukraine was introduced in Budapest on March 4 last year, and currently, the validity period of this decision has been extended until March 31, 2023, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

In this regard, the Budapest transport company has also asked its customers to provide assistance to refugees from Ukraine travelling by public transport in the city if necessary.

For all Ukrainian refugees who wish to board public transport in the capital of Hungary for free, they must present any Ukrainian document for personal identification, such as a passport, residence permit, or student card.

In addition, free travel for refugees from Ukraine will be valid on public transport routes in Budapest, except for the airport express 100E, cable car, excursion flights, boats, HÉV, and “blue” buses operating outside the city limits.

In September of last year, the Austrian authorities also made such a decision by extending free travel on public transport in Vienna for Ukrainian refugees until the end of this month.

Commenting on the decision, the authorities said that Ukrainian refugees who have left their country could move around Vienna on buses and subways without buying a ticket by showing only their travel documents.

In August 2022, Italy also enabled Ukrainian citizens to use two free bus lines to Ukraine. At the time, all Ukrainians who were in Italy and had decided to travel are warned that departure will be possible only with Ukrainian passports and reservations.

In the same month, the Hungarian company WizzAir offered almost 100,000 free tickets for Ukrainians to fly all over Europe.

Thus, from September 15 to December 8, with WizzAir, Ukrainians have had the right to book their flights to more than 800 different destinations if they possess an international passport and an international certificate of vaccination against the coronavirus.

Immediately after the start of the war in Ukraine, the state-owned Polish railway company also offered free tickets to Ukrainian women travelling to Germany.

According to the PKP company, Ukrainians are now entitled to free second-class travel on nine daily trains connecting the Polish cities of Warsaw, Przemysl and Gdynia with the German capital Berlin as well as Frankfurt.