Okay, so you know all about Budapest's public transport system, but you might want to look for alternative ways to travel for a number of reasons. Saving time, flexibility, exercise, and mobility are just a couple of the possible reasons, but it's also true that a couple of these is just plain fun. The collection here features ways to change your everyday commute, and also a few interesting options for sightseeing. Check out our guide to see if there is something that works for you!
Most big cities have some sort of a rent-a-bike system, and Budapest is no exception. Bubi is a joint operation MOL oil and gas company and BKK, the city's public transport system. You can recognize these bikes easily as they have a distinct light green color. You can find Bubi points all through the city, which are always stacked with available bikes. You don't need to return the bike to the place you've picked up, simply deposit it at the nearest Bubi point.
This service is great both for everyday use and for exploring the city. To support both uses, the system has two payment plans.
If you'd like to use the bikes to explore the city, Bubi offers 24-hour, 72-hour, and weekly tickets. You can buy these tickets from the touchscreen terminals at docking stations, on the molbubi.bkk.hu website and via the mobile application. The system blocks a safety deposit on your card (25,000 HUF), which is returned to you minus the fee after you finished using the bike. This is a great way to explore the city without having to worry about transport, since it lets you go wherever you'd like, whenever you want.
If you'd like to use Bubi regularly to get to the university or to run daily errands, you can choose a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual pass. With these passes, you can use Bubi for free for the first 30 minutes for your journey. If you'd like to bike further, you can simply dock and get a new bike, or pay a small fee. You can buy a pass at the BKK Customer Service Centres. Having a pass is great if you need a bike to get aroun, but you don't want to worry about storing it.
You can find more information about the fees here.
Another great rent-a-bike system is the Danish startup Donkey Republic. Operating in more and more cities around Europe, this is the Uber of cycling. Unlike Bubi which has its own bikes, this company lets people rent out their spare bikes for money, and simply provides the platform and mechanism to make it easier.
These bikes have a special lock, which you can unlock with your smartphone by downloading the Donkey Republic app. You can rent up to five bikes at a time, which makes this ideal if you are with a group of people. After you used your bike, you simply return it to it's original place and lock it with the app. The minimal time of rent is 2 hours.
The rates of renting a bike are different for each city. To get more info about Budapest, click here.
Greengo is an e-carsharing system, which lets you rent electronic cars without having to pay the sometimes exorbitant fees that usually comes with renting a regular car. You can find the cars all over the city by using the application. The cars are parked in selected zones, since in these places, e-cars park for free.
In order to use this service, you have to register on the Greengo website. For this, you'll need a valid driving licence, your personal data, and a credit card. You card is charged 1000 HUF, for which you receive 30 minutes bonus driving time. After this, you'll have to go to their office to present your documents and sign a contract. After this, the system bills you by the minute. You can unlock and lock the car with the Greengo app. And when you don't need the car anymore, you only have to park it in an e-car zone for the next person to use.