In the first 37 days of the Balaton high season, 1 million 124 thousand people bought tickets for the Balaton trains and Volán bus services, 41 percent more than in the same period of the previous year, the MÁV-Volán group informed MTI on Thursday.
Of these, 784,000 traveled on the south side of the lake, and 340,000 on the north side. Most of them went to Siófok, Keszthely, Zamárdi, Balatonfüred and Fonyód.
They added that, according to experience, the renewed Balaton24 and Balaton72 day tickets have become popular not only on trains, but also on several Volánbusz routes around the lake. The journey is made easier by the ticket machines located at the 34 stations and stops in Balaton during this year's high season.
This year, the Jégmadár express has been put into service by MÁV-Start for summer weekends, which will still depart from Nagymaros at 7:40 a.m. until July 29 due to track restoration caused by the June rain. The Jégmadár Express, which connects the Danube Bend with Lake Balaton on weekends, will once again operate on the entire route, between Szob and Fonyód, in both directions from July 30.
It is mandatory to change your seat on the train; the combined seating capacity of the two double-decker vehicles is 1,200, however, for the convenience of those traveling with luggage, 960 tickets can be exchanged per train. Last week, 3,443 people traveled on the most recent Jégmadár flights, consisting of double KISS motor trains, which corresponds to 89 percent utilization. So far in the high season, 13,000 people have taken advantage of the experience of traveling with double-decker trains.
It was announced that not only people living in the Danube Bend area can use the KISS motor trains when traveling to Lake Balaton. The Napfürdő express train runs between Szolnok and Siófok on weekends. The Vitorlás express train runs between Szolnok and Fonyód on the Újszászí line (120a), and the Panoráma express train runs between Nyíregyháza and Siófok. On Sundays, Esti Csók transports passengers home from Lake Balaton between Fonyód and Kőbánya-Kispest. The modern and popular double-decker trains have already carried 26,000 passengers in the high season, including the Jégmadár express passenger traffic.
They also mentioned that more than 36,000 people exchanged bicycle tickets for the Balaton trains in the first six weeks of this year's high season. Large-capacity bicycle transport cars travel to the south coast on the Tópart InterCity routes, and to the north coast on the Kék Hullám InterCity routes and the Vízipók InterRégios. Passengers can find information about bicycle transport on the railway company's website.
With the introduction of this year's summer schedule, the development of access to Balaton by bus continued. Among others, the range of travel options is expanding from the areas of Eger, Gyöngyös, Bátonyterenye, Pásztó, Kiskunmajsa, Dunaújváros, Pécs, Komló, Lenti, Zalaegerszeg, Szombathely, Körmend, Győr, Pápa, Ajka, and Veszprém.
(Source: autokalauz.co.hu; MTI | Image: pixabay.com)