The Budapesti Közlekedési Központ (Hungarian:[ˈbudɒpɛʃtiˈkøzlɛkɛdeːʃiˈkøspont], BKK), officially Budapesti Közlekedési Központ Zrt. (transl. Centre for Budapest Transport), is the largest public transport company in Budapest and one of the largest in Europe. It was founded on January 1, 2011. BKK operates buses (200+ lines, 40 night lines), trams (33 lines), and trolleybuses (15 lines).
The BHÉV lines were constructed as branch lines of the Hungarian State Railways. Helyiérdekű vasút (HÉV), literally "railway of local interest", is a general term in Hungarian traffic. Therefore, like internationally with the term metro, the stations are marked only with H or HÉV, though this is not the full name of the system. The five BHÉV lines are operated by the public transport company MÁV-HÉV Zrt., a subsidiary of Hungarian State Railways. Inside Budapest, standard BKK tickets and passes are valid on the BHÉV. Outside Budapest, a separate ticket must be purchased.
Budapesti Közlekedési Központ in the context of Trams in Budapest
The tram network of Budapest is part of the mass transit system of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. Tram lines serve as the second-most important backbone of the transit system after the bus network, carrying almost 100 million more passengers annually than the Budapest Metro. In operation since 1866, the Budapest tram network is among the world's largest tram networks by route length—operating on 174 kilometres (108 mi) of total route—and is the busiest in the world.
As of 2023, the tram network is made up of 35 regular lines (26 main lines and 9 supplemental lines) and the Budapest Cog-wheel Railway (signed as route 60). The system is operated by Budapesti Közlekedési Zrt. under the supervision of the municipal Budapesti Közlekedési Központ. Since 2016, the system uses the world's longest 9-sectioned articulated tram vehicle, the CAF Urbos 3/9, on route 1.