As a tourist,if you plan to use public transport on your next trip to Budapest, you must know how to use public transport alternatives in 2024.
There is no metro or a train station at the Budapest airport terminals and no train which can take you to city center.
You can definitely use 200E bus Budapest + M3 Metro, KiwiTaxi and 100E bus Budapest from Liszt Ferenc airport to reach city center.
However, if you are in the city,it may happen that any underground metro is not operational.
Nowadays, this happens with Metro M3.
In such case, reaching your planned top Budapest attractions may get delayed.
Specially, considering the fact that use of English language in the announcements and signboards is not so common in most of the public transport in Budapest, it can be a tricky situation for the tourists.
Is m3 Budapest closed?
Budapest Metro M3 (Blue Metro) has been under repair for many years and even now as of 2024. While other metros do not undergo repair work so frequently.
Despite the challenges, Budapest metro System is quite efficient. In addition, Budapest Buses can take you anywhere around the city.
Although Budapest has 4 underground metros. M1, M2,M3 and M4.
It is only M3 which is not fully operational between certain metro stops,nowadays.
M3 Metro is one of the most important Metros for tourists,because it is one of the ways, visitors can come from Budapest airport to City center (after switching from 200E from airport).
Budapest M3 Metro is also important in case you want to come form Nepliget Bus Station to city center of Budapest.
How to know that Budapest metro m3 is closed?
When you are on an underground metro M3, it will happen that metro m3 will stop on a certain station, and all people will leave the metro and start going out of the it.
There will be announcement, first in Hungarian language, and then, perhaps, in English Language.
The announcement will be that due to maintenance work,the metro is not moving forward, and you can take replacement buses.
Only tourists will keep on wondering why this happened, why everyone left the train.
In reality it was one of the ways,that tourist know that the Metro stopped due to maintenance in Budapest.
What to do when Budapest Metro M3 stops?
When any of the Budapest metro stops, due to planned operational work in the middle of the journey, as a tourist, you must be wondering what to do.
All you have to do it follow the crowd.
People will be going out of the metro, using the stairs to go to the main road and on boarding replacement buses.
You can also get out of the metro stop and on board the replacement buses.
As a tourist you may ask some young people around what happened, just to confirm that the train stopped according to a planned maintenance,and you have to use the replacement buses which are on the road.
Rules of the M3 Replacements buses when Budapest Metro Stops?
As a tourist, using Budapest Public transport and Metro, you must be wondering, what things you should know before on boarding a replacement bus in Budapest for any Metro.
Identifying m3 metro Budapest replacement bus
The first thing before on boarding a m3 replacement bus in Budapest is to identify it.
Normally you should see the top of the windscreen of the bus front, it will mention the number of the bus.
For example if Budapest Metro M3 is closed, you should check the replacement bus on the main road.
You should check windscreen , the side screens and on the back, you should see M3 written.
Ticket validation rules for M3 replacement buses
If you had already on boarded a metro and validated your ticket from the machine before the escalators, then, you should validate the other side of the ticket in the replacement vehicle.
On the other hand, if your first on boarding is on a replacement bus, then you need to validate ticket in Budapest bus.
Moving further, transferring to the same underground metro M3 from the replacement bus, you need to validate the ticket from other side in the validation machine.
As M3 Metro is normally important for connection between Airport Buss 200E last station and City center.
It is best for visitors to book their accommodation near the city center to avoid the hassle of shifting between m3 bus and M3 metro.
How to know in advance if the Metro will be stopped
For every entity in Budapest public transport, either it is tram, train, metro or a bus.
If there is a route change, stoppage due to maintenance, or any other planned issue, it is normally shown in the form of banners next to the stop.
For example, nowadays, Metro M3 is stopped due to Maintenance, and if you visit any metro M3 stop in Budapest, you will find a chart mentioning which metro stops under M3 have been operated by replacement buses.
Additional information can be obtained through the Budapest public transport app which tell the live location,planned maintenance,time of arrival and information about replacement vehicles in Budapest.
Budapest Monument not affected by M3 closure
M3 Metro closure does affect the journey for visitors coming from Budapest airport to City center if they take 200E + M3 Metro route.
However, following monuments in Budapest are not affected by closure of Metro M3 because there are more on Metro M2 and M1 route,while some are accessible via sightseeing Budapest trams. These include the following.
