- Fare and where to buy tickets
- Metro lines
- Working hours
- History
- Peculiarities
If you have always dreamed of seeing the palaces of Cantacuzino and Crezulescu, visiting the Gusti Museum and the Romanian Athenaeum, then you will also need to study the Bucharest metro map, since this particular type of transport is one of the most convenient for traveling around the city of your interest.
The main qualities of this transport system are cleanliness, comfort, speed. Here you will not find anything exotic: no unusual station decoration, no complicated rules of use. Difficulties can arise only when buying a ticket from the machine, since there is no Russian-language menu, but in this case difficulties are unlikely: the interface is intuitive and without knowledge of the language.
Currently, the subway continues to be built. In the near future, it will become an even more convenient mode of transport for both tourists and local residents, as it will cover more areas of the city. However, even today it is quite convenient and highly demanded both by the guests of the city and by the townspeople.
Fare and where to buy tickets
Tickets, as in many other metros in the world, can be bought from special ticket machines: it is very easy to recognize them - they are colored orange. These machines accept banknotes with a denomination of one lei, as well as five, ten and fifty lei. If you have small coins (ten and fifty baths), they will also come in handy when buying a ticket from the machine. You can also use some bank cards when paying.
Of course, you can buy a ticket at one of the ticket offices - they are available at many stations. But it cannot be guaranteed that the cashier knows any language other than Romanian, and this will undoubtedly complicate the process of acquiring a travel document. In the machines, you can choose either English or French interface (in addition to Romanian). For this reason, many tourists prefer to buy passes from vending machines.
Important information: after entering the platform, do not rush to throw away the purchased ticket! The fact is that there are no one-time tickets in the metro in the Romanian capital. Even the cheapest travel document entitles you to two trips.
Here are the types of Bucharest metro tickets:
- for two trips;
- for ten trips;
- for a day;
- for a week;
- for a month.
The cheapest travel document (as mentioned above, giving the right to two trips) costs five lei. If you plan to travel a lot around the Romanian capital and therefore two trips are not enough for you, you can buy a travel pass for ten trips for twenty lei or buy a ticket for a week for twenty-five lei. If you plan to stay in the economic and cultural center of Romania for a long enough period, you will probably be interested in the price of a ticket valid for a month: it is seventy lei. If your stay in Bucharest is very short, then a one-day pass, which costs only eight lei, will probably be enough for you.
All three types of unlimited tickets (that is, passes for a day, for a week and for a month) can be used only once every fifteen minutes, not more often.
Metro lines
Bucharest metro map
The Bucharest metro system consists of four lines - Yellow, Blue, Red and Green. Fifty-three stations are located on these branches. The total length of the network is approximately seventy one and a half kilometers. The average distance between stations is approximately one and a half kilometers. The length of the stations is different - from one hundred thirty-five to one hundred and seventy-five meters. The average depth at which the stations are located is twelve meters.
The track gauge is slightly different from the standard European one: it is one thousand four hundred and thirty-two millimeters. The maximum speed of the trains is eighty kilometers per hour.
Every day the metro transports an average of four hundred and seventy-five thousand people. During the year, their number reaches about one hundred seventy three million.
Working hours
The subway of the Romanian capital starts working at five in the morning and ends at half past eleven in the morning.
The movement interval depends on the time of day and day of the week. In addition, it may differ on different lines even on the same day, at the same time. For example, in the early morning on weekdays on the Yellow Line, trains run at intervals of seven to ten minutes, and on the Green Line at the same time, the interval between trains is eleven or twelve minutes. In the evening rush hours on weekdays, the traffic interval on the Blue Line is from four to eight minutes, and on the Red Line - from five to ten minutes. And there are many such differences.
History
For the first time, the idea of building a metro in the Romanian capital was expressed at the beginning of the 20th century, but then it did not receive the support of the townspeople and city leaders.
In the 30s, plans for the modernization of the city began to appear, then talk about the construction of the metro resumed. But this time, the start of construction work was prevented by political tensions and war.
In the 70s, the issue of the metro became very acute: the transport situation in the city worsened, the roads were overloaded. Then the construction of a new transport system finally began.
The metro was opened in the late 70s of the XX century, about four years after the start of construction work. The first line to be put into operation is the yellow line on the diagrams today. In the early 1980s, the Red Line was opened, and a short time later the Blue Line was put into operation. In the 2000s, the fourth branch appeared - Green.
The construction of the fifth line is currently being completed. Its length will be just over sixteen kilometers. There will be twenty-five stations on it. The length of its first section, which is about to be put into operation, will be about seven kilometers, it will have ten stations. The line was supposed to open several years ago, but unforeseen difficulties arose, in connection with which the date of delivery of the first section was changed.
The construction of a sixth line is planned, which will connect the city with two international airports. Its length should be equal to fourteen kilometers, and there will be twelve stations. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, the implementation of this project is not yet possible. The project of the seventh branch also remains unrealized.
Peculiarities
At many stations, to the surprise of tourists, the lighting is rather dim. The reason is very simple - energy savings.
A unique design has been developed for each station, but the design of the metro is simple: there are no frills, minimalism prevails. The creators of the metro aimed primarily at ensuring that this transport system was practical and convenient, design was not considered a matter of paramount importance.
The metro is quite quiet: in the carriages you can talk calmly without trying to shout down the noise of the train.
Be careful: at some stations trains of two different lines stop. In order not to go in the wrong direction, you need to pay attention to the special marks on the cars.
Filming in the metro is not allowed, and photography is also prohibited.
Official website: www.metrorex.ro
Bucharest metro
