Subscription and transfer tickets in bus transport in the East will soon be a reality

On regional bus services, from August onwards, pre-paid tickets ranging from daily to annual and transfer tickets will be available to make travel more convenient. The new services will be linked to transport cards, which will reduce boarding times.

The Prešov and Košice self-governing regions are introducing new types of fares in regional bus transport. The most important novelty will be advantageous prepaid tickets – one-day, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual. Passengers will also be able to buy transfer tickets from August. The extension of the fare offer is related to the introduction of the zonal tariff.

“Prepaid tickets will be especially welcomed by day passengers, who until now have had to buy a ticket at every boarding. From August, they will be able to buy convenient zone or network-wide pre-paid tickets. Zone tickets will give them unlimited travel in selected zones during their validity period. The all-network ticket will be advantageous for regular long-distance travellers, as it will be valid throughout Eastern Slovakia. Passengers will verify the validity of the prepaid ticket by attaching a transport card to the reader, which will shorten the boarding time,” said Milan Majerský, the president of the Prešov Self-Governing Region.

For those who plan to make several journeys by regional bus transport during the day, or to travel longer distances, one-day tickets for unlimited travel within the whole of eastern Slovakia until the end of the day will be on offer. One-day tickets will only be available for purchase from a transport card.

“A new feature compared to today will also be cheap transfer tickets. When travelling with a transfer, a transfer ticket will always be more advantageous than buying a separate ticket for each connection. In practice, this will work in such a way that, for example, when travelling from Rožňava to Michalovce with a change in Košice, the passenger will purchase a ticket already on the first connection, which is also valid on the second connection. In Košice, when transferring to the second connection, the passenger simply reports the destination to the driver and attaches the transport card to the reader. The introduction of new types of fares will reduce the fare expenses for regular passengers,” said Rastislav Trnka, the president of the Košice Self-Governing Region.

The most important novelty in the fare offer will be monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual prepaid tickets, allowing unlimited travel within selected fare zones for 30, 90, 180 or 365 days. Zonal season tickets will operate by the passenger selecting the zones they regularly travel through and purchasing a season ticket specifically for those zones. There will also be network-wide pre-paid tickets, valid for the whole territory of Eastern Slovakia (i.e. all IDS East fare zones), which are advantageous for those who regularly travel through more than eight zones.

In terms of the discount provided, it will be possible to purchase basic, discounted or special pre-paid tickets, with basic pre-paid tickets being full fare, discounted tickets being 50% off and special tickets being 80% off.

Single transfer tickets (one ticket for two connections) can only be purchased from the driver’s transport card. When travelling on two connections, i.e. with a transfer, the ticket price will be the same as for a direct connection.

The transport card will be the carrier for transfer and pre-paid tickets. Passengers will be able to purchase monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual tickets only on a transport card bearing the passenger’s photograph, name and surname, as well as the time validity of the card and the identification number of the card.

Passengers will be able to purchase pre-paid tickets on the web via the carriers’ e-shops or in person at their customer service centres. They will be able to extend the validity of the ticket for the same period of time and for the same amount of money with the driver on the bus when the ticket expires.

Special weekend fares for families with children will also remain on offer at one euro per person. More information about the new fare types and discounts for passengers is published in the IDS Tariff section.

Basic fare breakdown in terms of the discount provided:

Basic fare	Full fare
Reduced fare	50% discount
Special fare	80% discount
Veekend fare	1 euro per person per service under specified conditions

New types of fare

Transfer fare:

Single transfer ticket

Valid for 2 connections within a journey (including 1 transfer), the price of a transfer ticket for 2 connections is more favourable than the price the passenger would pay if he/she bought a ticket for each connection separately.

Pre-paid tickets:

One-day network-wide ticket	Unlimited travel within all IDS Východ fare zones until the end of the day.
Monthly zone ticket	Unlimited travel within the purchased tariff zones for 30 days.
Monthly network-wide ticket	Unlimited travel within all fare zones of IDS Východ for 30 days.
Quarterly zone ticket	Unlimited travel within the purchased tariff zones for 90 days.
Quarterly network-wide ticket	Unlimited travel within all fare zones of IDS Východ for 90 days.
Semi-annual zone ticket	Unlimited travel within the purchased tariff zones for 180 days.
Half-yearly network-wide ticket	Unlimited travel within all fare zones of IDS Východ for 180 days.
Annual zone ticket	Unlimited travel within the purchased tariff zones for 365 days.
Annual network-wide ticket	Unlimited travel within all fare zones of IDS Východ for 365 days.

TS: PSK, KSK, IDS Východ