Volvo 7900 type bus in Pécs

Buses in Pécs, Hungary are the primary form of public transport in the city. Services are operated by two companies, Tükebusz Zrt (from February 2012) and PK Zrt (Pécsi Közlekedési Zrt). Unlike the transport companies of many other cities, Tükebusz Zrt. is independent from the company responsible for municipal transport in the county (Pannon Volán) and is responsible only for the mass transportation in Pécs.

History

On 19 August 1926, 2 Renault-bus started the bus service in Pécs. First between Széchenyi tér and the cemetery. With the mining in Pécs there started to operate buses between the city center and the mines. In the 1930s, the buses started to be popular, new lines started to operate to Mecsek. After the 2nd World War from Budapest and from nationalized private companies Pécs got new buses, and in 1948–49 new lines started to operate to Kokszmű, Bálics, Nagymeszes, Postvölgy, Nagyárpád, Szabolcsfalu, Tettye, Donátus, Vasas, Pellérd, all from Széchenyi Square. In 1958 there were 58 buses.

In 1960, the tram lines have been closed, the lines got numbers and they were reconstructed. Széchenyi square was not big enough for all of the lines and buses, some started from Kossuth square and from Újmecsekalja. In 1964 the company had 109 buses after it merged to the county's company, most of them Škoda (Karosa ŠM) or Ikarus 30, 620, 630, 66.

The city had grown very fast, in Újmecsekalja, Meszes and Kertváros there were built thousands of new flats.

In 1976, Pécs had the first Ikarus 260 and 280 types and until 1983 they discarded all old types and had only Ik-260s and Ik-280s. In 1979 the Nevelési Központ station opened in Megyer, at this time buses started from Újmecsekalja, Főpályaudvar, Budai állomás, Kossuth tér, Kertváros and Nevelési Központ. In 1986 they closed the Kossuth tér station.

In 1987 the numbering changed:

• 1–7: main lines
• 10–15: buses from Budai Állomás (East-Pécs)
• 20–27: buses from Újmecsekalja (West-Pécs)
• 30–43: buses from Főpályaudvar (train station, city center)
• 50: bus from Kertváros (South-Pécs)
• 60–62: buses from Nevelési Központ (South-Pécs)
• 80–88: mining buses
• 101–107: express lines

This system is still available with some minor changes.

Van-Hool on Line 44

In 1988 there was the peak in the number of buses (181) and the number of passengers. In 1993 Pécsi Közlekedési Rt. was founded and separated from Pannon Volán. In 1995 Pécs had new Ikarus Bus 415 and 435 buses, and from 1999 Mercedes-Benz Citaro and Mercedes-Benz Conecto types.

In 2003 the name changed to Pécsi Közlekedési Rt and from the old white-blue colours they changed to yellow-blue which are the colours of the city. Now they have 167 buses (75 Ikarus and 88 Mercedes). In 2009 PK Zrt sold all of their buses for 2.2 billion Forints and started to rent them for 2.1 billion Forints annually. In 2012 the court gave back the buses to PK Zrt because of misappropriation.

PK Zrt had approximately 800 million Forints debt in 2012, it bankrupted, and the city started a new transport company named Tükebusz Zrt. They rent the buses from PK Zrt.

Bus services

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buses in Pécs.

• Tükebusz Zrt official site
• PK Zrt official site Archived 2013-03-21 at the Wayback Machine