Multi-million-EUR project “floods” Balaton shore with useless ticket machines

A multi-million-EUR nationally funded project was supposed to help boat passengers buy tickets at the Lake Balaton. However, many of the new ticket machines have been installed in places restricted from the public, and locals fear that the bad placements could make traveling even harder.

The national tourism development firm has installed hundreds of ticket machines at more than 90 locations on the shores of Lake Balaton for HUF 1.6 billion. This was done improve transport in this key touristic region and raise the standard of public ship transportation. However, many of the machines have been installed in sailing marinas closed to the public. Furthermore, after touring part of the southern shore, it became apparent that even some of the machines were installed in areas with no public ship traffic.

Strange locations

Several of our readers have pointed out that the Balaton shipping company BAHART has “flooded” the shores of the lake with seemingly pointless ticket machines. “There was absolutely no need for so many machines! (…) There are even ticket machines in the toilets! There are six ticket machines in the toilet block at the Balatonszemes sailing marina, but no one can go in there except for sailboat renters. It is closed off with a gate and a fence. I don’t think they would buy tickets for boats according to the schedule. But the situation is the same at the Fonyód marina. There are several ticket machines inside a closed gate. Or at the Siófok marina. And what is almost a joke is the ticket machine located on the nude beach on the north shore!” wrote one of them.

Our reporter visited some of the locations, finding several machines in unreachable, or otherwise impractical locations. Locals also expressed concerns that the machines’ installation may cause ticket cashiers to lose their jobs, and the bad placements could lead to long lines and people missing ferries.

Since we also received some photos that corroborated all this, we checked exactly how many machines had been installed, where, and for how much money. It turned out that the project was carried out by Kisfaludy2030 Turisztikai Fejlesztő Nonprofit Zrt., a nationally owned company that handles investments into tourism. In 2022, the company signed a contract for the installation and operation of ticket vending machines and passenger information displays as a result of a public procurement procedure.

The tender was won by Delta Systems Kft. and New Line Technologies Kft. with a net bid of HUF 1.6 billion (EUR 4.18 million).

Supposedly, the aim of the investment was to improve transport in the popular touristic destination by implementing integrated IT solutions. These solutions include 400 combined information display and ticket wending machines, which were to be installed in 20 towns.

Hundreds of these ticket machines have been installed along the shores of Lake Balaton.

We submitted a public data request to Kisfaludy2030 for further details. The company’s response (which arrived well after the deadline) revealed the location of the installed devices and how these locations were selected. They wrote: “The placement of the devices (including the determination of the locations) was based on the environmentally sustainable transportation criteria of Tourism Strategy 2.0, in consultation with BAHART experts.”

If you can reach it, you do not need it

This does not answer the question why most of the machines are located in private marinas used by private boat owners to tether their own ships, not by public ferries. Furthermore, these marinas are only accessible with BAHART membership cards, which not only grants people access to the marinas, but can also be used as prepaid cards on public ferries.

So, someone with such a card is unlikely to need to use a ticket machine.

When we asked about this, they replied that “a total of 34 ticket vending machines have been installed in BAHART marinas. In these cases, access authorization may be required to use the machines.” They did not reveal why they thought this was a good idea.

The ferry departing from Szántód is full even during the off-season.

Since the contract with the contractors was last amended in 2024, according to which the “operating period” will end in 2026, we also wanted to know what exactly this means. Will the devices no longer work, or will someone else operate them? If so, which company and under what contract?

According to Kisfaludy2030, “the period of operation services ordered in the contract concluded as a result of public procurement procedure No. EKR000529282021 for the installation and operation of ticket machines and passenger information displays will expire in 2026. The legal arrangements for the continued operation of the devices are currently being prepared.”

In other words, it is not yet known who will operate the hundreds of machines in the future, and how they will be operated or financed.

As for efficiency, according to information provided by the company, 66,299 tickets were sold through the machines by September 25, 2025. By way of comparison, Balatoni Hajózási Zrt. (BAHART) closed the season on November 2, and according to the data collected so far, a total of 2,326,000 passengers were registered on the company’s ships and ferries. This means that only 2.8 percent of tickets were purchased by passengers from ticket machines.