Scooters are gaining bigger popularity in everyday transportation in Budapest.
Lime Scooter First, if you don’t have the app installed on your phone, you’ll need to download it from Google Play or the iOS App Store, sign up, and add your credit or debit card (be sure to do this before unlocking a scooter, otherwise the time you’ll spend doing this will be added to the total time of your ride). You’ll only need to do this once – at least if you save your card details.
Then, you have two options to pick up a Lime: you can casually scan the QR code placed on the handle of any scooter you come across (tap “Szkenneld be az utazáshoz” at the bottom of the screen).
Be warned, though, that it’s only after you unlocked the scooter that you find out how much juice its battery has. If you’re not planning to go a long distance, you should be fine, but if you’re looking for a ride for several kilometers, you might want to do it the other way: check out the map within the app, and look for a scooter in your vicinity that has at least 3 out of 4 bars, that should do it.
When you find a scooter that’s close to you and has enough battery power, check the last 3 letters or digits in the top right corner of the screen – that’s what’ll help you identify your scooter on the street. Also, helping you find your chosen scooter is another great feature built in the app: you can ring your Lime by tapping on the ‘Megcsörgetés’ button.
When you’ve reached your destination, you don’t have to go looking for docking stations to lock it, you can just leave it conveniently on the street (as long as you’re not in any of the red zones). When you’ve found a good spot to leave it, just flip down the stand located on the left side on the scooter’s front and tap on “Lezárás” (lock) in the app. Then, you’ll need to take a photo of the parked scooter, and you’re good to go. The cost of your ride will be deducted from your account in a few seconds automatically
The cost of using Lime (info: 2022) consists of the unlocking fee (250 HUF) and the total duration of your ride which is calculated at 50 HUF per minute. Just to give you an idea, 5 minutes will cost you 500 HUF, 15 minutes will come out at 1000 HUF, 20 minutes will set you back 1250 HUF and so on. In addition, Lime also has passes for those that like to plan ahead. As the passes are periodically changed, removed, and updated, we can’t give you a definitive list, but there’s usually one that gets you unlimited unlocks (it’s currently priced at 1995 HUF) and one that lets you unlock and ride as much as you want for 24 hours (which costs 3000 HUF as we speak), as long as none of your rides are longer than 30 minutes. To check out the passes, open the menu panel on the left-hand side within the app, and tap Lime pass (or Lime-bérlet).
Unfortunately, there are a couple of areas in Budapest where you’re not allowed to park or lock your Lime. Of the central and close-to-central districts, I, V, VI, XIII and most of II and III have decided to ban Lime scooters, which means that although you can ride in them, you can’t end your journey in them.
Bird
This is a smaller company, with smaller area to ride, but they are in good comfort, condition and stability. The prices are almost equal to Lime. 60 HUF/minute, unlocking fee is 265 HUF. But the application you have to download is sometimes badly translated and confusing.
Tier
They aim is to build scooters with replaceable accumulators to be eco-friendly. The application is very simple, and the prices are almost the same as the others. 55 HUF/minute, unlocking fee is 265 HUF. The area where you can use these is smaller than Lime or Bird, but the quality of the ride is the best by Tier.
