Sofia Transportation
Friday, 01 February 2013 13:42
Transportation in Sofia
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Trams
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Ticket sold from the drivercolor of ticket may be different each year |
Trolley bus
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Ticket fine if you didn't get a normal |
Bus
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Normal ticket
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New Metro
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Mini Bus
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Old Metro |
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Check your E-ticket at the Electronical device
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Punch your ticket to check in
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The transportation in the capital of Bulgaria gives you.
a lot of choices. It is the only city in the country in which there are trams.
Along with them there are buses, trolley busses, metro and mini buses that service the transport network of the city.
- The tickets for the trams, buses, trolley buses and metro cost 1 BGN. You can also buy 5 tickets for 4.50 BGN and 10 tickets for 8 BGN. You can buy yourself a ticket from the very famous booths located in the bus stops. There you can find also magazines, stockings, cigarettes and many more. In the trolley busses and trams there are devices from which you can buy an electronic ticket on the same price -1 BGN. If you’ve missed that you have one last option
– buy a ticket from the driver. Drivers are not obligated but in most cases they have tickets. Tickets for the metro you can buy from the metro station.
Be careful for if the controllers catch you without your ticket the fine is ten times the price of the ticket (10 BGN) and you must get off the bus/tram…
If you are planning to use the transportation of the capital often then you may consider buying a monthly or annual card for travelling. The monthly card for only one kind of transportation (e.g. bus # 88) is 23 BGN. The monthly card for the metro is on the same price. A monthly card for all transportation costs 50 BGN, for three months – 130 BGN, for six months – 255 BGN and for the whole year – 500 BGN.
Like most big cities in Sofia there is also horrible traffic jam in the rush hour. Most people would prefer the metro in this case but in Sofia it does not service the whole city yet. But people in the capital have found some kind of solution – the mini buses. There are around 33 different numbers of mini buses each of which has several buses travelling and each number services a different route. They are a great alternative to the mass transportation. The price for them is 1.50 BGN, you can buy your ticket from the driver, and the advantage – you can be at any place of the mini bus’ route waiting for it. It will stop to pick you up, the only thing you should do is wave at it. And when you want to get off you just say the driver where to stop. Some of the mini buses travel from villages near to Sofia to villages near the other end of the city, covering a distance of about 40 km and if you decide to travel from the beginning to the end the price stays the same – only 1.50 BGN. Another advantage of the mini buses is that they have no defined stops; they stop only when there is a person who wants to get on or off the mini bus so they are really fast. They have a schedule that can be found on the internet so you can plan you travelling.
Bulgaria has compulsory common healthcare insurance. All insured persons in Bulgaria select their family doctor (general practitioner), whom they visit when necessary. If the general practitioner is not competent to treat the illness, he or she provides written permission for the patient to visit a specialist also working with the National Health Insurance Fund.
Bulgarian cuisine is exceptionally diverse and delicious, consisting of various salads, breadstuffs, stews, and other local dishes. Many of the dishes are prepared according to traditional recipes handed down from generation to generation over the centuries.
The Bulgarian national monetary unit is the Lev (BGL). Banknotes of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 leva are in common circulation.
Here in this ancient Thracian land, Orpheus, the great hero of Greek Mythology was born. He lived in the 6th century B.C. and was the greatest musician and poet of Greek myth, whose songs could charm wild beasts and coax even rocks and trees into movement. He was one of the Argonauts, and when the ship of fifty oars named “Argo” (after Argus, its builder) had to pass the island of the Sirens, it was Orpheus' music that prevented the crew from being lured to destruction.
