Introduction to Banská Bystrica's fare conditions
When buying a ticket for the public transport in Banská Bystrica, there are different options to consider. One can either purchase a single-journey ticket in cash directly at the bus driver, which is only valid on the bus it has been purchased on, but for as many stops as desired.
If no cash is available for the passenger, they can purchase an SMS ticket using their mobile phone or download a transport app onto their smartphone to buy app tickets. More information about these can be found further below.
More frequent commuters also have the option to purchase a travel card, which can either be topped-up with a credit and used to purchase single-journey tickets in ticket validators in buses and trolleybuses, or buy a prepaid ticket, which is valid for 30 or 90 days since purchase on as many journeys as desired.
Tourists also get the option of a 24-hour ticket, which can be purchased as an SMS or an app ticket, but not in paper form.
Short-term tickets, SMS tickets & App tickets
| Ticket type | Full fare | Reduced fare |
| Paper ticket (single-trip) | 1.00 € | 0.50 € |
| Electronic ticket (single-trip) | 0.50 € | 0.30 € |
| Electronic ticket (transfer discount) | 0.10 € | 0.10 € |
| SMS ticket (45 minutes) | 0.90 € | not available |
| App ticket (45 minutes) | 0.70 € | not available |
| SMS ticket (24 hours) | 3.60 € | not available |
| App ticket (24 hours) | 2.80 € | not available |
Paper tickets
Paper tickets are purchased directly at the bus driver in cash for 1.00 €. We recommend having the exact amount ready to reduce the time the bus spends at the stop. They are valid for as long as desired, but only on the bus or trolleybus they have been purchased on – a new ticket must be purchased after transferring.
Electronic tickets
Electronic tickets are purchased by touching a topped-up travel card onto a validator inside a bus or a trolleybus, just next to the first and the second door. Using any other door to get on is not allowed. The electronic tickets are, just as paper tickets, only valid for one trip, but buying another one within 45 minutes of the original purchase will result in a discounted electronic ticket for 0.10 €.
A travel card for electronic tickets can be purchased at the operator's ticket offices. More information can be found further below under "Prepaid tickets".
SMS tickets
SMS tickets for 45 minutes can be purchased by sending any character as a text message to 1133. It costs 0.90 € and is valid for 45 minutes since the returning message with the ticket itself has been received.
SMS tickets for 24 hours are purchased similarly, but the text message to 1133 must say "24" or "den". This option costs 3.60 € and it is valid for exactly 24 hours since the ticket message returns.
Any SMS ticket is not valid until this message has been received – that may take up to 2 minutes. Additionally, the SMS ticket service is only available to users of Slovak cellular connection providers with SMS payments enabled. For users of foreign cellular connection providers a similar service is available – just as follows.
App tickets
The app tickets are available in a transport app CVAK, which can be downloaded prior to travelling on the public transport from the App Store or the Play Store. The tickets available in the app have the same conditions as SMS tickets.
App ticket for 45 minutes costs 0.70 € and is valid for 45 minutes.
App ticket for 24 hours costs 3.20 € and it is valid for exactly 24 hours.
Prepaid tickets
| Prepaid ticket time validity | Full fare | Reduced fare |
| 30 days (~1 month) | 20.00 € | 12.00 € |
| 90 days (~3 months) | 55.00 € | 33.00 € |
Prepaid tickets are efficient for daily commuters. They can be loaded onto a travel card (the same type of card used for electronic single-journey tickets) at the operator's ticket offices (more information in the chart below). They have to be validated upon bus entry, even when changing routes (transferring). A mandatory receipt ticket will be printed automatically.
Travel cards with prepaid tickets loaded onto them can also store credit, which means that any day the prepaid tickets becomes expired, the card owner can automatically pay in credit to commute.
Information about where to get a travel card for the public transport in Banská Bystrica are in the chart below.
| Ticket office | Location | Opening hours |
| DPMBB office | Terminal Shopping Centre (right next to the bus station) | Mon–Fri 07:00–12:30, 13:00–17:00 |
| SAD Zvolen office | Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00 |
Fines
If the passenger is for any reason unable to show a valid ticket or a discount ID, they have to pay a fine and the price of a full-fare ticket (1.00 €). The amount of money to pay is as follows:
- 25.00 € if paid on the spot (or within 7 days in children under 15 years of age)
- 50.00 € if paid within 30 days after the fine had been issued
- 100.00 € (100 times the price of a full fare ticket) if paid any later
If the passenger has a prepaid ticket, but cannot show a valid receipt ticket, they have to pay 10.00 € as a manipulation fee. This also applies if the passenger has a valid ticket or owns a valid discount ID, but cannot find any of those during ticket inspection. They can then show either of them at any of the two ticket offices mentioned in the chart above within 30 days and still only pay 10.00 €.
If the passenger's mobile phone runs out of battery or malfunctions, the conditions above also apply, with a small caveat – the limit for showing the valid ticket is halved – only 15 days.
Misusing a travel card by a person, which it is not issued to, will result in a fine of 100.00 €. Intentional counterfeiting of electronic tickets may end in a fine worth 300.00 €.