Bus & tram tickets in Wrocław - all you need to know

I've already given basic information on tickets, writing about public transport, but today I will dedicate a post solely to this issue.


1. The most important thing to know is that there are single tickets (bilety jednorazowe) and time tickets (bilety czasowe).

My advice: buy bilety czasowe (for most routes in the city centre ticket valid for 30 minutes is enough).

Why? With a bilet czasowy you can change buses and trams as many times as you want within 30, 60 or 90 minutes' time.
Bilet jednorazowy makes sense only when you go with the same line for more than 30 minutes. Another thing is that with single ticket there is a different price for so called 'normal' lines (all trams and most of the buses), and fast and night bus lines (which are a bit more expensive). With time ticket you do not have to care about that - you can go by tram, a 'normal' bus, a fast bus, or a night bus.


2. If you come to Wrocław for the a few days there are 24, 48, 72 and 168 (7x24) hours tickets available. The time is counted from a validation on the bus/tram.
There are no 'day tickets' like e.g. in Berlin or Paris. 


3. Ticket for two lines

There is an option to buy a 30 day ticket, 4-month-semester ticket, and 5-month-semester ticket for two chosen lines, e.g. tram 8 and bus 128. It's a great many-saving solution for people, who go by bus/tram regularly but most of the time by the same line(s).  

In fact, it doesn't mean that you can take only two lines. It works like this: you can travel only on the route of these two lines.
For example, if you have a two lines ticket for tram 6, you can take tram 7 between stops Oławska and Dubois, because tram 6 goes between these two stops as well. But you cannot travel number 7 till Dworzec Nadodrze, because 6 doesn't go there.


4. "Na okaziciela" (bearer) ticket 

It's a type of ticket that can be used by more people throughout 30, 60 or 90 days, because unlike "imienny" ticket, it's not attributed to a particular person. 
It makes sense if you and your family members/partner/flatmates use public transport a lot, but at other times of the day. One bearer ticket is cheaper than two personal tickets for the same period of time (it's not applicable to two line 30 days ticket, as there is no two-line option in case of bearer ticket)


5. There are no zones in Wrocław.

The tickets cost the same within the city borders.

There are so called "autobusy strefowe" (zone buses). They numbers start with 9, e.g. 914. They go to the villages/towns around Wrocław, and are usually small vehicles with a dozen places. There are separate tickets in this type of buses. But if you have a bilet imienny (name ticket on an Urbancard, e.g. 30 days' ticket) you can take these buses within the city borders of Wrocław. For instance having a 90 days ticket I'm allowed to go with 914 from Wyszyńskiego bus stop to C.H. Korona bus stop, but not to the end bus stop outside of Wrocław.


6. Train integration with buses and trams

If you live/work outside of Wrocław and commute both by train and buses/trams, an option for you is so called "bilet aglomeracyjny" (agglomeration ticket).


7. Buying tickets 

You can buy tickets on a tram or bus in a ticket machine, but only by a credit/debit card.

In ticket machines in the streets you can pay in cash (both banknotes and coins accepted), or by a card.

Apart from the machines, you can buy tickets in kiosk, and shops, but not in every one, and not all types of tickets.

To buy tickets for a longer period of time (e.g. 30 or 90 days) you have to get an Urbancard first to have the tickets encoded.


8. Validation 

You have to validate your ticket on the bus or tram - the ticket machine doesn't validate the ticket upon purchase.