The reasons given for the increase in the price of metro travel: “funding deficit” / How much the company's expenses have increased
The minister's draft order proposing to increase the price of metro travel from May 1, with values between 38% and 50%, was published on Monday evening for public consultation on the website of the Ministry of Transport.
According to the project, increasing the price of tickets is necessary to increase revenues from passenger transportation. If the project is adopted in this form, the company's revenues will increase by 100 million lei/year.
The proposal is that the fare for a trip will increase from 5 lei to 7 lei, and the monthly subscription to the subway will reach 140 lei, compared to 100 lei at present. The card valid for 24 hours will be the most expensive (to 18 lei, a 50% increase compared to today).
It is also proposed to increase the price of Metrorex – STB joint transport tickets. For example, a one-way ticket will cost 6.5 lei (up from 4.5 lei), and a 24-hour pass will cost 16 lei (up from 11 lei at present). The subscription for one month will be more expensive from 90 lei at present, to 126 lei.
Increasing expenses, insufficient subsidies
The published document is entitled “Draft Order of the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure regarding the approval of fares for metro travel”.
In the motivation, it is explained that at Metrorex, in recent years, total expenses have increased from 1.51 billion lei in 2023, to 1.96 billion lei (estimate for 2026), while the subsidy approved by the state is 761 million lei for the current year, down from a total of 873 million lei in 2025.
“Own revenues (revenues directly related to the management of the company (…) increased from year to year, while the degree of coverage of total expenses from the subsidy for passenger transport by metro was 38-53%”, according to the document.
According to the document, the subsidy required for the year 2026 to ensure the public subway passenger transport service in safe conditions is 1.21 billion lei, almost half a billion lei more than the subsidy that was provided in the revenue and expenditure budget. Under these conditions, “there is a financing deficit for 2026 in the amount of 451 million lei”.
Metrorex invokes, in this proposal to increase travel rates, “encouraging the use of prepaid monthly subscriptions that provide the financial resources necessary to cover operating expenses but protect loyal travelers”
Increasing costs with energy, water and fuels
Metrorex also motivates the request for a fare increase by increasing the prices of energy, fuel and water.
“In the analyzed period from the last tariff adjustment, January 2025, until October 2025, the consumer prices for certain elements that have a large weight in the operating expenses of Metrorex SA increased, so that the index of specific price increases for fuels, water and sewer and electricity was 103% for fuel, 113% for water and sewer and 160% for electricity”, according to the document.
An estimated gain of 100 million lei
“The measure to adjust the fares for metro travel will lead to a monthly increase of own revenues by about 10.27 million lei, a value that will contribute to the reduction of the financing deficit and a higher degree of coverage of the expenses of ensuring the public service of transporting passengers with the metro under safe conditions”, transmits Metrorex.
The conclusion drawn in the documents is that “if the adjustment of fares for metro travel is approved, starting on May 1, 2026, the revenues from the transportation of passengers by subway would increase by 100.98 million lei compared to 2025, and the revenues from compensating the 100% discounts for pupils and 90% for students, freebies for revolutionaries and war veterans would increase by 97 million lei compared to the year 2025”.
Annually, the Bucharest metro transports 156 million passengers. There are five main lines and 63 stations.
