Budapest Airport announces the winner of the Ferihegy taxi tender

Budapest, July 20 – Budapest Airport has today announced that Zóna Service Konzorcium has been selected to operate pick-up taxi services at Ferihegy, offering higher standards of service and some taxi fares slashed by nearly 50%.

After a fair, open and transparent tender competition, the winning company was chosen unanimously by the Budapest Airport taxi tender committee. The selection was based on a weighted combination of proposed taxi fares, customer service commitments and the level of service fee payable to Budapest Airport. The weighted scores for the three bidding consortia were as follows:

The scores for taxi fares and the service fee payable to Budapest Airport were calculated according to a strict mathematical formula. Zóna Service Konzorcium offered the lowest average fares, with reductions on the prices charged by the current unregulated taxi operators at Ferihegy of between 3% (100 Ft) for journeys to Zone 1 and 47% (3,200 Ft) for journeys to Zone 4. Tourists, who usually head for central Buda and Pest (Zones 2 and 3), will enjoy price cuts of between 33% (1,700 Ft) and 38% (1,800 Ft). On average, fares will be cut by 31%.

The fares shown below are the maximum fares which Zóna Service will be allowed to charge in each zone for a journey. The journeys will also be metered, and if the meter shows a lower fare, then passengers will only pay the lower fare.

New Ferihegy maximum taxi fares (including VAT)

The fares are fixed in the Service Contract between Budapest Airport and Zóna Service and prices can be increased only once a year, in accordance with official KSH inflation data.
Budapest Airport asked bidders to propose a service fee per departing journey, payable to Budapest Airport. Zóna Service Konzorcium’s service fee offer of 450 Ft per journey was lower than the other bids, and so Zóna scored the fewest points on this part of the tender. However, Zóna’s proposed fares and service commitments were both significantly better than the other two bidders.

All bidders submitted valid bids and all met the required 60 service criteria set out in the tender. The scores for service levels were judged separately and independently by the members of Budapest Airport taxi tender committee, against a set of weighted criteria. The taxi tender committee then met on Wednesday to collate the individual scores. Zóna Service Konzorcium was scored unanimously as offering the best levels of service.

Among the service commitments offered by Zóna Service Konzorcium are:

• An efficient and simple taxi booking system. Taxi desks will be opened in arrivals halls and dispatchers located on the forecourts. Passengers will book a taxi at a taxi desk (including any special request such as size of vehicle or disabled access) and be given a voucher, which contains all details relating to the fare, vehicle and destination. On the forecourt, the dispatcher will guide the passenger to the designated vehicle
• Advertising and signage will be installed, guiding passengers to taxi desks and informing them of fares
• Within 12 months, the booking system will be fully-computerised and linked, via GPS, to all vehicles
• All vehicles will be tracked via GPS
• Zóna Service dispatchers will manage the forecourt and controllers will manage the taxi puffer parking areas
• A minimum of 150 cars at start up, all less than five years of age
• Within 12 months, the start-up cars will be replaced by 200 new cars, with the fleet comprising 130 Ford Mondeos, 42 Ford Mondeo Estates and 28 Opel Zafiras
• 10 London Taxis will be introduced
• All new cars will be black, with the taxi company’s logo prominently displayed for ease of recognition
• All new cars will be equipped with Euro IV-standard diesel engines, which will roughly halve emissions from pick-up taxis at Ferihegy. Emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) will be reduced by some 1,368 kilos – approximately equivalent to two years’ total carbon monoxide emissions from Budapest Airport’s boiler houses. Emissions of nitrous oxides (NOx) will be reduced by up to 3,845 kilos a year – approximately equivalent to a fifth of Budapest Airport’s annual NOx emissions.
• All new cars will be equipped with multimedia equipment, with screens in the back of seats, providing tourist and airport information, GPS journey tracking and other entertainment
• All cars will have fare charts and useful contact numbers in several languages
• All cars will have free printed tourist literature
• All cars will have credit card payment facilities
• A comprehensive customer satisfaction feedback process will be introduced, including web-based feedback, feedback cards, interactive feedback systems in all cars and customer opinion surveys. The results will be published on the company’s website and monitored by Budapest Airport
• A wide-ranging marketing campaign will be launched, including advertising in airline and tourism magazines, to promote the new service and publicise the lower fares

In addition, as set out in the tender documentation, a range of criteria will be met relating to drivers, including a non-smoking policy, and driver appearance and language skills. Security vetting will take place on all drivers and all drivers will also be required to complete induction training.

Budapest Airport will continually monitor the service, through joint inspections every two weeks, through a monthly service report and through regular spot checks and mystery shopping.

Chris Woodruff, the BA Board Director who has led the taxi reform process said: “This is a historic day for Budapest Airport and a great day for millions of visitors to Hungary. I am delighted to award the contract for operating taxi services at Ferihegy to Zóna Service Konzorcium, as they offered by far the lowest fares and the highest levels of service, with some brilliant innovations.

“Passengers will see taxi services transformed at Ferihegy after 15 August, and the service will continue to improve during the coming 12 months as new vehicles are added to the fleet to replace the start-up cars. Our aim is to delight our passengers, and I believe that what we have done will delight them.

“I am very proud that in just eight months we have solved the problem of over-priced and unregulated taxis services, which have been a stain on Hungary’s reputation for 16 years. I believe that Hungary will be proud of what Budapest Airport has achieved today.

“This is one part of our strategy to improve service levels and reduce prices to make Hungary and Ferihegy more competitive. Once again, this proves that companies involved in tourism can take measures to make Hungary more attractive to inbound tourists.”

Zóna Service is a new taxi service, although members of the Zóna Service Consortium have experience of operating taxis services through other companies and therefore meet the validity criteria set out in the tender. In the following week, Budapest Airport and Zóna Service will sign a detailed contract and the new service is scheduled to start on 15 August. Existing taxi pick-up services will cease operation at Ferihegy on that date, and Budapest Airport and its security authorities will ensure that this occurs.

– Ends –

For more information please contact:
Domokos Szollár, Corporate Communications
Budapest Airport
t.: +36 30 677 45 82

Notes to editors:

The new service applies only to taxis on taxi ranks. Pre-booked taxis or taxis dropping off passengers will not be affected. But Budapest Airport will provide appropriate parking facilities and pick-up areas for other companies whose customer pre-booked them.

The members of Zóna Service Konzorcium are:

• EURO TAXI Bt.
• Office Service Concept Kft.
• UTAX Bt.
• Petrányi-Auto Kft.
• NEXT AUTO Kft.
• Szakál József egyéni vállalkozó
• Airport Security Kft.

The zones specified by Budapest Airport for maximum fares are:

Ferihegy taxi tender chronology:

The full story of the Ferihegy taxi tender, the full text of the tender documentation and the detailed service level agreement are available on www.bud.hu.