Some people might have heard that the bus is free in Cluj Napoca to those who do squats, seniors and students.
First, it is not free to all students. Secondly, see it more as you are eligible for free bus tickets. To Americans, let’s compare these free bus tickets to food stamps. Or, to Europeans, meal tokens. Just because certain groups can get food stamps or meal tokens, that doesn’t mean food is free in America and Europe.
For many of us, we see that we can get free gym membership if we have a certain job. That doesn’t mean the gym is free, it means our employer pays for the card. We still need the membership card to get in.
What you can do is apply for a free bus card, or “abonament” if you belong to certain groups. Remember, a bus card is like food stamps or a membership card. It’s not free, you need to do paperwork to get it.
If you are a resident of Cluj Napoca and belong to one of the certain groups (students under 26)
Who can apply for a free bus card / abonament?
If you are a resident of Cluj, and belong to one of these groups, you can apply for a free bus card.
Cluj resident pensioners, with a valid pension card. Also in this group, (Romanian) veterans and war widows. Honorary Cluj citizens. Heroes of the 1989 revolution.
Those with certain disabilities. Their assistants.
Those who were persecuted by the dictatorship and forced to move abroad.
The registered unemploed.
Students under 26, who have received certain types of student funding. (These do not have unlimited but only limited bus travel.)
Students at specific Cluj Universities, even if they do not receive this funding, but again 26 is the maximum wage and there are a limited number of journeys.
Students at certain pre-university institutions (private institutions like international schools might not be included.)
Pupils (or children enrolled in local schools.)
And, some students and pensioners from surrounding areas. (Apahida, Chinteni, Ciurila, Gilău si Baciu.)
Certain other groups might have arranged bus travel with a special temporary ID (those that attend a summer school with Babes Bolyai might have a badge that gives them free bus travel, but the head of the summer school needs to negotiate this.)
If you do the squats, you can earn a ticket. However, this ticket must still be validated when you enter the bus, and it will only be valid for that journey.
Who does not get free bus travel
So, if you are a tourist, and happen to be a student or pensioner in your home area, you are not entitled to free bus travel.
Also, if you are entitled, you still have to apply, and you still need to validate your card every time you enter the bus. (except for Fridays. At the moment, friday is free for everyone under the vineri verde scheme. On Friday, there is no need to validate your chard. However, that might change with budget cuts.)
Fines are big
Even if you do validate your card, and you do it wrong, you could get fined. One of us recently thought he validated his card, but he didn’t look at the screen properly, so it didn’t register. He ended up getting fined over eighty lei.
Student aged and pension aged people are often checked by the ticket inspectors in Cluj. Students, especially foreign students, are more likely to be checked than pensioners.
More information can be found (in Romanian) on the CTP website.