Buses
Buses — Sofia Urban Mobility Centre (tel: (02) 831 9071 or 0700 13233; www.sumc.bg) operates Sofia’s trams, buses and trolley buses. There is no night service. Plans to extend the underground system to the south of the city continue to make slow progress.
Tickets (1 BGN per ride) are sold at kiosks at the major bus stops and newsagents, and must be validated on board using the metal punchers near the windows. Passes or transit cards, valid for one day, five days or one month, are available. Karta (coupons of 10 tickets) are valid on trams, buses, metro and trolley buses. The new electronic-stored value smart cards enable users to top up and then swipe the card for each journey at the entrance to the vehicle.
Useful trams for visitors include 1 and 7, which link the central train station with bul Vitosha (near the NDK) via bul Hristo Botev and tram 10, which runs across the city from bul Stamboliyski to ul Graf Ignatiev. Buses for Boyana, Zlatni Mostove and Aleko depart from the Hladilnika bus terminal. It is near the southern terminus of Trams 2, 4, 9 and 12 from pl Sveta Nedelya. (From the final tram stop, walk through the tiny park to the bus stop on the main road.)
Sofia also has a fleet of privately run blue minibuses, known as marshrutki. These cover wider routes and can be hailed anywhere and drop passengers on request. Pay the driver on entering (1.50 BGN per ride).