Transport and the shape of the city in Krakow

The pass to buy

The resident season ticket is the Bilet Mieszkańca: 99.00 zł a month for the zone I network, 72.00 zł for a single line, 515.00 zł for six months, or 470.00 zł for a year on a valid student card. It is not on open sale, and Karta Krakowska status is the condition; apply at kk.krakow.pl or by phone on 12 616 55 55. Without that status the general monthly ticket is the Bilet Metropolitalny at 193.00 zł for zone I, 204.00 zł for zones I and II, and 241.00 zł for all three. Reduced fares are exactly half, and only for those entitled to them.

• Bilet Półroczny 5+1 debits your nominated card 99.00 zł a month for five months and 20.00 zł for the sixth, on condition there is no break between consecutive tickets.
• An employer ordering at least 30 tickets pays 89.00 zł for the network Bilet Mieszkańca and 164.00 zł for the zone I Bilet Metropolitalny. Ask a Kraków employer before you buy your own.

Zones, tickets and carriers

There are three tariff zones: zone I is the city of Kraków, and zones II and III are the surrounding gminas. Most single tickets are sold for all three zones at one price, at 4.00 zł for 15 minutes, 6.00 zł for 30 minutes or one ride, 8.00 zł for 60 minutes and 9.00 zł for 90. Season tickets live on a named carrier, either the Krakowska Karta Miejska, issued free at a Punkt Obsługi Pasażerów on production of a form, an identity document and a photograph, or the mKKM app; a replacement card costs 12 zł, and a season ticket can only sit on one carrier at a time. Children travel free until 30 September of the year in which they turn seven.

• Short-stay passes: 24 hours 20.00 zł for zone I or 25.00 zł for all zones, 48 hours 40.00 zł, 72 hours 55.00 zł, seven days 65.00 zł for zone I or 80.00 zł for all zones.
• A family weekend ticket for two to seven people — one or two adults with children under 16 — valid Saturday and Sunday across all zones, is 25.00 zł.
• Zone boundaries move. Skała and Słomniki shifted from zone II to zone III on 1 August 2023, so check a commuter town's current zone rather than trusting an older map.

Coming in from outside, and the airport caveat

The Bilet Metropolitalny is the ticket for a commute from outside the city. Within the zones purchased it covers KMK trams and buses, scheduled regional trains run by Koleje Małopolskie, POLREGIO and Koleje Śląskie, and municipal buses in Wieliczka, Skawina, Niepołomice, Michałowice, Wielka Wieś, Zielonki, Liszki, Czernichów and Kocmyrzów-Luborzyca. For occasional rail use there is a joint 70-minute KMK and Koleje Małopolskie ticket at 10.00 zł, valid at every rail stop whose name begins Kraków, with one deliberate exception: Kraków Lotnisko, the airport station, is excluded. Do not assume a city transit ticket covers the airport rail link, and check the fare and the operator separately before you travel.

The Clean Transport Zone

A Strefa Czystego Transportu has covered about 60% of the city since 1 January 2026, enforced automatically by number-plate cameras, with an interactive map and a PDF map published by the city. Petrol and LPG cars need Euro 4 or a build year of 2005 or later, diesel cars up to 3.5 tonnes need Euro 6 or 2014 or later, and diesel heavy goods vehicles need Euro VI or 2012 or later. Compliant Polish-registered vehicles were added to the system automatically and their owners need do nothing.

Foreign plates, and the resident exemption

A foreign-registered vehicle must be declared in the zone's system by its owner even when it fully meets the emission standards, supplying a copy of the registration document, the make, model, year of manufacture and emission class. Nothing happens automatically for foreign plates, so register at sct.zdmk.krakow.pl before the first drive into the zone. The resident exemption for a non-compliant car requires Kraków registration, which may be temporary, and personal income tax settled declaring Kraków as your place of residence, and the vehicle must have been in your possession before 26 June 2025; it has to be renewed at least once a year with current documents. Everyone else with a non-compliant car has a transitional period to 2028, paying 2.50 zł an hour or a monthly pass at 100 zł in 2026, 250 zł in 2027 and 500 zł in 2028, after which paid entry ends entirely.

• In 2026, paying for two consecutive hours covers the rest of that day. In 2027 the day rate becomes 15 zł for six consecutive hours.
• Other exemptions, on prior declaration in the system: holders of an EU disabled parking card for one vehicle, registered historic vehicles, and special-purpose vehicles such as campervans and food trucks.
• Patients attending publicly funded specialist treatment in Kraków, such as dialysis, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or rehabilitation, are exempt, but the visit must be logged in the system before travelling and confirmed at the clinic.