New traffic order may come in Budapest’s downtown after the April Municipal Council sitting
The Municipal Council of Budapest will hold its meeting on 30 April and may decide on a considerable change concerning the traffic order in Budapest’s downtown. The main aim of the modification is to make traffic more pedestrian-friendly and safer in Elizabethtown, Budapest’s 7th district. However, a decision like that could set a precedent and trigger other modifications that would reduce motorisation in the downtown districts. As a result, this part of the capital can become liveable for its residents.
Vitézy’s initiative blocked by Mayor Karácsony
In the last few years, a movement to reduce the number of cars in Budapest’s downtown got stronger. Furthermore, leftist-liberal-green Mayor Gergely Karácsony showed openness to changes in Budapest’s traffic order to increase pedestrian-friendliness and create spaces where people can walk freely and unafraid of motorised traffic. This is why they created controversial bike lanes on the Grand Boulevard, made multiple lower wharves car-free on the Pest side of the River Danube, and introduced restrictions concerning the parking of non-residents in the downtown districts.
The initiative in question was not submitted by Karácsony or his leftist supporters and district mayor allies but by Dávid Vitézy, a former mayoral candidate even backed by PM Orbán’s party. Vitézy is not a member of Fidesz. He leads a separate group called Podmaniczky Movement in the Municipal Council.
New traffic order may come in Budapest’s downtown district
According to BKK, the 7th district is Budapest’s most densely populated and built-up district, where locals, employees and tourists increase motorised traffic. As a result, the conflict between pedestrians and drivers is constant. Based on the Budapest Transport Centre, the narrow streets are incapable of serving the needs of the cars and pedestrians at the same time. The lack of loading places and the parking lots taking away too much space on the sidewalk makes the problem even more complex.
Dávid Vitézy submitted a proposal to the March Municipal Council, but Mayor Gergely Karácsony vetoed its discuss because he said more negotiations were needed. Vitézy said he agreed with Péter Niedermüller, the DK mayor of the 7th district and modified his original proposal slightly. As a result, the Municipal Council will be able to discuss and accept a joint proposal of Vitézy and Karácsony on 30 April.
Gradual implementation
If they agree, the new traffic order will become effective from 20 June. It would offer differentiated solutions to the above-mentioned problems, improve the area’s livability and ensure the priority of pedestrian and bicycle traffic in that zone. Here is a map about the changes:
The street segments coloured in red would offer entrance only for pedestrians and cyclists. Orange marks the street segments where motorised vehicles would only be able to enter if they acquired permission, while they would be authorised to use only the streets coloured green. Parking order would change on the dotted orange street segments, where the aim is to create wide enough walkways for pedestrians. Moreover, they would like to establish loading spaces and new taxi stands.
21 June will see the start of the gradual introduction of the changes. For example, creating a pedestrian-only zone from a segment of Dob Street would be preceded by a testing period during the summer holiday, between 21 June and 20 August.
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The 7th kerulet is indeed a nightmare and those streets are incapable of accommodating motorized and pedestrian traffic. I’m not convinced that simply pedestrianizing those streets is doable, without creating solutions for the residents who rely on motorized traffic.
They need to at least convert some of the unsightly, abandoned buildings in Rakoczi ut to parking garages so residents can park there, for free, and walk up a couple blocks to their houses.
This, however, must NOT become a prelude to the globalist-socialist-fascist “15-Minute Cities” scheme (scam!)!
All that said, a far bigger annoyance for me are cyclists and scoo-tards who play Tour de France on sidewalks and down one-way streets than cars and trucks. And don’t get me started on the cretinous thing they did in Ulloi, where they ripped out two lanes and turned them into bicycle tracks. Those tracks are totally empty (I often walk from Corvin-Negyed to Calvin Ter and see literally ZERO cyclists pass the entire length) while drivers are stuck in awful gridlocks.