Tuesday, September 23, 2008

No bloodbath afterall

Despite the new, "going-commando" style of this year's Critical Mass, it seems to have gone off without a hitch, as a crowd of several thousand entered the thick of downtown traffic and got across town without apparent mishap. Népszabadság reported that, earlier in the day, a cyclist was seriously injured in a collision with two cars but it wasn't clear if it had anything to do with Critical Mass.
Attendance was down drastically from last spring's record of 80,000. Organisers had expected a smaller turnout, perhaps 30 to 50 percent less. But it was down a lot more than that: only about 10,000 showed up at Hősök tér for the opening bike lift, and, according to an estimate on HírTV's site, only half of the participants were on hand for the concluding bike lift at Moszkva tér.
The ride started typically with a slow procession down Andrássy, which had been closed to motor traffic for European Car-Free Day. But at Oktogon things changed for me: as the greater mass of riders continued down the boulevard, I hung a right, joining car traffic on the körút. For a moment, I thought I was alone, but at the first traffic light I caught up with 20-30 other riders. Although traffic rules call for cyclists to keep to the right, some riders were too impatient to line up single file next to the curb and instead swerved in between lanes to get up to the front. 
Organisers shouted for everyone to stay to side, and a few motorists honked and at least one shouted, "Huzzatok el!" (Bugger off!). It was a mess at the Nyugati signal, with cyclists forgetting their manners and monopolising space, but as we pedaled on down István körút, a thick convoy took shape and we were able to occupy the whole right lane all the way across Margit hid, with motorists having the left lane to themselves. I was thinking, "This is exactly as it should be -- all the time." Let cyclists have their lane and motorists theirs and we can all get to where we're going without these stupid chicken games.
The ride was going so well, I decided to stop at my flat near Margit híd and pick up my 4-year-old boy, who I'd left at home out of concern the ride might get ugly. I put him in his Hamax seat and we pedaled up to Moszkva tér just in time to get stuck in the jam of exiting traffic. Almost immediately after the 8 p.m. final bicycle lift, everyone poured out onto the körút, evidently anxious to get out of the cold and head home -- or to the closest bar. So you had literally thousands of cyclists, as well as scores of unlucky motorists, waiting through three, four or five cycles of a traffic signal just to get started back down the körút towards Pest. Not at all pleasant -- but it seemed everyone kept their cool and waited their turn to get through.  
A cool thing about this year's event was that its aims were focused and concrete -- this in contrast to at least one past event, in which organisers unveiled a manifesto of more than 20 points, covering not only utility cycling in Budapest but recreational cycling in the countryside, access to trains, etc., etc. This time they narrowed it down to more space on Bp roads, starting with cycling lanes on Rákóczi út. The lanes woud be modelled on the recently implemented (and excellent) pilot project on Alkotmány utca
There's some history behind this, as City Hall had promised to mark bike lanes on Rákóczi when it was last resurfaced. In the end, they broke the promise, saying that despite Rákóczi's being one of the widest streets in the city (six lanes!), there wasn't space for bicycles. Maybe Mayor Demszky can finally follow through and redeem himself before he leaves office.

4 comments:

G. said...

Well Greg, I don't know if HIR-TV is the best source for bike demonstration estimates, but let's just say that there was a convincing turnout ... and I'm very happy that no serious incidents or accidents happened, aside from what probably happens in Budapest on any day...

Greg Spencer said...

Granted -- 10,000 is only a small number by the standards of Budapest's Critical Mass. As far as the reliability of the estimate goes, Hungary around the Clock also said "around 10,000," quoting Kürti Gábor.

Faye said...

This might be a really naive suggestion, as I am a pedestrian, but: why don't the cyclists join forces with car friendly lobbyists for once instead of demanding that everyone in a car should hang themselves, and lobby district councils to build big parking houses, and make the provision of underground parking space a condition of planning permissions for all those horrid new apartment blocks and office blocks they are building in historical inner districts? After that they could ban parking on major roads like the Korut, making more space for everyone.

Greg Spencer said...

Hi Faye,

I think the PR by Bp's Critical Mass organisers is very civil towards motorists. For instance, they acknowledge that bikers and drivers aren't mutually exclusive groups. A lot of people, including many who participate in these protest rides, use both modes of transport.

I support an approach of civility and mutual respect, however I also believe the city does too much to accommodate motorists. Why is it that downtown flat owners are entitled to virtually free-of-charge street parking? As a flat owner, but non-car owner, shouldn't I get something comparable -- like my own private patch of grass in a local public park? Or a few square metres of a neighbourhood sidewalk that I could rent out to a kiosk owner?

What the city needs to do is charge everyone, including flat owners, a fair market rate for street parking. At the same time, I love your idea of eliminating parking on the korut. There are much better uses for our common spaces than vehicle storage.

I would not favour requirements for developers to build underground garages. There's plenty of market incentive to provide underground parking -- as long as the city stops giving away the surface.

A recent study on city-mandated parking in New York showed that the long-term effect will be more congestion, not less. Check it out at http://www.transalt.org/newsroom/releases/2541