Be Counted

An automatic cyclist counter has been installed along the new(ish) bike lane in front of the Hungarian National Museum -- and a launch event will take place this afternoon, 5-6 p.m., in the garden behind the building.

With the new counter, cycling advocates hope to collect data to support the further development of cycling infrastructure throughout the city. The cycling tracks on the kiskörút, along with similar ones on Thököly út, are pioneering in that they run along major traffic arteries, they occupy space formerly designated for cars and they're on both sides of the street so that the bike traffic on them can move with the flow of adjacent motor traffic.

In my opinion, they should be better separated from car traffic, for instance by having them on a higher grade alongside the sidewalk as they do in Berlin. In this way, motorists would be less likely to drive and park on them. I've noticed plenty of motorist abuse of the kiskörút lanes, particularly among the taxi drivers in front of the Murcure Korona hotel.

Despite this problem, it must be said that the lanes are well used. I just think they would be a lot MORE used, including by parents with kids on back (e.g. me), if there was another degree of separation between the lanes and the quite heavy motor traffic on this street.

That filibuster aside, these lanes are a big step forward for cycling infrastructure in Budapest and I fully support them as a good first step for cycling accommodation on major roads.

If you're interested in learning more about the issue, you should check out this evening's event, which has been titled "Show us how Many People are Cycling and What the Hungarian Cyclist Wants".

Cycling Counter Launch
Hungarian National Museum Garden
1088 Budapest, Múzeum krt. 14-16
5-6 p.m. July 2 (Friday)

The programme will include the creation of a video clip on the theme of the desires and wishes of the local cycling community, talks by the event host and Hungarian Cyclist Club President János László and the inauguration of the automatic counter. The first cyclists that pass by the counter will get a balloon as a gift.

Same Old Solutions for Margit Bridge

The twin bike lanes envisaged in the impending refurbishment of Margit bridge are under threat, as cycling activists and city officials debate how to best accommodate different types of non-motorised transport on the busiest river crossing in Budapest.

According to the latest reports, the project, scheduled to start in early 2009, would include a bi-directional cycling path on the north side (island-facing) of the bridge. A waist-high guard rail would separate it from from motor traffic while coloured paving tiles would visually distinguish it from the adjacent footpath. However, no physical barrier would separate pedestrians and cyclists. The Hungarian Cycling Club had argued that the path should be 2.5 m wide to safely accommodate two directions of bike traffic, but this has been pared down to 1.8 metres.

On the opposite (south) side of the bridge would be a more basic shared-use path for both cyclists and pedestrians -- basically the same as the existing set up except that it would be signed as one-way for cyclists.

In fact, the whole scheme is sounding quite a lot like the existing set-up, with the main difference being the addition of coloured paving to mark cycling territory on the north side foot/cycling facility. I have to say I'm skeptical whether this is enough to impose order on the current free-for-all on the bridge's two walkways.

From a transport cycling point of view, the best solution would be to have one-way cycling lanes on both shoulders of the bridge, physically separated from the pedestrian traffic. I've extolled the virtues of such solutions before, with the best local example being on Alkotmány utca. It's another question how much they should be separated from motor traffic. Some users would prefer a physical barrier -- like the guard rail now proposed -- while others would just as soon have no barrier and only a marked lane. The latter solution would take up less space, while the former may better serve recreational riders, including children, who use the bridge to access Margit Island.

Including a two-way path on the island-facing side of the bridge was also seen as a way to ease island access, as, under the current set up, the only way to get to the island from the south-side path is to go down through the underpass below the tram stop. I would argue, why not create a level crossing there? The main argument against it, I imagine, would be that this would interrupt the flow of car traffic. This, of course, is the main thing blocking development of non-motorised transport and better traffic safety in Budapest -- the idea that the road system has to be designed everywhere to foster fast-moving, high-volume car traffic.

In Budapest, major cycling infrastructure rarely happens as a stand-along project. It generally can only be justified as part of a larger road reconstruction. The renovation of Margit Bridge, therefore, is a rare opportunity to get things right where cycling is concerned. It could be the first step of a first-class cycling accommodation around the whole körút, one that's modelled on the best examples from Amsterdam, Berlin and Copenhagen. Instead, it's so far looking like business as usual, with a staunch refusal to do anything that would challenge the supremacy of cars.

New cycling master plan for Budapest

This month marked the release of a new cycling plan for Budapest. An English-language, thumbnail sketch of it can be found at http://www.eltis.org/show_news.phtml?newsid=1245&mainID=461.
The complete document (in Hungarian only) can be downloaded here http://kerekparosklub.hu/vitaanyag.

I haven't had time to give it a close look, but can say that it's an attractive, professional-looking document. And from my conversations with the people who put it together (staff at the Hungarian Cycling Club and experts from the Budapest Technical University and the COWI consulting company), it will no doubt represent a positive turn towards state-of-the-art planning, with several references to good international examples.

For example, the plan encourages a move away from segregated facilities toward lanes that integrate cyclists with motor traffic. On two-way streets, it encourages bike lanes on both sides of the street for both directions of traffic (with the exception of Andrassy, facilities in Budapest are generally single-track, shared-use, segregated facilities). And it stresses the importance of integrating cycling planning with general urban planning rather than introducing it as a retrofit or afterthought.

So, it'll be several days before I can read through the whole document, but it's already clear the underlying philosophy is a good one -- more enlightened than what we've seen before and one that treats cycling not just as a form of recreation but as a means of everyday transport.