City Hall: Air pollution's your problem, not ours

A smog alert's on in Budapest and, by law, the mayor needs to take immediate action. What do you suppose that means? Rationing car use? Banning wood burning?

No, as far as I can tell, nothing like that is suggested. Instead, the mayor's telling people to stay indoors and away from busy roads where pollution levels are highest. Particularly children, the elderly and people with asthma or other breathing disorders.

At our  three-year-old daughter's daycare, there's an indefinite injunction on outdoor playtime. Our 9-year-old boy has to travel down one of the city's busiest roads on the way to school, so if we take the mayor's kind advice, we shouldn't take Lance to classes at all.

Naturally, there are many factors that contribute to Budapest's air problems. City Hall's announcement stresses the contribution of things that are out of its hands: weather systems and even pollution coming from abroad (Has xenophobia clouded the minds of Hungarian meteorologists?). The notice seems to downplay contributions from local sources, including transport. According to EU studies, transport on average accounts for "40 percent of CO2 pollution and up to 70 percent of other types of pollution" in European cities.

Budapest regularly exceeds European air quality norms during the winter and fall. A few years ago, City Hall made a lame effort to ration car use during air alert periods. Cars with even-numbered plates were allowed on streets on even numbered days, odds on odd-numbered days. However, most drivers ignored the ban and no penalties were ever issued. Instead the mayor simply lifted the ban, and it hasn't been attempted since.

Bad city air causes breathing problems, cardiovascular disease and shortened lives in cities the world over. A Hungarian study published several years ago concluded that air pollution robbed the average Budapest resident of two years of life. Maybe City Hall figures that you won't miss what you'll never have.

Car Restrictions Unleash Flood of Indifference

Budapest experienced its first car-use restrictions, as Mayor Demszky declared a smog alert Sunday morning.

According to the restrictions, only cars with odd-numbered plates were allowed on the road on odd-numbered days and only even-numbered ones on even-numbered days. According to a report on Caboodle.hu, police weren't issuing fines when the alert went into effect Sunday at 11 a.m., although they were pulling over non-complying motorists and giving warnings.

According to my own highly scientific survey (I checked the plates of about half a dozen cars on Sunday while out for a walk), the ban was being widely flouted. About half the cars I checked bore even plates, half odd.

A report on index.hu (in Hungarian) said that traffic was lighter than usual on Sunday but that Monday morning witnessed a normally hectic rush hour. "Budapestiens didn't take the the traffic restrictions seriously," the report noted.

My wife said that while she was exercising at the gym on Sunday, she overheard a conversation on the topic. One guy expressed confusion. "There are six digits on my plate. Which one tells me whether it's even or odd?" This struck me as a brilliant illustration of my favourite line from Repo Man, "The more you drive, the less intelligent you are."

According to Monday's news, pollution levels in Budapest had already started coming down, with further improvement expected as temperatures rose toward mid-week. In any case, City Hall had already planned to call off restrictions on Tuesday.

Car restrictions -- the horror!!

Beginning today, Budapest City Hall will have the authority to decree restrictions on car use in the event of smog alerts. This is according to an ordinance approved by the City Council last week. According to the report in caboodle.hu (Thanks for the tip, Jelica!), the ordinance requires that:

in the event of a smog alert, vehicles with license plates with even numbers at the end may only drive in Budapest on even-numbered dates and those ending with odd numbers on the other days.

Dust levels are quite high all over downtown, as you can see at this great website. Hosted by the environmental ministry, it shows continuously updated pollution levels at eight monitoring stations throughout the city. Incredibly, the site is in English. The page on the link shows a map of the city, with the monitoring stations indicated as blue dots. All you do is roll over a station and an information box pops up showing levels of several kinds of pollution. The pollutant you should look for is "PM10," which means particles less than 10 micrograms in diametre, or in plainer English, dust.

From what I read, motor traffic in urban areas is often responsible for two thirds or more of air pollution. It follows that a switch from car to bicycle would be a big help to air quality. Unfortunately, those who take a pioneering roll in the "velo-lution" have to put up with some pretty crappy air.