Car-free Chain Bridge!!

The way it outta be. Image stolen from here.

If you're for a calmer, quieter less congested city centre, you should come join a demonstration this Sunday afternoon for a car-free Chain Bridge.

The Chain Bridge will soon be renovated, and the Hungarian Cyclists Club sees this as an opportunity to restore its original purpose as a quick, convenient link between central Pest and the Buda Castle.

In its current state, the Chain Bridge is clogged with traffic jams for large parts of every weekday, and on busy weekends, as well. This is because most of the daily users -- 57 percent, according to a city study -- cross by car, the least space-efficient mode of transport, with an average of just 1.2 passengers per vehicle. Meanwhile, 37 percent go by bus (capacity around 80), but they don't get any reward for making a more space-efficient, environmentally friendly choice. They're stuck in the same, creeping traffic jams as the cars.

Bicyclists comprise about 6 percent of daily bridge traffic. And although the bike may be the fastest way to cross the Chain Bridge, it's not a pleasant way to go because you're either squeezed between cars and the bridge railing, or you're maneuvering amongst pedestrians on the sidewalks, where many regard you as a nuisance.

If the bridge was wider, buses could have priority lanes, but it isn't. A common-sense solution is to kick out the cars, and give it back to people. In this way it could be more like the Charles Bridge in Prague -- part and parcel with its eye-catching, historic surroundings, and free of noise and traffic fumes from cars.

The Cyclists Club proposes to start next summer, after school's out, by conducting a temporary trial in which buses would be given top priority in traffic. Without car congestion, bus departures could be more frequent, and the service would be much faster and more reliable. Top speed on the bridge would be held at 30 kph in order that cyclists can share the roadway safely and harmoniously. And pedestrians will have the sidewalks to themselves -- as they should. Last but not least, the Chain Bridge will once again be a feasible route for emergency vehicles.

Many will wonder where all the car drivers will go. But as with the pedestrianisation of Vaci utca and Raday utca, or the traffic reductions on the north-south axis from Ferenciek tere to Szabadsag ter -- people will find alternatives. Either a different route or a different vehicle choice.

If you support this vision, you can sign the Cyclists Club's online petition here. If you'd like to join a cycling demonstration, here are the coordinates:
When: Sunday, October 11. Gathering starts at 2:30 p.m., parade departs at 3 p.m.
Where: Széchenyi tér in the parking area in front of the Hungarian Academy of Science (MTA)
Parade route: Széchényi tér - Chain Bridge - tunnel - U-turn at Attila út - tunnel - Chain Bridge - Széchényi tér. Repeat route once, then return to Hungarian Academy of Science.

Demonstration announcement in Hungarian.

After the demonstration, there will be a public forum on the topic.

Car-free holiday -- almost

Tunnelrettungszug Rettungssprinter "CargoSprinter" in Mallnitz
Originally uploaded by kilux

For the past several winters, we've gone on family ski vacations somewhere in Italy or Austria and this has always been one of the rare weeks out of the year where we abandon our car-free ideals for the sake of speed and convenience. This year, however, we went some way toward rectifying the situation.

In Europe, it's actually quite possible to do a car-free ski trip. There are train and/or long-distance bus connections to virually all resorts and everywhere I've skied, I've always noticed local buses ferrying skiers up and down the mountain. However, at large ski areas, it's often the case that the only affordable accommodations are quite removed from the main roads. And while a half-kilometre walk to a bus stop wouldn't put me off in normal circumstances, it seems like a slog when I'm freighted down with gear and hobbling in ski boots.

This year, though, we went to a smallish resort in Carinthia a couple hundred kilometres south of Salzburg called Mallnitz. We found a decent, affordable pension in the middle of the village that was within a 5-10 minute walk of everything we needed: grocery store, restaurants, ski shop and even a swimming complex with sauna and jacuzzi. A free-of-charge ski bus left every 20 minutes in mornings and afternoons, offering a 10-minute connection to the closest alpine slopes. For those of us on a cross-country regimen, a nicely groomed circuit lied less than five minutes from our rooms in the village.

Our friends who drove us to Mallnitz from Budapest managed to go the whole week without using their car. Among other things, this meant they could have some wine or beer with lunch without worrying about European zero-tolerance drunk driving rules. But probably the nicest thing about Mallnitz was just being in the kind of place where a car is absolutely unnecessary -- a village that you can negotiate by sidewalk, checking out restaurant menus, shop windows and sale prices until something caught your eye.

As it turned out, we hadn't even needed the car to get to Mallnitz. We'd investigated rail options before our holiday, but made the mistake of consulting only the site for the Hungarian Rail Company, MÁV: there we could find only some really difficult connections. As we learned after our arrival in Mallnitz, there is more comprehensive information on the portal for the Austrian rail servoce, ÖBB. This shows daily trips in both directions lasting about eight hours -- almost on par with the car trip if you include rest and meal stops.

So as an experiment, my 5-year-old boy and I took the train for the return trip to Budpest. The train from Mallnitz to Salzburg was completely packed with vacationers, and became more so as we stopped at one ski resort after another up the Gastein Valley. We had an hour stop in Salzburg, and then boarded a brand-new, high-speed Austrian train called the Railjet. This is a fantastic way to travel, comfortable, quiet and clean ... and cruising along at 200 kph (127 mph) on countryside stretches. Aside from the aforementioned advantage of being able to drink -- an essential ingredient to any vacation in my opinion -- the Railjet also included a little "kinderkorner" with a TV showing and endless loop of Disney cartoons. The whole trip from Mallnitz to Budapest wast just EUR 60, including the free-of-charge ticket for my boy.

It seems the longer I go without regularly using cars, the less I like them -- the tight space, the lack of air, the fact you're moving so fast with nothing but flimsy metal panels and tempered glass between you and disaster. This last trip opened my eyes to an excellent holiday option that doesn't require a car. We were so psyched about the trip that we're already planning a return in summer -- and this time bringing our bikes.