One More for the Road

So this Saturday, April 20, will be the last Budapest Critical Mass. That's what they say, anyway, and although I'm skeptical, I was very relieved to have gotten my hands on the sticker (slogan: "Critical Mass Forever") and I will definitely NOT make other plans for the weekend.

According to the spring CM tradition, the event will happen on Earth Day, and the route will be closed to motor traffic and everyone is encouraged to come out, children included.

It'll start at 3:55 p.m. on the Pest riverside road just north of Margit hid (Carl Lutz rakpart). This is the same place it started in spring of 2012 (above video) -- the road will be closed to motor traffic and it's wide enough to accommodate a huge crowd for the opening bike lift.

The route (details here) will go across the Chain Bridge and through the tunnel to the Taban, and will eventually return to Pest and end up at City Park for the closing bike lift -- at about 6:30 p.m.

From 7:30 p.m. til 4 a.m., an after party will take place at the Akvárium Klub (former Gödör) at Erzsébet tér. As in past years, the party will follow a bike-fashion theme and is co-organised by the Hungarian Cycle Chic blog. But now it seems they've got a bunch of sponsors (e.g. InStyle magazine and H&M clothing) and added features include a big musical lineup. Cover is HUF 1,000.

CM organisers Kuku and Sinya (co-owners of Hajtas Pajtas bike couriers) announced last year that this would be the last CM. They explained that, now that everyday cycling is established in Budapest, CM has served its purpose. Although modal share needs to keep growing, the two activists are convinced that CM is no longer the right tool for the job, that the bike community has to redirect its energies and resources toward professional lobbying. Kuku and Sinya are involved with the Hungarian Cyclists Club, and they have made repeated appeals for cyclists to support the organisation with donations and volunteer help.

The decision to call it a day was met by emotional protest from the green shirts who have helped promote and carry out CM for the past nine years. However, I still haven't heard of any concrete plans by anyone to take up the CM mantle and carry on the tradition. It's hard to believe that an event this popular will just die in its tracks. But in any case, I don't want to miss it.

Tree-hugging weekend

Along with the people were tons of police and of course, the obligatory soft-pretzel vendor.
I also saw some LMP politicians working the crowd.

Quite a good turnout at Római part on Saturday. We estimated maybe 2,000 people, give or take a thousand. Who knows? The important thing is, we completely plugged up the riverfront path where the organisers set up their PA system. So for the space available, we were an overwhelming presence, which is as much as you can ask of a protest.

We were there demonstrating against a big flood-protection scheme that would devastate the riverbank and wipe out thousands of trees. A "respected" news site, HVG -- kind-of Hungary's equivalent to The Economist -- called it "Fák off" -- "fák" being Hungarian for "trees".

We went out there with both kids by bike, our two-year-old in the child's seat and our eight-year-old riding his own bike. The closer we got to Római part, the heavier the bike traffic got. By the time we got to the Újpesti vasúti híd, there were huge clusters of cyclists caravaning in front of us and in back and parked along the side of the road. It was looking like a Critical Mass.

There's Lance, Kristin and Sequoia. Soon after we arrived, Lance wandered off into the milling masses and left me on the riverbank, panicked, as I rode herd over Sequoia hoping to limit our losses. Kristin found Lance way up the riverbank throwing rocks and after he rejoined us, Sequoia walked up to the river's edge and promptly tripped into the water. It was a chilly ride back home for her.

A Budapest landscape architect, Bardóczi Sándor, editor of the Építészfórum website, gave a talk proposing a sensible alternative to the massive earthworks that's being proposed. Bardóczi notes that the existing fences at the top of the bank, running between the riverfront bars and restaurants, could be built into a flood-proof bulwark that would protect properties further inland. This would avoid a major earth moving project that would wipe out all the trees along the water and destroy the riverbank.

Hope Sányi's arguments -- and the presence of all us citizen protesters -- will have some effect.

Save Római part's trees!

The fabulous Fellini bisztro on the north end of Romai part.

Tomorrow at 3 p.m. (March 2), fans of the Római part will demonstrate against a big earthworks proposal that would spoil a riverside wonderland to protect a bunch of luxury townhouses that shouldn't even be there.

The project involves the construction of what's termed a "mobile" dike along a 3.1 kilometre stretch of bank running north from the Újpesti vasúti híd. This Index article has a map. A mobile dike doesn't sound permanent, however the work will apparently involve infilling the river 50 to 100 metres out from the existing bank. This will wipe out many of the gorgeous willows and cottonwoods along here, which is why organisers have dubbed their protest "Keep the trees on Római!". The tree defenders also have a facebook page.

Római part has been a favourite bike-riding destination of ours for years. It's a leafy stretch of bank lined with bufes and bars, some with playground equipment to entertain the kids. It's great place to have some fish soup or hekk and a few beers. It's not as cheap as it used to be, but you pay a price for convenience -- it's just a 20-30 minute ride up the Buda bank from Margit hid.

Not incidentally, it's along the Eurovelo 6 trans-European cycling route. One of the criteria for Eurovelo designation is scenic value, which these earthworks will undermine.

Amidst the bufes are a dwindling number of old boat houses, where you can keep or rent canoes, kayaks, skulls and rowboats. We used to rent canoes from one of these places at least once every summer and paddle up to Szentendrei Sziget and back.

In the last few years, several of these old boat houses have been displaced by high-end condos. This is in a flood plain, and how the developers got their construction permits is a scandal.

By now the dodgy development has reached a critical mass and the new property owners have successfully lobbied City Hall to get taxpayers to pay for flood protection. This will protect their inappropriately built townhouses to the detriment of Római part's traditional natural, recreational value. It's a shame.

We're planning to go up there by bike on Saturday to christen the cycling season and be counted.

What: Save the trees on Római! demonstration
Time: Saturday, March 2, 3 p.m.
Place: Hattyú Csónakház (1039 Budapest, Királyok útja 17.)
(Follow the facebook page for updates.)

Congestion conundrum

If you're a parent, you've probably been in this situation: the kid is being a jerk, and you and spouse are going crazy. However, spouse has an all-day appointment or job to go to, and is decidedly less worked up than you. Actually, spouse doesn't seem to be bothered at all, but rather preoccupied with other, more pleasant matters. But just before she leaves, out of a misplaced sense of guilt, she goes nuclear on the kid: "Ok, if that's the way you want to be, you're grounded and you get no computer/iPhone/TV for the rest of the day!" Kid starts having a fit and, and, spouse, her parental duties properly disposed, breezes out the door.

You think, Thanks a million. Now I'm in charge of Class A, disruptive prisoner, and spouse has blown all my bargaining chips. This is going to be a long day.

This is the situation I was reminded of yesterday when Mayor Tarlos announced that Budapest would at last implement the congestion charge, and he would do it without delay -- at least not beyond 2015.

I've heard that Fidesz was grooming someone else for the top job at City Hall, and this all but confirmed it. If Tarlos says Budapest will have the congestion charge in 2015, that indicates Tarlos plans to be well out of office by then. Budapest is obliged to implement the charge because the former administration of Gabor Demszky promised to do it in order to get an EU subsidy for the Metro 4 project. 

Demszky handled that obligation just as Tarlos is now. By promising that it will be done, but sometime in the future, after several prerequisites are taken car of: opening of the new metro, creation of a peripheral park and ride infrastructure, the completion of the M0 motorway ring, and so in.

I grant that ideally all these thing should be done before congestion charging goes forward. However, I reckon that they could also be phased in over a longer timetable and that the sequence of steps isn't all that fixed. The only inviolable part of the timetable is for the mayor in question to complete his tenure and get out of harm's way before the charge comes into effect.   

Bike sharing coming to Hungary in March

Velov, the bike-sharing system in Lyon.

In March, Szeged expects to beat out Budapest to become the first city in Hungary to roll out a bike-sharing system, according to Szeged Cafe.

The system, now getting its final touches, would naturally be much smaller than the one planned for Budapest, Bubi. It would comprise 70-80 bikes at up to 12 docking points spread around the centre of the city. Another 20-30 bikes would be kept at a central depot for longer-term rentals up to several days.

The new service is the creation of a private company, Szeged-based Sund Magyarorszag Kft, which developed it with the help of a HUF 45 million EU grant through the Southern Great Plain Regional Operating Programme. The system was first scheduled to open on September 30, but stumbling blocks forced a postponement until March.

As with similar systems, the bikes would be for short-term rentals for short-distance trips around a circumscribed central area. After a free registration, users would pay HUF 200 per hour or HUF 800 per day. Users who check out bikes more than four times in one day would have their daily bill capped at HUF 800.

According to original plans, the system is targeted at tourists and other visitors and is not meant to compete with Szeged's public transport system.

The system would be fully automated, with registration done online and checkouts by mobile phone. Users would get a four-digit PIN code to be typed into the station console in order to release a bike.

The bikes themselves have solid rubber tires, making them puncture proof and also less attractive to thieves. Another security feature is GMS tracking. Users who stray outside the central operating zone would receive automated SMS warnings. Messages would continue to be sent and if not heeded, a service security officer would be dispatched to search for the bike.

Price of Procrastination

Hungary could lose EUR 640 million in EU funds for the metro 4 project if it continues to drag its feet on the congestion charge, according to a post this week on caboodle.hu.

According to the report, the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) now states that it will be impossible to implement the charge until "the city's public transport network is completed". This would happen in 2015, if all goes as planned, and then the congestion charge could be implemented along with a system of peripheral park and rides, in 2016.

But how would the PT network be "completed"?? Isn't public transport a continual work in progress? A completion date strikes me as a phony benchmark, the latest pulled from bottomless barrel of excuses to delay the congestion charge.

Of course, the city leadership is terrified of alienating car owners and is desperate to find another way to tax themselves out of the metro 4 quagmire. A new "utilities tax" will hit landowners whose properties are crisscrossed by water and sewage mains and other infrastructure. Sounds like a soak-the-rich strategy, although everyone will feel the pain, from real estate tycoons on down to shop owners and flat tenants.

With congestion charging, at least you'd have a choice: drive downtown and pay or bike or walk and go for free. Or car pool and split the fee with your colleagues.

Or take BKV, which as of January 1 costs HUF 350 per ticket. That gets expensive, particularly if you have journeys that require a change of lines. Every change costs another HUF 350. This is the subject of another rant. But ... why should a public transport user have to pay an extortionate fee to use an environmentally friendly, space efficient means of travel while car users go for free over the same public roads?

Quality connection to Csepel

Here's downtown Csepel, aka District XXI, a community of more than 80,000 on the north end of Csepel Island.

Today, I did a bike-nerd thing: I went out to inspect a new piece of local cycling infrastructure. The 'infra' in question is a 2.9 km path running from the village center of Csepel to the northern tip of Csepel Island and then across Kvassay Bridge to southern Pest not far from the Rakoczi Bridge. Here's a map.

In the heart of Csepel, you'll find some attractive, Socialist-era housing estates with generous allotments
of green space and playgrounds and here, a bike path with connections to the town centre.

More characteristic are these much larger residential buildings.
Lots of green space, but these big buildings make for a heavy population density.

I'm glad I took the trip. This is a fine addition to the choice of day trips to quieter and greener places outside of downtown. And the quality of the path itself beats anything else I've seen in Budapest. Everything is done beautifully: Curb cuts and rail crossings are smooth as butter, a nice beveled concrete curb separates the sidewalk and the bike path, bright red and yellow paint highlights the crossings of all intersections and driveways, and the directional signs make finding your way a breeze.

Time will tell, the materials look good and the execution is top notch. It's a pleasure to ride on.

The rails on this level crossing are tucked away under a flat-as-a-pancake deck with a hard rubber surface.
State of the art stuff.

It's all a separate two-way path running on one side of the street -- Szabadkikötő út. In principle, 'best practice' in an urban setting would be to have one-way paths or lanes on both sides of the street. However, I was happy just to be on a separated path. Szabadkikötő út is a busy four-lane motor route and the traffic seemed to be moving well over the posted speed limit of 70 km/hr.

Although it makes for a nice pleasure ride, this path was built for commuting. It's one of six new paths built during the last year to connect outlying residential areas to the city centre. I'm curious how much traffic the path gets during a typical workday rush hour.

The few criticisms I'd have are the odd placement of bike racks, including these in the picture below. There was no store, transport stop or anything nearby that would merit a stop at this location. Either something is planned to built here, or these racks are just a waste of resources.

You can chain your bike up here -- if that's what you're into.

The other is the comparatively poor directional signage on the previously existing connecting path to Rakoczi Bridge. The new path is so good, it makes the rest of the network look bad.

The Kvassay Bridge

From here, there's no indication this underpass is for cyclists as well as for pedestrians -- no sign, no yellow markings next to the zebra. But you must go through this underpass to get from Rakoczi Bridge to the new Csepel bike path.

Here's a path toward Rakoczi Bridge, but it ends before it gets anywhere. Curiously, a sign indicates
the Eurovelo 6 route lies beyond the dead end.