Car club: the closures in the capital are professionally unfounded

Closing the wharf to car traffic is a bad decision from the point of view of the environment and accident prevention - said Zsuzsa Gyulainé Tóth, the legal representative of the Magyar Autoklub, when asked by Magyar Nemzet.

The article published in the Tuesday edition of the daily recalls that last week Mayor Gergely Karácsony spoke about the fact that there is no need to fear the closure of the wharf. As he said, they are currently in the planning process, and work is expected to start in the second half of 2023. The mayor insists on his plan despite the fact that several organizations, including the Hungarian Automobile Club, have already spoken out against the measure.

The legal representative of the Magyar Autoklub told Magyar Nemzet that they did not know about the plans. "We don't have any information about professional preparation, including traffic count data," he emphasized.

Zsuzsa Gyulainé Tóth also wonders what Gergely Karácsony is basing the fact that the majority of Budapest residents support the development of the lower wharf in Pest.

According to the Magyar Nemzet, the mayor interpreted the results of the research he commissioned in a particular way, which the Fidesz faction in Budapest drew attention to on its social media page, because based on a survey commissioned by Gergely Karácsony, the majority of respondents voted to maintain car traffic: Median's research on a representative sample of 1,000 people 43 percent of those polled voted to keep car traffic, 32 percent would hand over a section to pedestrians, while only 17 percent would hand over the entire quay to pedestrians.

Reacting to this, the legal representative of the Magyar Autóklub recalled: a year ago, they also conducted a survey in which sixty percent of the 11,000 respondents rejected the closure of the wharf, and in recent days, several media polls supported this. Zsuzsa Gyulainé Tóth explained: the impact of their action is indisputable, as the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Transport Industry Board of Private Contractors and the National Taxi Association also spoke out against the draft.

According to Zsuzsa Gyulainé Tóth, it would be necessary to examine the plans according to which the closure would be solved by covering the wharf, so that the green space and car traffic would be preserved. He added: there are several examples of this abroad.

MTI

Cover image: Illustration / Photo: Sándor Csudai – Origo