The mayor's "criminal record" is getting longer and longer: Budapest motorists may feel that way - and rightly so! – that the administration of the capital exposes them to systematic persecution, as they are forced to face one or the other, usually ill-considered measures that make their lives more difficult on a daily basis. In addition, the standard of public transport is constantly deteriorating.
Without a comprehensive concept, raid-created cycle paths, arbitrary closures, traffic chaos, suffocating traffic jams every day. You can also list the main stations of the amok run that has been going on for years.
Karácsony already published his program at the beginning of 2019, according to which the use of diesel vehicles would be reduced by applying "positive and negative incentives". A few days later, the specifics were also discussed: in the program Pirkadat, he talked about how the city would be better if there were fewer cars, which could be achieved by making public transport cheaper and building P+R parking lots. Nothing has happened since then.
The tour has fallen
In the spring of 2020, at the time of the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic, the Karácsony family began to develop the bike lane on the Grand Boulevard, which was often painted at night, paralyzing the downtown area in the morning. The president of the Hungarian Automobile Club warned that from September 2020, when school starts, there will be traffic chaos in the city center - which has indeed happened.
The reconstruction of Blaha Lujza tér, which began in the summer of 2021, soon made things more difficult for the capital's commuters, which also had a significant impact on the traffic on the boulevard. The situation was further burdened by the surface pedestrian crossings created at the intersection of the square.
Chain bridge, closure of quays
The spring renovation of the Chain Bridge in 2021 further worsened the already serious traffic conditions in Budapest. To make the chaos complete, in the summer of 2021 the capital also began the renovation of the lower quay in Pest, which is why the road section between Eötvös tér and Margit híd was closed.
The public indignation was heightened by the fact that the mayor's plans to permanently hand over a part of the quay to pedestrian traffic also came to light at that time, further complicating the work of motorists.
Bike lane at the expense of ambulances
In August 2023, the Karácsony family took the courage to call the emergency services. It happened that the Üllői út bike lane was separated from the rest of the road with smaller posts. Because of this, it is more difficult for ambulances to drive and cars cannot pull over properly.
It is not practical for the ambulance to fight its way between the piles with turns and various maneuvers - said Pál Győrfi, the spokesperson of the National Ambulance Service. The city administration retaliated with the far from professional answer that they hope Pál Győrfi does not want to "draw the ambulance service into the campaign".
They get lost in the city center
The left-wing districts are also trying to put Karácsony's "traffic-reducing" plans into practice. Péter Niedermüller, the mayor's most diligent student in Budapest, the Gyurcsányist Democratic Coalition VII. turned out to be the district mayor.
From the beginning of January 2023, a new traffic order came into effect in the area bounded by Nagykörút and Károly körút (Kiskörút), as well as Király utca and Rákóczi út, and the through traffic of three high-traffic streets, Dohány, Dob and Wesselényi, was restricted.
The area was essentially turned into a labyrinth for motorists, and the new traffic order was strictly controlled, and tens of thousands of traffic fines were flying around.
The solution was led by the momentary Tamás Soproni VI. district also took over.
Speed reduction, traffipax
"The main solution to reducing the number and severity of accidents is to reduce and slow down road traffic. Therefore, we will introduce a general speed reduction and the extension of 30 zones in residential areas, with the exception of the main roads of urban importance," Gergely Karácsony promised in the campaign.
The issue of speed limits and speed cameras typically came up after serious, fatal accidents: this spring, a car crashed into a boulevard stop, and recently a fatal accident involving a cyclist on the Árpád bridge.
After the incidents, Karácsony talked about speed limits and the placement of cameras, but instead of a well-thought-out action, here too, the campaign mode can be seen.
Deteriorating public transport
The mayor's election program had a central place in the improvement of public transport services, as this is a key issue for achieving traffic reduction. In the campaign, the politician also suggested that buses, trams, and subways are not comfortable enough.
The promised reduction in the price of tickets and passes has not been on the agenda since then, and the increase is even more so: the line ticket will cost HUF 450 from the first of September, the price of the ticket that can be purchased on the buses will be HUF 600, and four thousand HUF will be charged for the group ticket of ten.
In the meantime, the supply of air conditioning to the train of the triple metro has been waiting for almost four years.
The man who started nothing
By the way, since Gergely Karácsony took office in the fall of 2019, not a single major project, construction, or renovation project initiated by the currently reigning mayor has started. István Tarlós also started the subway renovation, the Chain Bridge renovation and the reconstruction of Blaha Lujza tér.
