The worst thing about the mayor's decisions is that they actually come true, even if the majority of Budapest residents only see their harm.
After the botched Üllői út protected bike lane, new ones can be established in Budapest with reference to the community budget and a few thousand votes. Although the plastic columns dreamed up for the Nagykörút did not even win the competition in their category, Mayor Gergely Karácsony can decide in favor of their installation.
The voting is over, only 25,500 Budapest residents voted on what the Budapest Municipality should allocate HUF 1 billion to in the framework of the community budget. The winners of the five categories correspond to Mayor Gergely Karácsony's favorite topics, but the biggest chaos could easily be caused by a second-placed idea:
the protected bicycle lane to be created on Nagykörút would probably make traffic in the capital even more impossible.
For the third time, the people of Budapest were asked what the capital, which is said to be on the verge of bankruptcy, could spend one billion forints on. The ideas that have received professional approval and won the vote will be implemented in principle, but so far only eight of the 33 winning plans have been completed, and specifically one from last year's tender: the famous/infamous Üllői úti protected bicycle lane.
In the just concluded competition, the greening of Boráros tér (3,591 votes) among the local small ideas, the making of Széll Kálmán tér more shady (3,424 votes) among the big ideas, and in the opportunity-creating Budapest category, more public toilets in public spaces won - this received 7,669 votes from those who who tried to forget what kind of toilets the capital has handed over so far...
For green Budapest, "trees and bushes instead of concrete" won (7,292 votes), mainly in the city center, but without specifics, and for open Budapest, "protected bicycle routes" received the most votes, 4,648. The latter has no location, so this winner alone can be enough to cause a total upheaval in the city center.
On the other hand, where a specific road section was included, the idea came second in its category, with 3,435 votes. Its description includes: making the cycling infrastructure of the main road safer with various means, such as physical separation elements. This is how the history of the Üllői út bicycle lane began.
According to the rules, after summing up the votes received online and offline, the most popular ideas in each category can be implemented up to the available budget.
However, if the highest-scoring ideas do not fill it, the remaining money can be combined and used for one of the next two ideas of the categories based on the mayor's decision. However, Gergely Karácsony probably chooses the bicycle lanes...
A total of 8,000 votes were cast for the protected bicycle lane dreamed up for the Nagykörút and the winner of the "open Budapest" category, which is not a lot, to put it mildly, considering the total population of the city. Except
in addition to the Üllői út bike lane, one of the main arguments of Samu Balogh, Gergely Karácsony's chief of staff, was that he won the community budget vote, even though only 15,000 people wanted it.
Although many people criticize the 70 million HUF plastic pillar solution, it seems that the city administration is adamant - it is true, two months after the professional criticism of the National Ambulance Service, Gergely Karácsony's staff finally found a scene where the ambulance can fit in the bicycle lane, and it seems that the mayor according to this, everything is solved.
On the other hand, the airport service, the 100E, which generates billions for the Budapest Transport Center, is stuck in a traffic jam on Üllői út instead of the bus lane that will be discontinued, so its schedule has become completely upset and unpredictable.
Even though Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss accused the former transport state secretary Dávid Vitézy, who criticized the solution, of lying in a background conversation, the factual data of the BKK Courier application shows:
the travel time of the 100E became significantly longer.
Dávid Vitézy emphasized that it is difficult to find a specialist in public transport today who would identify with the elimination of the Üllői út bus lane, but it seems that the city administration can react to criticisms supported by numbers and facts at best in an offended way, and does not change the wrong decision.
