The former BKK leader asks the city manager to withdraw BKK's flight reductions.
Although not officially announced by BKK, after January 19, many BKK flights will depart less frequently on Mondays and Fridays during peak hours. With this, Gergely Karácsony duly shot Budapest traffic in the foot, passengers cannot even get on the buses.
After what happened, Dávid Vitézy, former Secretary of State for Transport, stepped in with the mayor, and then published an open letter on his social media page, in which he again asks Karácsony to withdraw the reduced flight rates - even if he calls them differently.
The procedure of the BKK is "uncommentable, outrageous and disgusting"
Dávid Vitézy's full letter can be read below:
"Dear Mayor!
The negative effects of the reduced number of flights introduced by BKK were already visible on the first frosty morning: passengers experienced longer waiting times and more congestion on the affected flights.
The reduced number of flights was not preceded by substantive consultation or information, and the fact was only admitted after the crash.
Even though the CEO of BKK apologized last night for the faulty preparation and the lack of information, you chose to play tricks with words (there is no flight reduction, but still there is) and the rating of my person, instead of dealing with the essence: the effects of the flight reductions.
After all, they can call it a measure, traffic intervention, changed traffic habits, regrouping, redistribution of capacity, or they can say it slowly so that everyone understands, but still, the essence is the same:
There are fewer vehicles on 53 lines and there is not one that has more - BKK's statement also claims otherwise. And this, no matter where we look at it, means fewer flights.
There have been many reorganizations where there were fewer flights on one line and more flights on another and the balance was zero. But this is not the case now, there was a mass reduction of flights in Budapest, nothing else. He decided on this without meaningful consultation, affecting the passengers of BKK, all parts of Budapest. It is difficult to accept the explanation without doubt that due to the spread of home work and the home office, the most used housing estate routes in the outer districts of Budapest should be reduced from Újpalota to Káposztámegyer, from Havana to Pesterzsébét, from Csillagtelep to Rákoskeresztúr, from Újpest to Óbuda.
When previous city administrations tried similar flight reduction packages, which were to be implemented on a grass-cutting principle, I took action against the flawed plans in each case. This is what I did during the time of Miklós Hagyó and Gábor Demszky in 2008 and this is what I did in 2016, when the Metropolitan Municipality led by István Tarlós would have reduced the number of flights and the quality of public transport. Then, as a result of the protests following the announcement of the plans, both times the previous bad decisions were withdrawn and the plan to reduce the number of flights was abandoned. This is what I am asking of you now.
Please withdraw this flawed flight thinning program as soon as possible. Although this is not customary in the world of party politics, as a professional I am happy to offer my help.
I am ready to contribute to the repair and rationalization of the system. During the four years when I had the opportunity to lead BKK, we were able to avoid the thinnings that take place on a similar lawn-mowing principle, even in the more difficult financial conditions than today, and we were even able to continuously develop the network. I am convinced that Budapest must continue to follow this path, we cannot lower the level of service we have provided so far - you can always count on me for this."
Featured image: Facebook / Dávid Vitézy
