They take the bike path to the curb at various points on Grand Boulevard so that the two motorist lanes are absolutely held back.

The city council of the capital has decided to end the cycle lane on the Grand Boulevard – announced the mayor Gergely Karácsony on the last day of August in the courtyard of the city hall. Furthermore, a compromise solution has been reached: in the section of Grand Boulevard south of Blaha Lujza Square, motorists will reclaim both lanes of traffic before the temporary bike lanes are painted.

Here, by removing the parking lanes, the final bike lane will be placed on the side of the road.

– we wrote in our report. The decision was justified by the fact that the József körút and Ferenc körút sections of the Grand Boulevard are measured to be used by many more cars than the northern section of Blahá, and their views had to be taken into account in a responsible decision.

However, several regular cyclists in our newsroom were confronted this morning with the fact that the two-car lane had returned at various points on the section in question, in addition to

drove the bike path to the sidewalk

the Budapest Transport Center (BKK) responsible for the design. The first place of its kind on the boulevard from the Blaha Lujza square to the Pet puentefi bridge is the vicinity of the Rákóczi tér tram stop, so that after a short trip down the road, we returned to the sidewalk between Krúdy Gyula utca and Baross utca.

The next and last section of the sidewalk is in front of the Corvin neighborhood tram stop at the intersection of Pál Street and the boulevard.

On the other hand, according to the southern conditions on Monday, it is still possible to drive on the road, the traffic order known since the spring has not changed significantly, but the preparations for the crossing have already started here.

It can be said that the lanes leading to the existing sidewalk have become much narrower than those on the highway, and this image shows that in some places there is dangerously narrow space for shared bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

But what is really worrying is the alignment of the lanes that lead to the sidewalk. On Baross Street and Rákóczi Square, I practically had to drive between pedestrians waiting to cross the zebra, which can be a particularly unpleasant crowd scene at the four-six-stop during the morning and afternoon peaks. .

This was followed by the circumvention of cars parked in the bike lane in the far lane:

But why take cyclists to the sidewalk?

After a short walk, it turned out that it might be obvious to the profession after the council’s announcement that the parking lane solution would involve guiding cyclists to the curb at all three points of the boulevard. There are no parking lanes at these locations, so if the capital insists on keeping two-car lanes it will be forced to push cyclists off the road.

Not surprisingly, the Hungarian Cycling Club suggested that the bike lane temporarily established in spring should not remain in place of the parking lane, said Áron Halász, vice president of the organization at 444. By the way, 21 other professional non-governmental organizations also demonstrated. against such a solution during the summer.

Driving bicycle traffic onto sidewalks According to Halász, there will be an engulfing source of conflict between pedestrians and bicyclists, and “it will soon become clear to them that flower-studded sidewalks or newsstands and decks are not wide enough for safe traffic. diversified “.

Especially at the corner of Baross Street and József Boulevard, the situation is unfortunate, where the bike path passes through the esplanade of the always-busy pedestrian crossing, among the waiting pedestrians, he explained.

“The Cycling Club is now asking the municipality of the capital to paint signs on the roads in parallel with the bike lanes leading to the sidewalk, so that at least those who are more confident in traffic can ease the burden of bikes on the sidewalks, ”said Halász.

“This is a compromise proposal that preserves the very important achievement that Grand Boulevard has become Budapest and one of the busiest cycle routes in the country, as well as the opportunity to bring Grand Boulevard back to life, open cafes and venues community. However, when traffic requires it, it provides two lanes for those who drive twice. ” praises the new road traffic regulations in the brochure published on the BKK website on September 4, which mentions for the first time the cycle lanes taken on the sidewalk.

However, according to Áron Halász, it was a “political party commitment” on the part of the city administration to regain the two traffic lanes at the height of József körút – Ferenc körút, referring to higher car traffic compared to other sections.

It is memorable that Balázs Fürjes, the secretary of state in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for the development of Budapest and the metropolitan agglomeration, sent a message to Gergely Karácsony in the days leading up to the decision: “Stop chasing cars, stigmatize and condemn car users “. But in those days, the Budapest leadership of DK, a member of the opposition coalition in the capital, also made clear what it expected of the city administration: not letting motorists get stuck in school, avoiding chaos. traffic, change (reverse) the temporary traffic order of the boulevard.

“Several experts have already pointed out that this section of Grand Boulevard is not used by people precisely because of the noise and air pollution caused by cars. If we give the cars two lanes, two lanes will be used and the situation will not change anything.

– evaluated Áron Halász.

“Of course, it’s better to ride a bike on Grand Boulevard than it was a year ago, but that will require a lot of attention from pedestrians and cyclists,” he added.