All Hungary News: Growing danger from Hungary’s “political” bicycle paths

While national politicians are devoting ever more attention and money to promoting the use of bicycles in Hungary, representatives of some local governments are warning about the dangers of “political” bike paths and other related developments. Most pressing is the situation around Lake Balaton, where local leaders charge that a number of bicycle paths built over the last few years have already deteriorated to the point of being dangerous, not because of heavy usage, but because they were built for “political campaign purposes” and are now being neglected.

József Németh, the mayor of the small lakeside village of Balatonederics, said his village’s poorly-constructed, five-year-old wooden bicycle bridge has already decayed to the point that it could cause an accident. But even though Balatonederics and other localities lack the resources to repair the paths, if an accident happens, they would be held responsible.

István Bóka, co-chairman of the association of lakeside governments, the Balatoni Szövetség (BSZ), said that the Hungarian state, as the builder of the paths, has to be the one to force contractors to repair the shoddy work, as the local governments are not entitled to do this. The body also sees another way of repairing the paths along the lake: a foundation that would provide funds to local government for the most urgent repair works. The BSZ will soon submit a memorandum to the cabinet to raise awareness of the problem.

Meanwhile, Liberal ministers have launched a campaign to popularize cycling in Budapest. Economy and Transport Minister János Kóka has promised, for the second time this year, that in the next seven years, Ft 56 billion (roughly €218.9 million) will be spent building and maintaining cycling paths, financed mostly from EU sources. At a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday, he said the goal is doubling the current length of paths by 2013 and repairing several neglected stretches.

The press conference and a cycling trip from the Ministry of Economy to Budapest’s City Hall was also attended by Environment Minister Gábor Fodor, Health Minister Ágnes Horváth and Budapest Mayor Gábor Demszky.

Demszky promised to add bicycle racks to all the stations of the Metro 4 subway line, which is currently under construction, and build a cycling path along Budapest’s smaller ring road (kiskörút). He said it was telling that while the number of cars and bicycles in the capital is the same, a mere 1% of residents use their cycles to get to work.