It is not barrier-free to travel in Budapest, but at least they deal with the easy problem
“Accessible transport has become an important issue from a marginal issue”
– said Ádám Bodor, director of BKK Mobility Development. Accessibility is a primary consideration when purchasing a vehicle or renovating a space. For example, during the renovation of Blaha Lujza tér, it was already important to be able to cross the surface from one side to the other. according to which the consideration of these has become a mandatory rule.
Buses: 94 percent of the vehicles are barrier-free
According to Ádám Bodor, purchasing a vehicle is one of the most difficult issues, because it is the most expensive part of accessible public transport.
“The best for buses, 94 percent of the vehicles here in Budapest have low floors”
– this is what Tibor Schulek, BKK’s transport service development manager, told Telex.
By the spring of 2023, the situation could be even better, because by then the buses will have 100 percent low floors.
High-deck buses now only run during peak hours and only as “condenser cars”. This means that every fifth bus on a line has a high floor. These cars go to places where a new bus comes every three to five minutes, so for example there are high-floor services on line 20E in Újpest. In BKK’s application, BudapestGO, you can see when a low-floor vehicle is arriving, this is indicated by a wheelchair. If someone buys these, they can easily plan their barrier-free journey.
Trolleybuses: high-floor vehicles are distributed proportionally
The situation is worse with the trolleybus, but still the vehicle has a low floor of 70 percent. In the spring of 2023, this ratio is expected to increase, when the ordered new vehicles arrive, then almost 100 percent of the trolleybuses in the capital will be low-floor.
According to Tibor Schulek, this almost 100 percent provision is necessary because it is conceivable that even a few older trolleybuses will be running during peak times, if additional network improvements have been implemented when the new vehicles arrive. This means that your maximum height is 120 low-floor trolleybuses, even 6-7 high-floor older cars in service.
Ádám Bodor added:
“Now, it’s not that there are only such old, high-floor trolleys on a given line, but they are proportionally distributed on the trolleybus network, with a shorter wait we can get on a low-floor trolley on all lines, even during peak hours.”
This proportional distribution also depends on the technical conditions. For example, modern trolleybuses are suitable for self-propelled transport of up to 4 kilometers, and they can also go in places in the city center where there is no overhead line. Older cars wouldn’t even be able to drive here. For example, XIII. district, it may seem that there are even more old-type trolleybuses, because the overhead line allows them to be put into service here.
Trams: there is still room for improvement
In terms of accessibility, public transport has two types of vehicles that are problematic, one is the tram and the other is the subway. People over the age of 50 still travel by tram in Budapest. Less than a third of trams have low floors, but even this does not mean that they are completely barrier-free.
Here we come to another important part of accessible transport: the accessibility of stations and platforms. Although it does not strictly belong to public transport, it would be difficult to see the problem in its entirety without taking into account the accessibility of public transport.
“Accessibility of a vehicle is fully useful if it can be reached without obstacles”
said Ádám Bodor. According to him, even a few centimeters difference between the platform and the tram is a big help for a mother with a pram, even older people
they can get on and off more easily. The problem is that not all of the low-floor trams can be approached without obstacles. Tibor Schulek said: we think that the appearance of such a modern barrier-free tram is important even if the stops are not 100 percent barrier-free. Therefore, BKK sends the latest CAF trams to several tram lines, such as the 42 in Kispest, the 14 in Újpest or the 69 in Zugló.
Officially, the tramway is completely barrier-free only if a disabled person gets to the stop under his own power and can roll onto the tram, because the level of the platform is the same as the vehicle. An additional condition is that, for example, the platform of the stop must be wide enough so that even a person with limited mobility can use it safely.
At Boráros Square, all trams on the grand circuit are low-floor, but the platform itself cannot be left without obstacles, because you have to go down into an underpass, and no elevators or ramps have been built so far.
A ramp is essentially a rail that is placed on top of the stairs, making it easier to get up and down without obstacles. A large proportion of new trams run on the busier tram lines 4–6 or on line 1. But now the renovation is also taking place on line 50, where, according to the director, the new trams may appear in the autumn, the platforms here have already been partially made barrier-free.
We were wondering on what basis BKK decides where to renovate the platforms and launch new vehicles. Tibor Schulek said that in this case two aspects are taken into account: firstly, how busy the given line is; on the other hand, to what extent the tram route can be approached with parallel routes, where the possibility of low-floor travel is already ensured.
The busier the tram route and the more parallel routes with low floors, the greater the chance of modernization. For example, on tram line 42 in Kispest, low-floor access to the most important traffic direction was not provided, only on detours, so this line had priority.
According to Ádám Bodor, the current problem is that the government does not agree to the capital’s borrowing, and they do not have access to the EU subsidies, which would be needed to get Budapest, for example, 51 modern trams.
“Don’t recall the manufacturer’s warranty on modern CAF trams
individual options, that would be treason.”
He said: by 2025, 40-50 percent of trams could be barrier-free if the government announced the new CAF trams.
We went to Deák Ferenc tér by tram number 47, where old-style cars run. When we were there, a mom and a dad were trying to load the stroller onto the high-floor tram.
Metros: what was renovated ten years ago is considered new
When I asked my colleague where they experience the biggest gaps in terms of accessibility, they most often mentioned subways. According to Tibor Schulek, the really big task is to get down to the metro station platform. According to him, a paradigm shift took place in the renovation of the triple metro. According to Ádám Bodor, the investment was not looked at this way before.
“It costs a lot of money to do the accessibility afterwards at an underground station.”
Not a single stop of the underground is barrier-free, but the situation is also bad with metro 2: you can approach the metro system without any problems at only three stops, Puskás Ferenc Stadion, Pillangó utca, and Örs vezér square. This is currently not possible at busy stops in the city center, such as Deák Ferenc Square, Astoria, Blaha Lujza Square.
BKK specialists could not say so much positive things about the future of the subways. BKK’s director of mobility development said: making them barrier-free could be on the agenda for the next renovation. However, it is not yet known when this will happen, as a subway renovation takes 20-30 years, and the renovation of subway line 2 was completed in 2007. Mainly because there is little chance of earlier modernization, because it is not very common in Budapest and other cities that something is renovated during its useful life.
“What was renovated a few years ago or ten years ago is considered new in this system”
said Ádám Bodor.
Basically, a subway is used when it can no longer be operated safely or economically. The reason for this is that during a renovation, the entire station would have to be closed, which would cause too much inconvenience to passengers and disrupt public transport. Tibor Schulek said encouragingly: if for some reason a stop needs to be reached in front of it, then it will be in the first place in the accessibility. An elevator can be easily installed on the platform itself, if only three of the four moving tubes remain, and one of them will be replaced by an inclined elevator.
Accessible public transport in Budapest: 10/7
We asked BKK specialists how most people would rate Budapest’s accessible public transport. Ádám Bodor gave it a grade of seven, adding that it will be much better by 2023-2025. Tibor Schulek was a little more optimistic, he said seven and a half, mainly because of the state of the trams and subways, he would not give a higher grade now.
Of course, it is not only the design of vehicles and the accessibility of platforms that can be used to create more equal conditions. BKK said that in their equal opportunities program there is special training for colleagues who come into contact with passengers. The essence of this is to sensitize them and experience the situations that are important for helping people with special needs.
Berta Molnár, BKK’s senior mobility development employee, said: a social consultation is being prepared for pedestrians and cyclists. The purpose of this is to promote the accessibility of public areas, for example to make it more convenient to use a stroller in the city.