Congestion charge to be introduced in Budapest!?

The green LMP party wants the rapid implementation of strong measures to reduce car traffic in Budapest, and advocates the introduction of a congestion charge as well as a car-free embankment on the Pest side of the city, a party lawmaker said on Friday.

Bernadett Bakos said the partial closure to car traffic along the embankment was a half-hearted solution, and she called for whole of the banks of the Danube in Pest to be made pedestrian- and bike-friendly.

She also rejected the Budapest mayor’s insistence that the congestion charge would be untimely, adding that Gergely Karácsony’s had made the charge a plank of his election manifesto.

“It would be high time for at least one impact study, you would think,”

she said.

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The charge should be graduated to reflect when congestion and air pollution are higher, and revenues raised should be used for public transport, Bakos said. Also, a plan is needed to dampen traffic throughout the city, she added.

She noted that a congestion charge was temporarily introduced in Stockholm only to be confirmed later by a referendum.

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Source: MTI