Mayor Karácsony: new Mercedes-Benz buses on the road to Budapest
The safety of passengers is not at risk in any way but the many technical problems are caused mainly by the age of Budapest’s public transport’s bus fleet, the city’s mayor said on Monday.
Mayor Karácsony: old buses must be replaced
Gergely Karácsony said on Facebook that Budapest transport company BKV experts were making significant efforts to handle the problems on a daily basis, keeping passenger safety as a top priority.
Karácsony said the solution was to replace the old buses, adding that 436 new vehicles have already been purchased for Budapest, of which 360 buses, 50 trolleybuses, and 26 CAF trams have been put in service, and the old high-floor buses all retired.
He said 300 new electric and diesel buses are set to arrive in the next two years, with the first 25 new diesel articulated buses already in service.
65 new buses are expected to arrive
In the autumn, 65 “maximidi” 10-meter buses are expected to arrive, making it possible to remove many old vehicles from service, he added. The leasing of 80 new articulated diesel buses and 85 new solo gas buses is already in the pipeline, and BKV is preparing to lease a further 80-100 buses and purchase contracts for a further 76 new buses, Karácsony said.
City buses in critical condition?
Later on Monday, state secretary Csaba Latorcai of the public administration and regional development ministry said the state of 60 percent of the city’s buses was “critical” and that the municipality could not guarantee passengers’ safety on public transport.
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After several buses burst into flames in the summer, the Budapest government office ordered a review, the first phase of which was concluded “with a devastating result” last weekend, he said. “There is no maintenance work to speak of” on the buses, he said, adding that “if Karácsony continues to refuse to take action, the government office will force his hand through official reviews so that the buses are suitable for public transport.”
Commuters can send photos
Government office head Botond Sára has been instructed to set up a website where commuters can send photos of the state of public buses, Latorcai said. During the mayoral term of István Tarlós, the city allocated 10 billion forints (EUR 25.6m) annually for the maintenance of public transport, he said. That sum is now down at 1 billion, Latorcai added.
Responding to a question, he said the city could not take out a loan to buy new vehicles “because it is already not creditworthy”. Sára noted that at the review following four fires in three days on public buses in the summer, the government office’s immediate review found that only a quarter of the randomly selected buses passed the test, a quarter had to be withdrawn from traffic and half of them needed repairs to be allowed to operate again.
60% of the buses problematic
The government office then ordered a comprehensive review of Budapest buses. So far, 106 of 1,200 vehicles have been inspected, and 60 percent had to be withdrawn or ordered to repeat the inspection in 30 days, Sara said. Most problems were found on the breaking systems, tyres and steering, he said.
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