Petition to the Mayor of Budapest
Petition to the Mayor of Budapest
Reduce the burden on Budapest residents with the introduction of the road toll!
Dear Mr. Gergely Karácsony, Lord Mayor of Budapest!
We ask you to prepare a feasibility study on the implementation of a distance- and pollution-based toll in Budapest, including how the revenue from the toll can be used to help the needy and support environmentally friendly transport.
Huge traffic jams are causing enormous damage to the people of Budapest. Congestion alone costs more than HUF 300 billion a year. The total environmental and health damage caused by motor vehicles exceeds HUF 1000 billion a year.
In Budapest alone, around 2,500 premature deaths and 200,000 illnesses, including heart and circulatory diseases, asthma and lung cancer are caused by poluted air (one of the main causes of which is cars) every year.
A well-prepared urban road toll would significantly reduce all these costs. Car use will be more rational, congestion will be virtually eliminated and our city will become healthier and more liveable. The revenue from the urban toll collected on cars should be partly returned to those in need as social aid and partly used to improve conditions for public transport, cycling, walking and other environmentally friendly modes of transport.
The road toll could be implemented in a similar way to the electronic toll already levied on lorries in Hungary on more than 7100 kilometres, the amount of which depends on four factors: the length of the journey, the vehicle's air pollution characteristics, the axle load of the vehicle and the route. In the case of urban tolls, this would be complemented by a further factor: the time of day (e.g., at night, the toll would be lower than at peak times).
Dear Lord Mayor!
The government declared as early as January 2020 that “the Municipality of Budapest must determine whether or not it intends to apply tolls on its roads and, if so, how it intends to do so. If the Municipality of the Capital City intends to do so, and if state legislative action is required to ensure its proper application, and if the Municipality of the Capital City officially notifies the government bodies, we are available to start the preparation of legislation and related consultations, and we will provide our professional and strategic support and assistance.”
Based on the above, we ask the Municipality of Budapest to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the government! The first condition for this is to prepare the study as soon as possible and to submit it for public debate.
The detailed proposal supporting our request can be found here and the answers to frequently asked questions here.
We look forward to your kind reply as soon as possible,
Sincerely:
Why is it important?
A distance- and pollution-based road toll in Budapest is a good way to influence car traffic. Congestion can be prevented, and (largely thanks to this) the people of Budapest can be spared the loss of hundreds of billions of forints a year, and our city can become more liveable and healthier. And the revenue from tolls, amounting to a few tens of billions of forints a year, could be returned to those in need and used for more environmentally friendly transport.
There is no technical obstacle to the introduction of tolls, which could be based on the existing system of the National Toll Payment Service Ltd.