A summer evening in Budapest. Heat is pouring from the asphalt and from the walls of buildings, the exhaust fumes of cars are not moving in the evening traffic, but the sun isn't burning by now. I'm wishing for a green space, a park, where the air is cooler and I can still rejoice in the sunshine. Let's go to the Margaret Island, the favourite green park of the capital in the middle of the Danube river. I am not leaving my jogging shoes at home either!
Approaching the island, I observe, that others are thinking the same way. Among families, dog walkers, skaters and sportspeople I begin to warm up. I feel that the heat is still intense, so I walk to the riverbank to finish my arm sweeps and to feel the breeze, which constantly helps to clean the city air along the Danube much to the delight of the people in Budapest.
Then I face a great shock here, I get a whiff of that kind of smell which I felt when I was a child at the end of our street near a garage, which I used to pass. I recall that when I heard the engines hum inside, I took a deep breath before I got to its entrance and I started breathing again when I came round the next corner. But how comes the scent of burnt diesel oil to the riverside of the Danube? I look around and see that this section of the Danube is jammed: two cruise boats are countering the river current without moving, waiting for another two boats to leave the landing stage, and take their place. Then grey clouds of fume are emitted from the boats just starting off from the dock as they are skidding before the two standing ones, to take a turn of 180 degrees. By this time, those boats which were waiting so far start to move towards the landing place, and an enormous fume appears around them as well. At the same time three more cruise boats come along not so far away, I just can't believe my eyes, they leave behind them such a huge cloud of smoke. I would start off and begin to jog, but I just can't. A cloud of fumes is heading in my direction, I follow it with my eyes, and I'm waiting for it to break away or at least to change its direction to the middle of the Danube. But this is not happening, it's heading exactly towards me and dozens of people who are doing their warm ups right now.
I won't be jogging tonight. I flee.
I sit down in the middle of the island among the trees and bushes and think about those many people on the riverbank who are engulfed by that dreadful cloud of fumes, and I'm searching a little on my smartphone. I find on the website of Budapest Transport Centre (BKK, the Municipality’s company responsible for transport) that EU funded the project to increase cruise boat traffic “with the aim of improving public transport services.” EU money was used for the renewal of the landing stages and some patching up of the boats, but nothing was done about their engines, some of which are more than 45 years old.
I find also another document on BKK’s website, concluding that “in the past two years it became evident that the project did not achieve its aim to become an integral part of public transport for commuters. Most of the passengers use the boats in the tourist season, especially during the weekends.” All this should not come as a surprize: to ride on boats in Budapest takes a lot of time, and transfer from and to other modes of public transport is rather cumbersome. On the other hand, one can have a very pleasant sight-seeing for the price of a single public transport ticket. What is not expounded on BKK’s website, that the operation of the boats is massively loss-making while the whole Budapest public transport system is crunching due to the lack of proper financing. However, stopping the cruise boat traffic is not an option, because then the EU support must be paid back, resulting in a loss of face for politicians.
A summer evening in the capital. Popular, fresh dash of colour abound with tourists. And like an ocean in a drop, the whole flawed system of EU funding can be conspicuously seen.
Judit Szegő
(Clean Air Action Group, Hungary)