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Lorries to flood Budapest? Smog and congestion guaranteed
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The Government Office wants the Budapest municipality to abolish the Budapest lorry toll. According to the Office, it was not introduced legally. Deputy mayor Ambrus Kiss said the regulation was adopted in 2011 and there had been no problems with it so far. He added that if the charge were abolished, it would increase through traffic in Budapest, leading to congestion and pollution.
The Budapest Government Office has called for the abolition of the freight traffic fee, as it believes that its introduction was not in line with the rules, InfoRádió reported. Deputy mayor Ambrus Kiss called the request unacceptable, saying that if it is expensive for non-targeted traffic to pass through Budapest, lorries will avoid the capital, reducing traffic and pollution.
He added that the relevant regulation was adopted in 2011, and that the office had no problem with it for more than a decade. (According to some sources, the regulation was, in fact, adopted even earlier, in 2008.)
According to the Municipality of the capital, the city government made the right decision in 2011, it had the authority to do so, and they dispute the position of the Government Office. The first meeting in 2024 of the Budapest City Council will take place on Wednesday. The toll is also likely to be discussed.
The air in Budapest is worse than you might think. I jog in the Varosliget when I am there and I notice my stamina is impaired by the air quality compared to back in Canada. One time we made a trip to Harkany and my jogging stamina was double what it was in Budapest. The air quality difference was that dramatic. Diesel is by far the worst form of internal combustion engine and the trucks are just terrible. Keep them out of the downtown.