The year 2014 is all about laying a basis for large-scale cycling developments to be implemented in the years to come, Minister of State for Infrastructure Pál Völner said at a professional event presenting the Cycling Development Programme entitled ‘Cycling is an Experience!’ (Bringázni Élmény!) held in Budapest on 23 January, 2014. Under the guidance of the Transport Development Coordination Centre, feasibility and policy-making studies are to be made and the Cyclist Registration System is to be updated.

The priority cycling investments are specified in a government decision, Pál Völner recalled. Thus, the complex development of the section of the international bicycle road EuroVelo 6 from Rajka to the Southern agglomeration of Budapest along both banks of the Danube, the establishment of a bicycle road connecting Lake Balaton with Budapest and the modernisation of and additions to the bicycle road around Lake Balaton are among the top priority tasks. The feasibility studies for the three routes of a total length of ca. 600 km are to be prepared by the end of summer. According to the current schedule, implementation may commence, after planning and licensing have been completed, in 2015 at the earliest and is to be funded from EU sources, the Minister of State added.

One of the policy-making studies to be worked out by the end of March is the Complex Cycling Programme where specific measures are to be designed for the objectives set in the National Transport Strategy. The document is to be based among others on comments by civil and professional organisations and foreign good practices. The primary aim of the Programme is to ensure that the absorption of funds is started as soon as possible and is implemented in an efficient way. A detailed proposal is to be worked out furthermore on setting up a central organ for coordinating cycling-related tasks. The condition of network elements already constructed gradually deteriorates; significant amortisation is to be controlled by working out a financially sustainable facility operation and management system operable in the long run. New professional guidelines may serve as useful assistance for representing cycling aspects in finalising the tender requirements and issuing tenders in relevant areas (e.g. tourism, rural development, environment protection, etc.).

The Bicycle Road Registry System (KENYI) is also to be updated by autumn 2014. The currently incomplete database is to be completed through the spatial information technology survey of some 3500 km of cycling facility. In future, cyclists are to be assisted in the orientation by a more up-to-date data manipulation module, an Android application for data survey/collection, a public website and a route-planning algorithm. The operation of the system is also to become more efficient through the application of open source-code systems.

The total costs of the project with the title ‘Preparations for the development of bicycle roads for commuters as part of the transport network’ amount to HUF 768 million. The Cycling Development Programme under the motto ‘Cycling is an experience!’, supported by the New Széchenyi Plan, is to be fully completed by the end of 2014.

(Ministry of National Development Communications Department)