The state will provide matching funds of 800 million forints, Tarlós told a press conference. With a total of 1.6 billion forints, the first phase of the development of the European cycling route network Eurovelo will be implemented, he said.

Over the past ten years, Budapest’s leaders have invested far more money in cycling paths than previous municipal leaders, Tarlós said.

The MOL BuBi bike-sharing scheme and the cycling path network have been expanded, and funding has been provided to promote the cycle to work scheme, he said. Máriusz Révész, government commissioner for an active Hungary, said promoting cycling would benefit car drivers as it reduces congestion.

Csaba Horváth, a Budapest assembly lawmaker for the opposition Socialists, said Tarlós and Révész had “kept secret” that 85% of the funding is European Union money.

With the European parliamentary elections around the corner, this is something Budapest residents should know, he added. Horváth said the cost per kilometre of 120-150 million forints was extremely high.

The construction of cycling paths should not require substantial spending on associated projects, he argued.
 

MTI Photo: Máthé Zoltán