The Bike-Friendly Settlement and Bike-Friendly Workplace awards were presented on Wednesday in Budapest; the title was awarded to 10 settlements and 11 companies and institutions, and Debrecen also received recognition.
At the award ceremony, Bálint Nagy, the state secretary responsible for transport at the Ministry of Construction and Transport (ÉKM), said: the ministry will initiate a legislative amendment within days, one of the most important goals of which is to protect the most vulnerable players in transport, pedestrians and cyclists, MTI quoted.
The basis of traffic regulations is to create safe conditions for all road users, he emphasized. The state secretary also indicated that the Ministry of Transport and Communications is working together with the other relevant ministries on the comprehensive renewal of the traffic regulation system, particularly the KRESZ.
According to the KTI Hungarian Institute of Transport Science and Logistics, which is conducting the tender, the ministry responsible for transport launched the tender in 2006.
29 settlements and 37 workplaces applied for the 2023 tender, of which the best were selected in several categories. Debrecen was awarded the title of Bicycle-Friendly Town, as were Kispáli, Kiskunhalas, Szarvas, Vásárosnamény, Kazincbarcika, Budakalász, Lenti, Győr and the Xth district of the capital.
There are currently 109 kilometers of bicycle paths in Debrecen, which are constantly being developed. The support of modern, environmentally friendly transport is given a prominent role in the city’s green code and the sustainable urban mobility plan.
It is very important that the green code contains measures that make the lives of city dwellers easier and enable them to organize their everyday lives greener. For example, there is a measure in it that means green switches, the message of which in practice is that it is easy to combine the bicycle with public transport or with another alternative means of mobility
– pointed out Deputy Mayor Ákos Balázs.
EDC Debrecen Nonprofit Kft., as well as Halasi Városmenedzser Nonprofit Kft., Koliken Kft., BKK Budapesti Közlekedesi Központ Zrt., Strabag Hungary received the title of Bicycle Friendly Workplace, and among the public institutions, BP18 Egyesített Óvoda Pestszentimrei Zöld Liget Member School, the village hall of Kispál, the Köbánya mayor’s office, the University of Pécs, the Szarvas Arboretum and the Tourinform in Vásárosnamény.
The winners can use the Bike Friendly title and logo for one year.
The best of the categories could each take home a bicycle, with which the ÉKM symbolically contributes to the development of the environmentally friendly vehicle fleet of the municipality and the workplace. At the award ceremony, it was announced that the tender would be announced this year as well.
