Transport policies in Hungary

14 Pages·2017·1.49 MB·English

by  Vilmos Oszter

Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20
DOI10.1007/s12544-017-0236-x
ORIGINALPAPER
Transport policies in Hungary - historical background
and current practice for national and regional level
VilmosOszter1
Received:28October2016/Accepted:21March2017/Publishedonline:5April2017
#TheAuthor(s)2017.ThisarticleispublishedwithopenaccessatSpringerLink.com
Abstract necessaryorganizationsandpublicprivatebodies(withsecure
Introduction Thispaperpresentsanoverviewofthecurrentand and sustainable financial background) with exact tasks and
pastevolutionoftheHungarianTransportPoliciesandinvesti- responsibilityonallterritoriallevels.
gateshowandwhatkindofresultscouldbeusedinthefuture
transportconceptsandstrategies.Italsoexaminesthepracticeof Keywords Transportpolicy.Governance .Transport
coordinationbetweenthedifferentterritorialandadministrative Planning,Transportstrategy.Hungary
levelsoftransportplanning.Itaimstoidentifytheappliedpolicy
instrumentsandthemonitoringprocessesinstalled.
Methods By using literature and legal background review 1Introduction
fromthepastandcurrentplansandpoliciesthepaperwillalso
sharetheauthor’sownempiricalworkexperiencewhilepar- Transportpolicyhasalwaysbeenapowerfultooltoinfluence
ticipating in the elaboration of the New National Transport thesocial-economicdevelopmentofagivencountry,region.
Strategy (NKS) as well as an insight from the Transport Fromthebeginningofthetimepeopleandgoodsneededtobe
PolicyforBudapest(BalázsMórPlan).Itgivesanoverview transportedfromtheirorigintotheirdestination.Bythetech-
abouttherecentchangesintheTransportPolicyofHungary nical development of different transport means, the level of
anditsimplicationfortheprojectprioritylists. mobility,thusthestandardoflivinghasbeenincreasingcon-
Results The expected results are the clear identification of stantly. In order to ensure the most efficient system, a wide
synergiesandgapsamongtheongoingpoliciestogetherwith range of factors (e.g. local interests, company’s interest and
the divulgation ofgood and bad practices for the wider pro- publicbudget)shouldbeharmonized.Thisisaverychalleng-
fessionalaudience. ingprocessduetothemanyvariablesitincludes.Thispaper
Conclusions The need for a sustainable transport system, endeavors to give an overview by using literature and legal
whichassumesasustainableeconomyaswellisahugechal- backgroundreviewfromthepastandcurrentplansandpoli-
lengeforpolicymakers.Inordertoavoidparallelpolicymak- cies.Theauthor’sownempiricalresearchintheelaborationof
ing(especiallywhenmakingpoliciesfordifferentareas)and the New National Transport Strategy (NKS) [1] will also be
minimizetheeconomicandsocialcostoftransport,weneeda shared as well as insight from the Transport Policy for
coordinated, multimodal approach, which includes the Budapest(BalázsMórPlan)[2].Italsogivesanoverviewof
therecentchangesintheTransportPolicyofHungaryandits
implicationsfortheprojectprioritylists.
ThisarticleispartofTopicalCollectiononThedevelopmentofNational
TransportPolicy
2Historicalbackground
* VilmosOszter
[email protected]
Inthispartageneraloverviewisgivenaboutthemainchar-
1 KTIInstituteforTransportSciencesNonProfitLtd,ThanK.u.3-5, acteristics of the geographic location and about the past
Budapest1119,Hungary 170 years of transport policy making process in Hungary.
20 Page2of14 Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20
Themainfactorsofinfluencingtransportpoliciesarepresent- biggerdistances wereespeciallyfavorable for increasing the
edwithgraduallymoredetailstillnowadays. journeysof600–700kmtotheeasternprovincesofthattime
HungarybeforetheWW1[6].Theimpactoncommercewas
2.1Generalconditions hugeandtheBzonetariff^ hadtobere-startedinthecaseof
transfer journeys via the capital city, Budapest, which was
Hungary is a land-locked country situated in the Carpathian disadvantageous (but favorable to Budapest) for journeys to
BasininCentralEurope.ItisatthecrossroadsofEast–West and from Vienna, the main rival of Budapest in the Austro-
(from Southeastern Europe/Asia towards Western Europe) HungarianMonarchy[7].By1914thelengthofthecountry-
and North–South (BAmber road^ Baltic-Adriatic) Corridor widenormalrailwaynetworkreacheditsmaximumextension.
where transit flows from the beginning ofhistory. Therefore Onlysomesmallerbranchlineswereaddedlater.
the role of transport has always played a crucial role in the After the WW1, which brought the disintegration of the
economiclifeofthecountry. dualist Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the country was facing
Due to geographic conditions, the central places of the completely new challenges in the field of the transport too,
Carpathian Basin situated at the border of different terrains sincemanyimportantlinesandcitiesliedoutsidethenewstate
(mountains vs. plains) plus at the crossing points of the re- borders.
gion’s main river Danube (with strategic fortresses), pre- After the WW2 Hungary became part of the BEastern
determined the actual location of Budapest, the capital city Block^ (communist countries of Eastern Europe), which
ofHungary.Theregionalsub-centers,whichhadbeenunder raised new expectations for the outdated post-war transport
the political control of the central area were connected with infrastructure.
radial road networks of the period. The transversal connec- From1968theBNewEconomicMechanism^(model)was
tionsweregenerallyweak. introduced in order to increase the efficiency of the former
The first modern age country level transport network de- highly-centralized socialist economy. It gradually allowed
velopmentconceptwascreatedandmadeofficialbytheAct the emergence of privately owned businesses while at the
XXX of 1848 [3]. Besides improving the conditions of the sametimeimplementedmarket-stylereforms,whichrequired
mostimportantinlandwaterways(Danube,Tisza,Drávariv- amorerationalizedmanagementforthe(almostalways)state-
ers),itcontainedthefundamentaldirectivesfortheradialroad ownedcompanies.Nearly50yearslateritcanbeconsidered
andrailwaynetwork.Itdesignatedtheimportantrivercross- as a generally successfully step forward for the economy of
ings,and alsoproposedthe pointswherethefirstpermanent Hungary, which paved the way to the change of system to
bridgesweretobebuilt.Furthermore,italsodeclaredthatthe capitalism two decades later. Along with general economic
important inter-regionalconnectingrailwaysorroads should changes for the transport sector, a new BTransport Policy
notcontainanydetoursassomelocallobbyistwished[4]. Concept^wasacceptedbytheGovernment.
2.2Transportdevelopmentsduringthecontinuous 2.3Impactsofthetransportpolicyconceptof1968
industrialization
Although it is 49 years old, it is still the concept with the
In the late nineteenth century, within the Austro-Hungarian deepest impact on transport issues in Hungary. At the time
Empire, the evolution of the railway network developed ac- of its creation the main reason was the chronic shortage of
cording to former directives, its main transversal elements working force and rolling stock, and as consequence the in-
were built just several decades later than the radial ones. efficiencyofthestaterailways,whichtransportedalmost80%
Besidesthedirectivesofthefirsttransportconcept,thetariff ofallgoodsandpassengersatthattime.Theeconomicpolicy
systemregulationalsoplayedakey-roleinstrengtheningthe oftheera,theBNewEconomicMechanism^)alsochangedthe
capital centered network. In 1889 a new so-called Bzone- transport demand on both the passenger and the cargo side.
tariff^ system was implemented by the transport minister Contrary to the needs of the previously concentrated heavy
GáborBarossinordertoreplacetheprevioustraditional,in- industry, new forms of industrialization took place together
effectiveandloss-makingtariffsystem[5].Thebasicideawas with geographic de-concentration of the production sites to
tolowerthetariffratesby20–50%(!)andtocreateanequal, smallandmiddlesizedtownsandcities.
affordable price in the most frequent travelling distance of Themainaimsofthe1968TransportPolicyConceptcan
under25km(wherepeopledidnotusethetrainbefore)and besummarizedasfollows:classificationofthesecondaryrail-
tohave a singlefarefor journey above 225 km. The Bunder waylinesandtheclosureofthose,wherethepotentialtrans-
25km^singlefarehadahugeimpactontheearlyevolutionof port demand is weak and/or its operation is below the eco-
thecommutingtrafficinthesuburbanareasanditalsomade nomic efficiency limit. At the same time road infrastructure
thechangeoflandusepossiblearoundlargercitiesandespe- investmentswererealizedintheaffectedareas.Intheremain-
cially in the functional metropolitan area of Budapest. The ing lines some smaller railway stations were also closed in
Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20 Page3of14 20
order to centralize the rail freight traffic at a nearby better modalsplitchangeddramaticallytotheroadtransportinthe
equipped Bmicro-area^ station where road feeder transport caseofthefreighttraffic,butalsopublictransportlostground,
wassupposedtobeupgraded. althoughnotasmuchasrailfreight(Fig.1).
Besides branch line closures, important investments were Duringthe1990’snewnationaltransportdevelopmentplan
made on the main lines (second tracks, electrifications, new was designed for road transportation (in 1991), and the first
signaling systems, higher speed tracks, new rolling stocks) RailwayAct(1993)[11]wasdeclared.Thecommonissuein
andthefirstmotorwaysectionswerealsobuiltthistimealong theseplanswasthedevelopmentofhighwaysandmainrail-
withacomprehensivesecondaryroadpavingprogram. waylinesinthetraditionalradialdirection-butinsteadofthe
After the oil crisis of 1973, the economic viability of the former40yearsofeasternorientation-towardstheAustrian
programwasnotasfavorablefortheroadtransportasitwas borderandtoWesternEurope.TwolargePPPcontractswere
beforeandasaconsequenceofeconomicrecession,thereal- signedinordertofinancenewmotorwaysections,whichwere
izationoftheTransportPolicyConceptwassloweddown. laterrenegotiatedtoachievebetterconditionsforthestate.
Duetolackoffunds,theroadinfrastructurewasonlypartly By1996Hungarywasonthewaytoheraccessiontothe
builtandinsomecasestheinvestmentcostsofcargolinesof EuropeanUnion(EU).Thefirstpre-accessionEUfundsmost-
some factories were not refunded [8]. Some lines remained lyrelatedtoinfrastructuredevelopmentandrenewal(PHARE
not just because of the lack of funds for replacing them but – Poland and Hungary: Assistance for Restructuring their
also because of their strategic or military importance or be- Economies and after year 2000, ISPA – Instrument for
causeofthestronglocalpoliticallobby.By1980theclosing Structural Policies for Pre-Accession) provided financial
process stoppedandfinallyabout1600kmofnormalgauge source for many important projects. This meant that all the
lineswereclosed(insteadoftheoriginallyplanned2600km). regulationsandlawsweretobemadeBEU-compatible^.On
Ontheotherhand,takingtheclosednarrowgaugenetworks the field of transport the directives of the ‘so called’ White
intoaccountabout30%oftheHungarianrailwaynetworkwas Paper[12]wereimplementedinHungarianpoliciesandlaws.
closed in this period, which was roughly the double of the Themostimportantkeywordsincluded‘integrationtotheEU’
averageofotherEuropeancountries[9]. (priority for cross-border and TEN-T – Trans-European
Thechangesinthenetworkmeantlessuseofrailwaysfor Transport Network – developments) with special focus on
bothpassengersandfreighttransport,whichhadanimpacton the growing regional disparities, environmental issues and
the environment, but in the 1970’s in Eastern Europe this market oriented, competitive regulations for transport pro-
effecthadnearlynoimportanceatallnorforthegeneralpub- viders.Anewlong-termperspective(till2034)forthenation-
lic and nor for the decision makers. At the beginning the almotorway,atrunknetworkdevelopmentplanwascreated
emission level didn’t not changed drastically as relatively andservedasa basisformanylater plans and concepts(not
modern buses replaced the mostly steam powered regional justtransportplans,forexample,thenationalMasterPlanof
trains and the role of passenger cars was still marginal till 2003.
theendofthe1980’s(upfrom95in1980butwithonly166 The Transport Concept of 1996 was the first one in
privatecarsper1000inhabitantsin1989). Hungary, which included an environmental aspect together
with the Bpollutant pay principle^ that recognizes the exter-
2.4Recentplansandtheirrealization nalities. It designated five strategic directions, of which one
representedenvironmentalconsiderations:
Due to societal change in East-European countries by 1989, 1. FacilitatetheintegrationintotheEuropeanUnion
thetransportsectorfacedradicalshrinking,especiallytherail 2. Improvetheconditionsforcooperationwithneighboring
freight.Thiswaspartlyduetothecollapseofthein-effective countries
heavyindustryandalsothedecreaseddemandfromthemain 3. FacilitatethebalancedregionaldevelopmentofHungary
export markets of the former Eastern European communist 4. Protectthehumanlivesandenvironment
countries (e.g. Poland, Czechoslovakia). At the same time 5. Create an efficient, market-compatible transport
newformsofproductionstartedtoworkinHungary:smaller regulation
production centers with flexible needs for transport (small
quantity,‘justintime’),whichcouldonlybesatisfiedbyroad Thesestrategicdirectionswereprovenbythecomingyears
transportinvolvingfreshprivatecapital.Asareactionoflaw- andtheycanbeconsideredstillvalidtodayaswell.
maker’s in 1988 - at the beginning of the political and eco- Intheautumnof1998theeconomiccrisisoftheRussian
nomicchanges-anewactwaspasseddealingwiththeregu- Federation (still an important export market that time) hit
lation of road transport. Due to ongoing motorization and Hungaryhardanditdelayedsomeimportantalreadyongoing
democraticchangesmoreandmorepeoplecoulduseprivate orBjusttobestarted^transportdevelopments(e.g.M3high-
cars and more mini-vans became available for the needs of wayEasternextension,line4ofBudapestMetro)duetothe
new entrepreneurs and small private companies [10]. The shortageofcapital.
20 Page4of14 Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20
Fig.1 Freightmodalsplitin
Hungarybetween1970and2013
(Source:Eurostat,KTI)
After a change in the central government in 2002 a new objectives of the Transport Operational Program include the
BHungarian Transport Policy^ document was created with a upgradingoftheTEN-TelementsinHungarybothforrailand
planning period from the year 2003 till 2015 [13]. The alsoforroadtransport,thefosteringofintra-regionalconnec-
TransportPolicyof2003didnotbringfundamentalchanges tions and intermodal hub developments together with eco-
inthefocusofthefuturedevelopments,butitwascreatedby friendly and public transport developments. In all seven
payingattentiontothenewWhitePaperoftheEUfrom2001 NUTS 2 level Hungarian statistical-development regions the
[14].Itsmainresultsweretime-basedvignette-pricingonthe differentregionaloperativeprogramsusuallyhadexistingin-
nationalmotorwaynetworkaccordingtovehiclecategories.It frastructure element rehabilitation (e.g. regional roads, rail-
alsoacceleratedmotorwayconstructions(from5to10to25– ways,bridges)andlocalscaledevelopmentsforinstancesome
30kmperyear)byinvolvingPPPcontracts.Furthermore,the newpassengerinformation systems (new,real-timeinforma-
EU-conformseparationoftherailwayincumbentcompanyto tionsystemforBudapestpublictransport).Inearly2007the
anetworkRailwayCompanyandtheseparationofpassenger EuropeanCommissionaskedforamoredetailedexplication
and cargoprovider companies werealso a resultbesides the (bybetterprojectindicatorsandexactnumbers)ofthespecific
privatization of the inland waterway shipping company aims of the Transport Operational Program. After several
(MAHART), Budapest Airport, and finally the national flag roundsofconsultationitturnedoutthatanewtransportstrat-
carrierairlinecompany,MALÉV. egyhadtobecarriedout.Thenewstrategy(EKFS)included
the recommendations from half-time revision of the EU’s
2.5TransportpolicyasanEUmemberstate WhiteBook.Itcontainedfourmainpillarspassengertransport
development, freight transport development, infrastruc-
Hungarybecamefull-rightEUmemberon1stMay2004.In ture development and horizontal topic with a focus on
this new situation not just the main policy objectives have sustainability (see Table 1). The new strategy was the
changed (harmonization to the EU), but also a completely first in Hungary to include a Strategic Environmental
newformoffundingcreatedthechallengeforthepublicad- Impact Assessment document based on the requirements
ministrationsectorandalsoforprivateenterprises,whotake of Directive 2001/42/EC [16].
partinthecreationofplansand/ortheirrealization.Inorderto By May 2008 the BUnified Transport Development
have specific BOperational Programs^ (later co-financed by Strategy^ (Egységes Közlekedésfejlesztési Stratégia, EKFS)
the EU), valid, EU-conform and coherent strategies were to was prepared with focus on the specific objectives of the
be presented. For the first full EU financed period (2007– TransportOperationalProgramtakingintoaccountthetiming
2013)inHungarytwomainfinancialsourceswereavailable ofinvestmentsinaccordancewiththeamountoftheavailable
for transport infrastructure development projects: Transport fundsof7.3billionEUR.ItstimehorizoncoveredthenextEU
Operational Program (KÖZOP) and seven Regional period as well from 2014 till 2020. The importance of this
Operational Programs (financed by the Cohesion Fund and hugeamountfortransportdevelopmentisincreasingcontin-
the European Regional Development Fund). The special uouslybecausesincetheEUaccessionthenationalfinanced
Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20 Page5of14 20
Table1 ObjectivestheBUnifiedTransportDevelopmentStrategy(EKFS)^[15]
1.DevelopmentofPassenger 2.DevelopmentofFreightTransport 3.DevelopmentofTransport 4.HorizontalTopic
Transport Infrastructure
1.1.Optimizethemodal-splitby 2.1.MaintainthebetterthanEUaverageshareof 3.1.Improvethetrunk 4.1.Decreasethenumber
maintainingthebetterthanEU theenvironmentalfriendlytransportmodes networkinorderto ofroadfatalitiestounder
averageshareofpublictransport 2.2.Improvetheeconomicconditionsofthe increaseeconomic 500personsperyear
modes environmentalfriendlytransportmodesand competitiveness 4.2.Createenvironmental
1.2.Improvetheefficiencyofpublic increasetheirabilityformaintainingtheir 3.2.Improveregional friendlyandenergy
transportmeansbyensuring infrastructure accessibilityondifferent efficienttransport
co-modality 2.3.Increasetheshareofcombinedfreight territoriallevels networks
1.3.Increasethelevelofmobilityby transport 3.3.Developmentofthe 4.3.Ensuringlongterm
providingbetteraccessibilityfor 2.4.Increasetheefficiencyofmultimodal urbanandsuburbanpublic sustainabilityby
anyone logisticcenters passengertransport consciousinfrastructure
1.4.Ensureeconomicsustainability infrastructure development
ofpassengertransportbyrational 3.4.Preventfrom 4.4.Increasethespreadof
planning deterioratingofroad ITSapplications
conditionscausedbyheavy
vehicles
developmentstartedtoshrink,andduetotheglobalfinancial growthstrategy.Europe2020hasamongitsprioritiesthede-
crisisby2009,itbecamevirtuallynonexistent.Thetotalshare velopment of Blow-carbon economy^ and Binnovation^.
ofstatefinanceddevelopmentsdecreasedtoonly3%,byfar Within these prioritiesthe de-carbonization (less greenhouse
thelowestintheEU.Therest(97%)wasco-financedbythe gasemission)ofthetransportsectorisakeyelement,sothe
EU,ofwhichonly15–25%wasprovidedbyHungary’s‘own White Paper has ambitious objectives about alternative fuel
resources’. usagetobeachievedby2030andby2050.Thesetworecent
EKFS consisted of two main volumes, of which the first EU policy changes required their implementation into
one described the objectives and their tools for implementa- HungarianNationalpolicies.
tion,whilethesecondonedefinedthedifferentdevelopment Thenationaldevelopmentpolicyisformulatedintheform
projects of the different modes together with their proposed of a document called BÚj Széchenyi Terv^ (New Széchenyi
financial resources. The project list slightly changed com- Plan)[17].Itexpressesitsobjectivesbyestablishingthefol-
pared to the previous policy’s list (2003) as the Strategic lowingdesiredmodalshiftfrom2010to2020(seeTable2).
EnvironmentalImpactAssessmentpointedoutofthesustain- In order to realize these ambitious goals different plans
abilityrisksofseveralprojects. havebeenupdatedandcreated.
Bytoday(2017)itisclearthattheprevioustwoambitious In 2011 Hungary updated its long-term motorway and
transport policy documents targeted highly ambitious goals, mainroaddevelopmentprogram,whichtakestheexperience
ofwhichnumerousarejustbecomingrealistictobuilddueto of former plans into account and also concentrates on new
financialreasonsorduetotrafficdevelopment,whichwashit challenges caused by the global financial crisis. Since the
hardbytheglobalfinancialcrisisof2008–2009. highways along the main transit corridors have been built,
thepressurefortheneedofmotorwayshasdecreasedsignif-
icantly (Fig. 2). Between 2000 and 2016 the total length of
3Overviewoftherecentdevelopmentscurrent
situationandoutlookforthefuture
Table2 Modalsplit(tonkm%andpassengerkm%)inHungaryin
2010andin2020[17]
Following the general elections of year 2010 a new govern-
Transportmode 2010 2020
mentcameintopower. Thechallengesofthe financial crisis
forced the new government to re-think the most important Freightroad 71 67
aspectsofthedifferenteconomicsectors.Changesintaxation, Freightrail 16 20
legal and structural reforms were introduced, which had an Freightpipeline 9 5
impactonthetransportsector. Freightinlandwaterway 4 8
Passengerprivatecar 60 65
3.1Transportpolicyinthepastyears
Passengerbus 22 15
Passengertrain 15 15
In2011theEUhasreleaseditslatestWhitePaperabouttrans-
Passengerair(internationalonly) 3 5
port, which is based partly on the Europe 2020 ten-year
20 Page6of14 Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20
Fig.2 TheMotorwaydevelopmentandplansinHungary(Source:NIF,KTI)
motorwaysincreasedfrom569kmto1480km.Bytodaythe constructionofacompletemotorwaywithinsufficienttraffic
actualnetworkdensitysurpassesboththecurrentEU’saver- demandandlowregionaldevelopmentpotential(Figs.3and
age(EU-28)andalsotheBold^memberstates’(EU-15)aver- 4).Thisisespeciallytrueifwetakeintoaccountthefactthat
age projected to a million inhabitants. Nevertheless the mo- the river Danube flows paralleljusta few kilometreseastof
torizationlevel(around300carsperthousandinhabitants)is theM6motorway,andtherearefewbridgestoaccessthebank
still among the lowest rates in the EU, where the average is ontheoppositeside.
nearly500carsperthousandinhabitants. Asaconsequence,moreattentionandfundsareallocated
However,ifwetakealookatFig.3,itisobviousthatnot to maintain and upgrade the underfinanced ca. 31 thousand
allofthesectionswerenecessarytobuildas2×2lanecom- kmofnationalmainroadnetworknowadays.Somesmaller-
plete motorways with a design speed of 130 km per hour scale investments such as bypass roads at some settlements
because of poor traffic demand. Unfortunately the sections withhightransittraffic(morethan6thousandunitvehicleper
with weakest traffic load were built through PPP contracts, day)–whichincreasethequalityoflifeofthelocalresidents
which oblige the Hungarian State to refund ca. 100 billion andalsoimprovestransportsafety–becamethemainareaof
HUF(370millionEUR)annuallyfora30yearperiodinthe intervention in the recent years [19]. On the one hand, the
formofanBavailabilitypayment^,whiletheincomegenerat- relative economic development of the country and its traffic
edbyusagefeesislessthan15billionHUF(55millionEUR) intensity/vehicle number compared to the density of motor-
evenwiththenewlyimposeddistance-basedchargeforfreight way network do not require immediate investments to build
vehiclesabove3.5tonsofweight. more cross-country motorways. On the other hand, there is
ThecaseofthemotorwayM6-M60linkingBudapestwith certain political pressure (and expectations from potential
theSouthernHungarianregionalcentercityofPécsillustrates voters) to build new motorways instead of not so
best,howlocalpoliticalpressure–duetotheBCulturalCapital Bspectacular^ investments such as the upgrading of existing
of Europe^ status of the city in 2010 – can achieve the network. Due toshortageofcapitaland the needtoupgrade
Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20 Page7of14 20
Fig.3 Trafficintensityperlane
indifferentcross-sectionsonthe
motorwaynetworkofHungaryin
2010(datainthousandunit
vehicles(~PCUs)perlaneper
day).Sourceofdata:Hungarian
Roads(MagyarKözútNonprofit
Zrt.)[18]
thecurrentnetworkinthepresent7yearsoftheEUprogram- As far as means other than private cars are concerned,
mingperiod(2014–2020),a new kindofapproachisneces- Hungary still has a good modal split share in the European
saryforfindingtheeconomicallymostefficientinvestments. Union. As Table 2 shows only 60% of the total passenger
The early signs ofthisnew approachare detectablein some kilometers are produced by the use of private cars unlike in
politicalmessagesatthetimeofwritingthisarticle,although severalotherdevelopedcountrieswherethisshareisbetween
the amountavailable for transport investments isnot yet de- 80and90%.Thisbetterthanaveragevaluecanbeexplained
cided. From technical point of view, the most realistic com- bytwoimportantfactors:
promisetodayistobuildsomeBlowcost^motorways(with-
outservicelaneandsomelevelcrossings)oncertainsections. & Thedifferenthistoricalbackgroundcausedlowermotori-
The BModern Cities^ national development programme zation rate, (which is still low) due to economic
amongmanyotherurbandevelopmentprojectsincludesBlow conditions.
cost^ motorwayconnectionstoallcountyrightcities,which & Unlikeinmanyotherpost-communistcountriesinEastern
currentlydonothaveadirectmotorwayconnection(9of23). Europe,the publictransport networkcoverageand time-
Sinceinmostcasesthereisnosufficienttrafficvolume,these tableofferisstillgoodandreliableinHungary(99,9%of
investmentswillbefullyfinancedbythegovernmentinorder the settlements has public transport connection with at
todecreaseregionaldisparities. leastthreeservicesdaily).
Fig.4 TrafficLoadonRoad
NetworkofHungaryin2007
(Source:KTI)
20 Page8of14 Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20
Nevertheless the public transport system needs to be households,whichisarelativelyhighnumberinasurveyofthis
upgraded in quality terms as the average age of buses and kind. Unfortunately the data from this survey is just partially
trainsarestilltoohigh,andthereareseveralunresolvedissues published;therearealsomanyunknownfacts,whichshouldbe
inthesolidfinancingofoperatorcompanies.Thenon-efficient usefultocreatesynergieswiththeavailabledatasources.
overlapping PSO(PublicService Obligation) services ofthe In the long-term motorway and main road development
trainsandbusesshouldbeharmonizedbysecuringfast,com- program(updatedin2011),theresultsofthe2008nationwide
fortable and reliable connections and common integrated O-Dsurveywereusedasweightsinthecalculationofdiffer-
ticketing.Partofthemeasuresaretakingplacenowinforms ent accessibility scenarios belonging to different future road
of new intermodal transport hub buildings at certain bigger networks. The time accessibility from each settlement was
citiesaroundHungary, but the economicinterestsofthedif- weightedbytheintensityoftravelbetweenthem(moreexact-
ferent(curiously nearlyalways state-owned) projectslargely lywiththedataavailablebetweentrafficzones).
slowdowntherealizationofatransparent,electronicintegrat- The efficient use ofdataisstill to beresolved in order to
ed ticketing system, which would be favorable for the support good decision making, but frequently the different
taxpayers. transportprovidercompaniescannotfindfinancialincentives
for using domestic travel data as there is no solid financial
3.2Potentiallyusabletravelsurveysforpolicymakers background, which would include all public transport mode
unlikeseveralothertariffassociationsindevelopedcountries.
The above mentioned problems need careful analysis and AccordingtothevalidEUregulations,theoperatorcompanies
planning, which should be supported by better data for the arefacingmoreinternationalcompetitionalreadyontheirin-
decision makers. For finding the areas, which locally and/or ternationalroutes(bothbusandtrainoperators),whichmakes
temporarily has bottlenecks in traffic or are underserved by them more cautious thus they will not share important O-D
certain means of transport (e.g. buses and trains), a compre- dataforbusinessreasons.
hensive analysisand the creation of a new all-transport plan Ontheotherhand,severallocalorregionallevelstatistical
covering traffic model is needed [20]. For the input of this dataorindicatorsofdifferentsocio-economicsectorsarebe-
analysis and the consequent model, the biggest underused coming every year more accessible not just to the decision-
database would be the nationwide Origin-Destination (O-D) makers, but to any interested parties who help create appro-
Survey made in Autumn 2008 (just before the crisis). This priatelocaldevelopmentplansoutsidethescopeofthetrans-
database was partially used for the long term motorway and portsector.
mainroaddevelopmentprogramin2011,buttherearemany
specificdetails(vehicletype,travelbehaviordata,etc.),which 3.3Recenttransportpolicy–MakingtheNational
shouldbeanalyzedcarefully.Ofcourse,forlocallevelinter- TransportStrategy(NemzetiKözlekedésiStratégia,NKS)
ventionsnewadditionalsurveyswouldbeneededdepending
onthescaleoftheplannednewinvestment. Basedontheauthor’sownworkexperience,thissectionen-
As far as public transport (regional buses and trains) is deavorstogiveaninsightintothepracticeoftheelaboration
concerned,manynewpiecesofinformationaboutthetraffic ofthelatesttransportstrategyinHungary.
could be gained from the ticket statistics, which are Learning from the previous EU expectations about trans-
(surprisingly) not used currently for O-D passenger demand portstrategies,thegovernmentdecidedtolaunchtheprepara-
analyzingpurposes.Accordingtothecurrentlegalprovisions tionofthenewstrategicdocumentalreadyin2011.Themain
inHungary–basedonasensitivepoliticaldecision-elderly aim was to create an EU conform, firm basis for the future
citizensoftheEUabovetheageof65andtheinfantsunder developments, which are mostly co-financed from different
6yearsoldarenotobligedtohaveaticketorpasstotravelby EU funds [15]. Three different time horizons were defined:
publictransport.Thissituationcreatescontinuousdiscussions 2020(accordingtotheEU2014–2020programmingperiod),
aboutthefarecompensationbetweentheserviceproviders– 2030and2050.TheBasis^situationanalysiswascarriedout
bus and train companies – and the central government, who bytheTechnicalUniversityofBudapest(BME) duringyear
finance. Consequently, there is no exact mobility data about 2012.LaterontheMinistryforNationalDevelopment(NFM)
passengers.Afterthecompletionofthenationwidee-ticketing –theMinistryresponsibleforTransportIssues–haslaunched
system (in 5–7 years), the obligatory use of a personalized an EU co-financed tender (funded by Priority 6 Technical
chipcard could provide exact real-time information about Assistance of Transport Operational Program) for the elabo-
travelers. ration of the National Transport Strategy (NKS). The tender
TheHungarianCentralStatisticsOffice(KözpontiStatisztikai waswonbyaconsortiumcomposedofmainHungarianplan-
Hivatal, KSH) has also made a country level representative ningandconsultancycompanies.Differentworkgroupshave
household survey about the mobility patterns of the society in beenorganizedfromtheexpertsaccordingtocertainareasof
2009andlaterin2012.Itincludedapproximately15thousand transport (road, rail, air, transport economy, modeling).
Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20 Page9of14 20
BNKS^hadtogiveanswersforthenewprioritiesintheEU’s nextphase’stasks.Apartfromtheprojectmaps,themostobvi-
TEN-Tpolicy,anditalsohadtodealwiththeinteractionsof ous and easily understandable way to show the results was a
thealreadyupdatedplansofthedifferenttransportmodes.The detailed problem- and solution tree had been defined together
elaborationofBNKS^wasalsodividedintotwomainparts: withamatrixrankingofthedifferentinterventiontoolsaccording
& Methodology&thesisand totheirfeasibilityandsocialutility(Table3).
& Elaborationofalltransportmodecoveringstrategy. Theabovefiguresfeaturenotjustthesocialandeconomic
risks of a given intervention but also the potential environ-
Twoseparatetargetgroupswereidentified(Fig.5): mental risks and impacts as well. The future development
projectsinthedifferentEUoperativeprogramsandthegrow-
& Social&economictargets ingnationalfinanceddevelopmentscanbeclassifiedandlater
& Maintransportsectortargets prioritizedmoreeasilywithinthisframework.
Comparedtoprevioustransportstrategies,awiderprofes-
sionalaudiencewasinvolvedandalsothenearlyexactbudget
DuringtheelaborationoftheBNKS^allimportantpartiesof for the next planning period was known much better than
the transport system and the civil sector (passenger right and previously.Whilethetransportstrategyof2003hadtoomany
environmentalassociations)wereinvolved,andtherewerereg- professionalwisheswithoutrealisticfundstheEKFStransport
ular consultations to ensure the highest consensus achievable. strategymadein2008wasquitewellfittedtotheoperational
During the full elaboration process, regular consultations were program funds, which meant that much more projects could
held with EU experts from the Joint Assistance to Support becompletedandthesameisexpectedfromNKS.Oneofthe
ProjectsinEuropeanRegions(JASPERS),whichmadeitpossi- greatestexpectationsfromtheNKSwasthepreparationofa
bletoinfluencethewayofpolicymaking.Anominatedconsult- multimodal model instead of a sectorial one. Although the
ingcommittee(representativesofallmajorinvolvedparties)was modelexistandthemanyfactsweredescribed,butthedata-
presentattheseconsultationsinordertoensurethequality.The baseisnotusablefortheaudienceatthemomentasthereisno
workstartedinJanuary2013andthefirstmilestonewasdeliv- updateddatastoragebackgroundforhelpingthefuturemon-
eredattheendofMarch2013,whilethesecondandthirdmile- itoring process. All in all, the over 5 thousand pages of
stonesweredeliveredattheendofMayandAugust2013. Transport Policy background documents made a firm basis
For instance by reaching the third milestone in the rail forthefutureprojects.Aftertheelaborationofthedocuments,
workgroup nine pre-feasibility studies for future developments a 3 month long public discussion period was held with the
were elaborated [21] in the framework of National Railway interestedlocalauthorities(localgovernments,municipalities)
Development Concept (Országos Vasútfejlesztési Koncepció, andcommercial,civilassociationsandvirtuallyanyinterested
OVK).Allstudieswerebasedonpreviousworkcarriedinthe citizen could download the public documents and make re-
field of functional regional analysis (many times crossing EU marksonit,whichhadtobeansweredproperly.Intotalmore
memberstateborders)andalsowithtimetablebasedinfrastruc- than1700remarksandcommentshadtobeansweredbythe
turedevelopmentapproach.Anextensivenetworkmultimodel- NKS Consortium members. In certain cases the respective
inganalysiswascarriedouttogetherwithsomerailbasedfunc- partsoftheNKSwasmodifiedaccordingly.
tional analysis of certain railway lines. The work was shared Followingthepublicconsultation,arevisedversion,underthe
amongthedifferentexpertsoftheworkgroupandweeklymeet- nameofNationalInfrastructureDevelopmentStrategy,wasap-
ingswere heldtoreviewthe elaboration processandshare the proved by the Government Decree No 1486/2014 [22] and
Fig.5 Targetsystemofthe
NationalTransportStrategy[1]
pp.42
20 Page10of14 Eur.Transp.Res.Rev.(2017)9:20
submittedtotheEuropeanCommission,whichwasfinallyap- higherlevelinterest.However,besidessomelocallydeveloped,
proved on 15th February 2015. This extremely important step usuallyMunicipalityoperatedwebsites,since1996anewspatial
madeitpossibletoprepareprojectswithEUco-financeforthe planningonlineplatform(TeIR)isbeingcontinuouslydeveloped
currentEUprogrammingperiod(2014–2020)withintheframe- withmorefunctions.Someoftheseareavailablefortheaverage
work of the Integrated Transport Development Operative internet user in order to provide information for the citizens,
Program (Intergrált Közlekedésfejlesztési Operatív Program, which can be extremely helpful when buying a flat or house,
IKOP) within the BSzéchenyi 2020^ Development Plan e.g. Of course the main users are professional planners from
framework. different administrative levels and institutions. In 2007 the
IKOP’smainfocusisontherailwayrelateddevelopments GovernmentreleasedanewBHandbookforcreatingstrategies^
ontheTEN-TnetworkinaccordancewiththeEUrequirement in order to ensure the similar structure in the different areas of
to provide equal access option by providing GSM-R and governance,ofwhichthetransportsectorisonesegmentonly.
ETCS2systemsfor efficienttrain operation onthe renewed The most important steps towards a sustainable transport
and electrified main lines without bottlenecks. The missing policy in Hungary (like in many other countries) would re-
sections of the motorway system to some border points are quiretherecognitionoftheimportantconnectionbetweenthe
also financed from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) land-useplanningandthesectorapproachedtransportpolicy.
funds. The barrier-free accessibility provision is a must for Intherecenttransportpolicydocument(NKS),theinteraction
any new developments taking into account the respective betweenland-useplanningandtransportdevelopmentitisjust
Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI) according still partly based on different land use scenarios, unlike in
to the EU rules. In many important regional centers of Sweden [27] where they have a long tradition in this area.
Hungary till 2020 a number of intermodal hubs are being For the time being, Strategic Environmental Impact
developed with EUco-financeinorder to ensurea seamless Assessment (Directive 2001/42/EC) [16] is forming part of
multimodal travel experience. In accordance with the out- therecent(after2007)plansonly.However,inthepastplans
comesofTable3,newwheelchairaccessibleelectricmultiple of Budapest transport development (S-Bahn Concept, 2007;
train sets(EMUs)are beingtenderedfortherenewed subur- Budapest Transport System Development Plan – BKRFT,
banlinesinordertoimprovepassengerservicequality. 2009),onlyoneversionofthefutureconcentrationofliving
andworkingzoneswasexaminedasabasefordifferentnet-
workproposals.Trafficloadestimationsforthefuturefacea
4Coordinationbetweendifferentlevelsofplans hugeriskofover-estimatingthefuturetransportdemanddue
to the experience of significant traffic variations in the past
Since 2011 counties (NUTS 3) became main areas of regional years.Thesetrafficdemands,however,havedecreasedinthe
developmentinHungaryinsteadofregions(NUTS2)[23].The recent years of economic crisis and high fuel prices. Hence
newNationalDevelopmentandRegionalDevelopmentConcept thereismodesttrafficandGDPgrowthexpectationassumed
(in Hungarian: Országos Területfejlesztési Koncepció, OTFK) forthenextperiodswithbetterfittingscenarios.
[24] has been approved by the Parliamentary Resolution
1/2014.Itidentifiestheshortandmid-termdevelopmentaimof 4.1ThenewtransportpolicyparadigmofBudapest
spatial planning in Hungary. Besides the national scale plans,
manyothermoredetailedtransportplanswerecreatedondiffer- In larger metropolitan areas, more exactly in the Budapest
ent levels, like the county (NUTS 3) level, the micro region Metropolitan Area the need for a new paradigm in transport
(NUTS4)levelandofcourseonthesettlement(NUTS5)level. planningandpolicyhasmetwithpoliticalsupportfrom2010.
The cities had to prepare their Integrated City Development Theimplementationofthenewcitymanagementmodelwith
Strategiesinordertoensuretheproperuseoffinancialresources. aspecializedstateownedcompany,BKKCentreforBudapest
In addition to the country level BMaster Plan^ there are other Transporthasbroughtanewkindofapproachforthemetro-
specialareasBMasterPlans^(BudapestMetropolitanArea,lake politantransportpolicy[28].BKKhassimilarroleandtasks
Balatonrecreationandtourismarea),whichincludenotonlythe like Transport for London (TfL). It is the public body that
exactlocationofthemotorwaysandmainroads/railwaysbutalso coordinates and manages all transport related activities.
thelocationofsecondaryroads.Besidesthemainaims(increase Before 2010 a fragmented structure existed: several dif-
connectivity,helpingeconomicgrowth,reducingregionaldispar- ferent public companies were dealing with these tasks
ities,etc.)definedbyRoadTransportAct(ActIof1988)[25] under the supervision of metropolitan government and
therearenospecificplanningguidancetothenetworkplanner. the district (local) governments. By 2011 BKK became
Planning is based on previous network planning work phases the full-right body, which is responsible for all kinds of
andexperiences[26].Frequentlytherearesomelocallydecided transport related issues. BKK has three main service
landareas,whichmightoverlapwithlateraddednewinfrastruc- providers. Its main organizational structure can be seen
ture elements, which can generate conflicts between local and in the table below (Fig. 6).