Critical Mass. Budapest 2009

Today the Orthodox celebrate Easter, while in Hungary Critical Mass is taking place. A gathering of the bicyclers in Budapest and other cities in Hungary aims at attracting public attention to the problems of motor vehicles and public transport, such as air pollution, traffic jams, car accidents, noise etc. Moreover, Hungary is not as advanced in terms of the conditions for bicyclers compared to the Western European countries such as Germany or France where bicyclers can enjoy numerous bikeways without risk for their lives. Even though Budapest has several of those, but sometimes it is impossible to reach them, as they are occupied by the cars due to lack of parking space. Moreover, bicyclers are forced to choose whether to squeeze among the cars during the rush hours on majority of avenues (especially Erzsebet körut), or to go on pavement among peacefully walking people.
Therefore, Critical Mass is gaining popularity and tends to attract more public attention, which is a positive development, as more people may change cars to bikes. This is especially up-to-date during the times of crisis. At the same time it is not that effective and is rather ignored by the authorities (except for the police) and tends to become a mere pop event with lots of fun and picknicks (as some consumerism is also involved there - T-Shirts and other symbolic are sold during the event)...
Let me see and write my observations after the end of the event.
So far - the PROMO VIDEO and the HUNGARIAN CRITICAL MASS WEBSITE

AND NOW - >>PHOTOS!!! and >>MORE PHOTOS!!!