I’m an American living abroad. I’ve spent the last two years in Budapest, which is the capital of Hungary and one of the great cities of Central Europe. It has an urban population of about 2 million people (roughly the size of Philadelphia). Certainly, legend or conventional thinking has it that living without a car in Europe is much easier than in the US. To a large extent, that is true. I’ve managed to have a great life here for the last 2 years and have never owned a car.
One of the prime reasons that living without a car is so easy in Budapest is that the city is very compact by American standards. Since the city and the public transit do not have to service endless sprawling suburbs like in the U.S., the lines are not overstretched. There are suburban trains that connect to villages outside of the city limits, but most people live within the city where the wealth, jobs and culture are concentrated.
Budapest has 3 metro lines. Trains run every 3-5 minutes from around 5 am until midnight. It also has a very extensive tram and bus service that gives the city nearly 100% coverage for public transportation. Night buses service the whole city until the metro lines start back up in the morning. The city can do this for a moderately cheap amount because of its dense and centrally located population, different than metropolitan areas in the US.
Further, owning a car in Hungary is a very big expense. There is a very high tax on car purchases and gas prices are stratospheric (currently over $1.50 a liter or roughly $6.00 a gallon). This persuades more people to consider alternative transportation. As it’s a middle class transport system here, the quality of the trains is generally pretty good. It is easy to walk around the city and since your job may be only a few blocks from your house, it is possible to bike there without working up too much of a sweat. If you do need to get across town, just jump on a tram or a metro and you’ll be there in minutes.
Walk for your lives!!
Living without a car here has given me a “new normal” in getting from place to place. My parents just visited from the US. They both live and work in suburban America. They both work over half an hour by car away from our house. They don’t cycle, they don’t walk. They found it difficult to walk from place to place here, even when the distance was not very great. We also walked more slowly, so our short trips took longer to reach than if I was walking alone. Since I don't have a car, I do take advantage of walking. It’s healthier, it’s eco-friendly, I enjoy it. I’m in much better shape because I do walk and therefore walking is quick and easy. It’s a great virtuous cycle.
Once you start walking here, you realize just how close the things are that you need. Since there are small grocery stores all over, you don’t need a car to bring all of your groceries back in one trip. Need butter? Need milk? There’s a cheap store on the corner that sells 99% of the things you need. Need a chair or desk or bed? There is an Ikea at either end of the red line metro. You can get there and back in half an hour.
Reaching a Critical Mass
Bikes are still the Achilles’ heel in Budapest’s eco-grid. Bike lanes, “Bringa Ut” in Hungarian, do not service the entire city. Crossing the Danube by bridge can be treacherous on a bike. Those places that do have bike lanes, such as Andrassy Ut, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Ut, and Heroes’ Square, are not places that are generally of interest to the biking community. Andrassy Ut is the upper class shopping street where you can buy Dolce & Gabana, Burberry, or Calvin Klein. Most tight jeaned and tanktopped hipsters don’t go anywhere near these places and the bike lanes there go unused. The hipster havens on Kiraly utca have no such bike service.
The two most efficient bike lanes are the two bikes lanes which face each other on either side of the Danube River. In the mornings and the evenings, these are real bike-commuter transit lanes that make getting to work easier. Otherwise, bike traffic is directed onto roadways or sidewalks. This makes bike riding much more dangerous as neither cars nor pedestrians in Budapest have much experience in negotiating around town with large numbers of bikes traveling with them.
Save a Life, Drink and… Take the Bus
Finally, Budapest is a drinker’s city. From wine to beer to Hungarian Palinka (similar to schnopps), Hungarians like to have a few before going home. However, Hungary has a very strict drunk driving regulation. A person can only have 0.000000000% alcohol in their system. That’s right… none at all. I’m not sure you can even look at alcohol and drive legally.
The public transportation system can ferry you anywhere, all night, and it is exceedingly cheap. Most young people when they go out leave the cars at home and bus into or around the city. Since the city is practically overflowing with bars, you can generally find a good one right around the corner from metro or bus stop down town.
Since the Hungarians take their drinking very seriously and don’t like to see someone missing out on the fun, it’s hard not to accept a drink from them in the bar. However, between the metro and the night buses, no one has to volunteer to be the designated driver and no one has to worry about drunk drivers. It helps make the city safer, cleaner, and helps everyone to have a good time.
All around, the city’s integrated transportation system has made it very easy to cast off the car and get around the city by other means. It definitely makes day to day life more enjoyable and I think that going back would be hard. I still remember traffic jams, car insurance, and trying to find a parking spot. For me it's been great to live somewhere that I can easily have a life without a car. Now, if only I could find some way to make air travel more eco-friendly...
Thanks for reading!
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