The train takes you from A to B, but how do you get to the station? And how do you get home from there? You could cycle, but it may not be so easy as it sounds. It's often difficult to get to the station, let alone the platforms, and there's no place to lock your bike. But rail and bicycles go hand in hand: cyclists need fixed-route transport to cover longer distances, while for rail users, bicycles can cut the door-to-door journey time.
The Cyclists' Club has sought solutions to this problem through a concerted action involving campaigning, petitioning, negotiating, consulting. What’s more, railway stations easily accessible via all means of transport are not only better for cyclists, but all of us, especially those with reduced mobility or those with pushchairs. A high quality, flexible and fast service would also help boost rail travel, offer people living in suburbs an alternative to driving, reduce car traffic (people driving in Budapest spend an average of 86 hours a year (!) stuck in traffic jams) and thus bring clear health and environmental benefits.
Yet, most stations are not equipped with sufficient (and professional!) bicycle storage facilities, and people arriving by bicycle cannot store their bikes safely. Although some stations are being renovated from time to time, in Budapest alone, there have been no cyclist-friendly improvements in Zugló, Kőbánya-Kispest or Kőbánya-Also stations, among others. In many places, the problem is that platforms are not accessible at all, only via stairs to underpasses or overpasses, and there are no push rails for cyclists, eventhough installing them would be a cheap and quick solution for cyclists.
The Cyclists’ Club put together a package of professional proposals, held a demonstration to raise awareness and launched a petition to finally take a more complex approach to planning rail improvements. They focused their campaign on Budapest and its greater metropolitan area, visiting Zugló, Nyugati and Déli stations several times, collecting signatures, distributing leaflets, talking to passengers arriving and departing, and making proposals that can be applied not only to the capital but to any railway station around the country.
As a tangible result of their work, regular consultations are now held between the Cyclists' Club and the Hungarian State Railways on the technical condition of stations and the use of bike-friendly solutions. Their long-term goal is to ensure that future renovations as a rule would be accompanied by improvements in combined cycle transport. Moreover, the successful campaign has made the news and since then, negotiations with the Budapest Transport Center on cooperation have been ongoing, and there is a demand for a similar campaign for the local railway (HÉV) lines, too.
The Hungarian Cyclists' Club aims to improve cycling infrastructure and raise awareness. The association has more than 2000 members and 21 regional organisations, run by volunteers who are committed to cycling and want to do something for the community.
Thanks to their efforts, in recent years cycling has become a safer and more attractive mode of transport in Budapest and in the countryside, with 100 km of new cycle paths and modern cycle lanes installed around the country.
One of their greatest achievements was the creation of the cycle lanes in the Grand Boulevard of Budapest, for which they won the NIOK Civil Award in 2021. In 2022, they launched the Bicibus in several cities across the country, and in 2023, at the I bike Budapest demonstration, nearly 15,000 cyclists cycled for a bikeable Chain Bridge.
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