I Bike Budapest, the annual cycling event organized by ECF Member Hungarian Cyclists’ Club, was held on June 26 after a year and a half of forced cancellations due to the pandemic. The event, which has evolved from Budapest’s Critical Mass demonstration over the last eight years, saw 15,000 cyclists take to the streets of Budapest this year to celebrate being able to meet, ride and experience the city by bike once again.

A tide of two-wheelers on the streets of Budapest

This year’s I Bike Budapest was opened by Dutch Ambassador to Hungary Rene van Hell, a long-time supporter of the cycling movement in Hungary. 15,000 people, from children to the elderly, gathered at Margaret Bridge, a three-way bridge connecting Buda and Pest across the Danube. The route took cyclists through the Buda quay, where a bicycle path goes all the way to Petőfi Bridge, continuing on the embankment roads on both sides of the Danube before entering a final stretch on the capital’s grand Andrássy Boulevard that end in the City Park. More than 200 cycling activists and volunteers were involved in the organization and I Bike Budapest was attended by politicians from across the Hungarian political spectrum. 

"I Bike Budapest aims to demonstrate that cycling is for everyone, that cycling is possible year-round and that cycling is not a sub-culture. The mass is not so critical anymore!” said Áron Halász, Vice-President of the Hungarian Cyclists’ Club.

According to a representative survey by the Hungarian Cyclists' Club the majority of Hungarians would prefer to ride bikes on weekdays if there were more bike lanes and cycle paths. These survey results are confirmed by recent bicycle traffic data: in June, more cycling traffic was measured on the capital’s bike lanes than ever before.

Source: I Bike Budapest, Hungarian Cyclists' Club.

You can read more about the I Bike Budapest on the Hungarian Cyclists' Club website.