Gridlock grips Budapest as public transit workers strike

Roads in and surrounding Budapest are currently clogged with vehicle traffic as the latest in a series of strikes by employees of public transit authority BKV and national railway MÁV has brought metro, tram, bus and commuter train service to a halt.

BKV workers will end their strike at 1 p.m. today, while employees of national railway MÁV may continue their action indefinitely.

Only 2% of public transit services are running in Budapest, reports hvg.hu. Six trains are running on the Gödöllő HÉV line, in addition to eight trams and a "few" buses, said Attila Gulyás, deputy president of the urban transport workers' trade union VTDSZSZ. Metro trains and trolley buses are not running.

Congestion is worse than usual on all motorways leading into the city, and there is more traffic on bridges. There is heavy traffic on Szentendrei, Soroksári, Budaörsi and Szerémi út and the Nagykörút is congested.

Two subcontractors of the BKV are working today, which means the following buses are running on schedule: 150, 14, 114, 41, Red 41, 250, 50, 58, 13, 113, 113A, 30, 87, 87A, 187, 88, 120, 147, Red 170.

BKV workers are protesting against planned cuts in services which they fear would lead to layoffs. The trade unions representing the workers think the financial problems of the company, which has a Ft 80 billion deficit, would not be solved by the cuts.

Meanwhile, employees of MÁV have renewed their indefinite strike announced on February 1. Their trade union VDSZSZ are protesting against what see are "unfairly" low wages since some MÁV operations were outsourced, as well as the planned closing of 38 railway lines. Negotiations between the trade union and the company will continue today.

Trains are not running in the vicinity of Szeged, Kisvárda, Kaposvár, Celldömölk and Gyékényes. On other lines, one service runs every hour or 90 minutes, said MÁV Spokesman Tibor Sigulinszky. Among suburban trains, only the Rákospalota-Veresegyház service is not running. Budapest's Déli and Nyugati railway stations are operating, but Keleti is not.

Long distance bus company Volán have increased its services on the following lines: Monor-Budapest, Tápiószecső-Sülysáp, Vác-Budapest. MÁV and BKV passes are both accepted on Volán lines which run parallel to a BKV line.

According to the labor law, workers who cannot reach their workplaces or students who cannot get to school due to the strike are on certified absence.

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