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Innovation

In accordance with the comprehensive urban development conception, Budapest will have become a liveable, attractive, uniquely characteristic capital city by 2030. Budapest will be such a settlement, which will be a well-acknowledged member of the European urban network, as the country’s and also the region’s innovative, economic and cultural centre. In order that this vision could be realised, every sector, even the transport sector must set its own objectives.

 

Our objectives

On the basis of the Budapest Mobility Plan to be found HERE the strategic objectives of Budapest’s transport system are to improve the competitiveness of Budapest and its surrounding area and also to contribute to creating a sustainable, more liveable, attractive and healthy urban environment,

  • by making an influence on transport demands and on the preference of transport modes,
  • by decreasing environmental burden,
  • by reinforcing and improving equal opportunities,
  • by establishing and operating a safe, reliable and integrated transport system
  • with the cooperation of actors working in the transport field in the area.

BKK’s transport-related tasks are oriented primarily around two objectives, namely “everything should be operable even more efficiently” and “anything that are currently non-existent in Budapest’s public transport system should be phased into and be an integral part of the system”.

 

Everything should be operable even more efficiently

Budapest has a circa 5,000 km-long road network, Out of which, a certain route section of 1,000 km belongs to the Hungarian capital and another certain route section belongs to districts, by which public transport services are provided. BKK is in charge of unified traffic organising tasks on these route sections. Besides, BKK is entrusted with the maintenance of the Danube bridges, overpasses and other engineering works.

 

Anything that are currently non-existent in Budapest’s public transport system should be phased into and be an integral part of the system

In addition to the order of transport services, BKK has several other, equally important tasks, Such as,

  • introduction of state-of-the-art technical solutions,
  • establishment of improved transport connections and liveable public spaces,
  • procurement of attractive, environmentally-friendly and convenient vehicles and
  • introduction of services comprising customer-friendly incentives and awareness-raising in the framework of an institutional system operable more efficiently.

At BKK, a number of circa 100 persons are working to realise this objective. That is a) the continually-changing transport system, which, in spite of having well-acknowledged historic traditions, faces also severe deficiencies and technological underdevelopment could be renewed and b) this renewal could be carried out as quickly and effectively as possible. If possible, the intermediate technological steps, that are obsolete somewhere else, are skipped.

In every single case, the work is carried out thoroughly with the required time before passengers using Budapest’s public transport system could use a new transport system element.

 


Strategy and innovation, more specifically direction and renewal

Strategy formulation is not about the production of colourful brochures, anymore. The Methodological Guidance of the EU’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) has a biding effect for each and every European city.

 

 
How is a project realised?

Currently, BKK is working on the realisation of over 80 projects that are either in the preparatory or the planning or in the implementation phase. The realisation of projects are divided into the following phases:

The process begins with the analysis of the existent problems, followed by the formulation of objectives consisting of a vision, possibilities and strengths. Afterwards, the transport development measures adjusted to the objectives are specified.

In the next step of the process, a long project list is compiled, by taking the measures and also the technical-economic realities into account. In this list, all of the investments and developments are indicated, which can promote the objectives, regardless of their technical contents, the project promoter or the scale of the investment. A detailed project datasheet is made about each project respectively, with the indication of calculations in relation to their feasibility (feasibility study, cost-benefit analysis).

After a detailed professional and public consultation has been made, the General Assembly of the Municipality of Budapest finalizes and approves both the objectives and the investment program. Projects are realised in phases, depending on the financial possibilities and also the technical framework conditions, by taking into account and meeting the legal and public procurement specifications.

After investments have been implemented, the strategic planning process is interlinked with the strategy formulation by measurement and analysis, In the course of which, we examine whether a given project already realised has contributed to the set goals to the extent that we identified at the beginning phase of the project or whether the strategy is required to be fine tuned.

 

Challenges emerging in relation to the technological advancement

The Budapest Mobility Plan is a professionally-recognised, highly important framework, however it is not functioning as a golden rule. These days, technology is advancing at an accelerated speed, more quickly than a project could be realised, by meeting legal regulations. The following transport-related measurements are required assigned to the infrastructure elements, such as

  • the brand new mobility devices,
  • by the redistribution of the oversized transport surfaces, green areas and public spaces,
  • the continually-developing regulations about vehicles’ emission and accessibility,
  • in the field of services, previously-breakthough ideas or solutions can be completely out-of-date within half or one year.

In this fast-paced world, cooperation between international and domestic transport actors as well as the so-called research-development pilot projects enabling to try out new solutions have highly significant roles. R+D projects are such pilot projects, through which BKK is able to try out a suggested system without the need of excessive costs. In case they are successful, BKK can use the experience acquired in the course of the pilot project well during a larger-scale procurement.

 

BKK’s international relations

BKK is the member of four prominent international organisations, such as: UITP (The International Association of Public Transport),EMTA (European Metropolitan Transport Authorities), Polis (Network of European Cities and Regions Cooperating for Innovative Transport Solutions) és EUROCITIES (Network of Major European cities).

We take an active part in the work of the above-mentioned organisations. We pay particular attention to international best practices and experience and also make suggestions for their incorporation into the Hungarian solutions. We follow with close attention the regulatory practices of the European Union, including the Member States. We form our opinion in advance about specifications, rules and recommendations that are expected to be binding even for Hungary. We monitor tenders published in the field of research and development and via networks also seek the strongest consortium to be created for the tender. We make our bid and realise R&D projects out of the funds granted to us. (Budapest was granted funds equivalent to over EUR 2 million for R&D projects in the past ten years, the majority of which was 100% of non-refundable subsidy).

We not only apply the acquired knowledge, but also share it both inside the company and outside the company- with professional organisations, training institutions and also with the civil society.