On Saturday, thousands of Hungarian cyclists defied the rainy weather to take part in the annual I Bike Budapest procession across the centre of the capital.
The movement is a cyclist celebration for fun and features an awareness-raising ride through the city. The aim of the program is to show the number of bike riders in the city and the importance and deficiency of bike-lanes in Budapest. Although in the last 5 years the number of the bike lanes (and bikers too) has increased in the capital, there are still necessary improvements to be made.
Watch amazing drone footage of the procession passing through central Budapest:
The Hungarian “I Bike Budapest” pro-cycling movement started its awareness-raising ride on Saturday afternoon. The parade started at 3pm from Fővám Square, by the Danube on the city’s eastern side, and made a big circle round the city following a route by the embankment, touching Heroes’ Square in the north-east and back to the city centre before crossing over a bridge to the western side and ending up on Margaret Island.
The four-hour ride was secured by police and many roads were shut down to motorists during the ride. The organising bicycle confederation Magyar Kerékpárosklub (Hungarian Cyclists’ Club) said earlier that the event aims to create a “friendly atmosphere” for cycling in the city as well as calling attention to cycling as an environmentally sound and potentially fast means of transport in the city. More 15 000 cyclists had a ride through and lifted their bike in Budapest on the 23th of April 2016.
The Embassy of the Netherlands and Cycling Festival Europe also sponsored the program.
Pictures on Instagram taken by bikers taking part in the event:
egyemmeg, jövőre már ő is rendező lesz! ? #ibikebp x #baby #tshirt
Gyöngyösi Máté (@gyongyosimate1) által közzétett fénykép,
via: hungarymatters.hu; kerekparosklub.hu
photo: facebook.com/ibikebudapest; instagram