Assessment of an Eastern European city’s public transport system

The paper examines the present quality of public transport services in Budapest and compares that the impact of growing car ownership. A review is made of the city’s transport plans and future investment proposals and these are assessed in light of public transport’s present and likely future competitive position compared to private cars. The paper concludes that much of the proposed investment in a metro system will not maintain public transport’s competitive position in the face of rising car ownership and that other measures and investments might be more effective.