What's up with the new bicycle rentals in the city?

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

who is going to pay for any broken bones and pain and suffering for accidents to walkers, the city, the bike rental business or the pubic?

Broken bones are paid for by the health insurance coverage of the person with the broken bones (mandatory health coverage is required in Hungary for residents, all EU citizens are also covered in Hungary via intra-country agreements in the EU, while tourists really should not travel without traveler's insurance).

I would just forget any concept of getting awarded damages for "pain and suffering". There is not much a tradition for this type of litigation in Hungary. There are exceptions, of course, but mostly civil case awards are mostly limited to provable losses. Even if you do somehow manage to get some type of "pain and suffering" award, I would not expect any such award, in most cases, to be anything more than trivial. And don't forget, in Hungary it is common to have to pay your lawyer throughout the process. And if you loose you most likely have to pay the other's legal fees, even if you were the injured party.

Finally, from people who I know in Hungary who have personally dealt with cases in Hungarian courts, I have come to the opinion the courts here are anyway, in many ways, dysfunctional. Not only do they take years for any case to get to trial, may "ignore" (or at least play down) evidence, and legal precedent is routinely ignored turning any trial into a risky enterprise.

P.S. I also find the US court system dysfunctional in many ways. Just in different ways than in Hungary

I like the Bubi's, most western European cities have had them for a while.
Your concerns are mostly what I've felt all along about motor bikes.  I can't believe the way people drive them here, in and out of traffic lanes, on the sidewalk, over tram lines, anywhere they can fit.
I know a lot of bikers in the States, and they are always rallying for better safety, for riders and car drivers, to respect each other.
I have no sympathy for the bikers here, if they're zipping around in people's blind spots, they deserve what's coming to them.
I like to ride my bike, and sometimes it is safer on the sidewalk, but I am always careful of pedestrians.  It's called a sideWALK, not a sideRIDE.  And vice-versa, people need to stop walking in the bicycle lanes and yakking on their cellphones so they can't hear your bell.

It all comes down to common courtesy and respect for other people, and I find that incredibly lacking in Hungary.

'And vice-versa, people need to stop walking in the bicycle lanes and yakking on their cellphones so they can't hear your bell.'

Yes! It's very annoying. I cycle in the city and I'm often a pedestrian. I believe it all comes down to bad planning. Of course everyone must be responsible for their own actions but in places the bike lanes are ridiculous. There can be huge stretches of bike lanes with no signage so pedestrians don't know they aren't supposed to walk there. I live on Jaszai Mari Ter and there is a bizarre bike route/pavement/crossing/road system which often causes someone to be in someone else's way.

Also Marilyn do you think it's only a small fraction of the public that ride bikes? I have a different impression but maybe that is just the circles i mix in, does anyone have any statistics?

Are you asking for information or just parodying the writing style of the letter to the editor section in small-town newspapers?

In case you are serious:
Students and seniors pay only a token fee (~100HUF/day) for unlimited public transportation within the city limits.

Bikes, and doubly more so motorbikes are generally not allowed on sidewalks, rental or not. Bikers get ticketed for doing so.
Bike routes are sometimes used as sidewalks: very dangerous and obtrusive to traffic.
Budapest has a lot of bike routes in the quantitative sense, it's possible to get a good workout biking on them.
They do not however form much of a transportation network, you can't actually get from here to there safely.

The only difference between being hit by a car versus a bike (besides the type and magnitude of injuries) is that car drivers may have to bear liability without fault ("veszelyes uzem" is the legal term), whereas a cyclist does not. This makes absolutely no difference in the proverbial scaredly old lady run over by rude dude "jaybiking" on the sidewalk case. So unless you can contrive a scenario where all that suffering is caused without either party being at fault, the point is moot.

Oh, and not enough people biking to make building bike routes worthwhile? Completely backwards. The more bike routes there are, the more people will bike. While dodging cars like you have to now in Budapest is extreme and only for thrill-seekers (thus the high percentage of assholes among bikers currently: it's too dangerous for regular people), biking on a safe, separate road is a completely normal thing in Europe.

My best guess is that nobody will compensate you for your broken bones and suffering. I would look into a good health/accident insurance coverage. Rather then focusing on being awarded for damages, 'street-proof" yourself for Budapest standard. Be alert, be aware of your surroundings, look out for yourself. [Moderated: no generalised statement here pls]

destinationbp wrote:

[Moderated: no generalised statement here pls]

Again, a gross generalisation, judging all Hungarians by what you experience in Budapest. In my experience, Hungarians tend to be polite, helpful, respectable people. In my village, even the children generally say "Csókolom" if they pass me in the street or walk past my place when I'm in the front garden.

Make a bicyclist cut-away from a large piece of carton. 40x40cm , buy a can of white spray paint. Fix the signs or lack thereof on your bicycle lane by spray-painting bicycle sign on the bicycle lane. Wear a hat and tight black clothing while doing this. Don't wait for a government to fix everything around you.

You don't see anyone using them. The bicycles are parked at these modern looking bicycle-rack stations. There's lots of written instructions at the bicycle-station explaining how to pay for usage. The more you read the less you know .. and the less interested you become!
I'd like to see Orban Viktor do a "promo" advertisement by picking up a bike from the bike-station (showing everyone how easy it is done!) and then peddling around the Parliment House square, around the enormous flagpole or something like that ......  before returning it to the bicycle-station
Maybe then it would catch on as something trendy!!!

Your a girl after my own heart!!feel the exact same way about bikers on sidewalks.
Many of my US friends ride bikes everyday to work but they live in places like Washington where people are more socially aware and care about others.
So many bikers going full speed on sidewalks,people on skateboards too.
I lived in Hawaii and S. Cal. and know just by looking that many of these people on boards don't have a real clue what they are doing, just a matter of time before they hurt an innocent on the sidewalk.
I wonder why not many bikers wear helmets, just small kids do here.
Have almost been cut down 3 times over the years by 2 mopeds that were on the sidewalk and once by a full size motor bike using the sidewalk. Totally insane here in Budapest. This city was not built for bikes like streets in the Netherlands.
it would be nice if the public transportation would lower the cots a bit. Perhaps that would cut down on some of the sidewalk riders. They are afraid of getting hit by cars in the streets but what about walkers being afraid to use the sidewalks.
I know in the countryside many riding bikes are drunks who wobble to bars on their bikes, had an old neighbor who did that, full on loaded and on the streets riding. Wonder how many skateboarders and bikers have just left the bars before "sharing" the walkways with walkers.Have to look more then both ways whenever one goes outside these days.
In the US these riders would have tickets.
I feel sorry (slightly) for the bus drivers and taxi drivers who must share the roads with wild riders on bikes as much as I feel sorry for walkers who must make way for wild riders on sidewalks. This country is crazy!!
Then again there really is no thing as "personal space" like we have in the west. people don't mind breathing down your back here so getting too close on a bike might not be an issue for people who don't know any limits.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I know in the countryside many riding bikes are drunks who wobble to bars.

I live in the countryside. Was driving home one day and around a curve in the road was a bike in the road and a body laying on the pavement. We stopped. I assumed the cyclist had been hit by a car. I got out our warning triangle and walked back 100 meter to warn other cars while my wife called an ambulance (need I mention no other cars bothered to stop before or after us as as if bodies in the road were normal).

Turned out the cyclist was just drunk and had passed out.