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BUDAPEST METRO LINE 4 FEASIBILITY STUDY Oktober 1996 |
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SECTION A - COMPARISON AND EVALUATION OF OPTIONS |
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Introduction Section A is dedicated to Stage 1 issues. In accordance with
the Terms of Reference, Stage 1 focused on the identification and evaluation
of different Metro alternatives and lower cost options. The assessment of the
numerous alternatives identified was based on a two-step process. First a preliminary
assessment rejected some of the alternatives so as to carry out in a second
step a detailed assessment of a short list of alternatives complying more with
planning, level of service, economic costs and benefits,...
Summary Description of the CorridorThe Study area and the Corridor of Interest
The study includes the examination of the effects
of transport proposals over a wide area of Budapest and the surrounding
agglomerations. However, the geographic area of particular interest
to this study is the south west area of Budapest (South Buda).
It comprises Districts XI and XXII, and the Central Business Districts
(CBD) on both Buda and Pest sides of the Danube, which consist
of Districts I, V, VI, VII, VIII and the part of District IX.
District IX lies within the Körut Hungária which acts
as an orbital route about 5 kilometres east of Pest. Figure
2.1 shows the area of interest and its relative location
to the whole of Budapest. Figure 2.2 shows the area of specific interest to the study. In addition to areas of the City of Budapest, settlements outside of Budapest (agglomerations) are also part of the study area with particular interest concentrated on the settlements adjacent to the south western boundary of Budapest, namely Budaörs, Törökbálint, Diósd and Érd between the city limits and the M0/M1/M7 intersection. Land Uses
Land-use in the specific area of interest is mixed
with residential, retail, commercial and industrial land-uses
present. However, the pre-dominant land-use in the corridor is
residential. District XI wholly lies within the corridor and
accommodates a population of some 175,000. Key locations within
the study area are identified on Figure 2.3.
The central Districts, with Buda on the west bank
of the Danube and Pest on the east bank make up the historical,
political, cultural and commercial hub of both the country and
the capital.
The historic core comprises Várhegy and Gellért
hegy on the Buda side, largely within District I and encompassing
the World Heritage site, and the older quarters of Pest on the
opposite bank. The CBD has extended outwards from the original
waterfront areas of Pest up to and in some cases beyond the inner
ring road of Erzsébet krt and József krt linking
the Petöfi bridge in the south and Margit bridge in the north.
At the major intersections of this inner ring road
and the main radial routes, significant concentrations of commercial
activity have developed in association with main rail and/or metro
stations. There are throughout the area a large number of leisure,
tourism and recreational sites and facilities, major administrative,
educational and community-based centres (medical facilities etc)
and a wide variety of office and business accommodation.
Particularly within Districts VI, VII, VIII and IX,
on the Pest side, a considerable proportion of residential use
remains, largely in older, relatively high density apartment blocks.
Within the southern section of District IX (Ferencváros),
this overall pattern of mixed development begins to give way to
a more industrial and service based land use distribution.
At the western end of Szabadság bridge is
Szent Gellért Square, below Gellért hegy and a focal
point for tourism centred on the hotel and famous `waters'. On
the slopes of the hill are houses and apartments within District
XI.
From Szabadság bridge, Bartók Béla
út leads Southwest to Kelenföld station. Initially,
commercial and retail uses front the street with concentrations
of activity around Móricz Zsigmond Körtér and
Kosztolányi Dezsó which are major tram/bus route
interchange points.
Farther to the Southwest, a more mixed land use pattern
appears with scattered industrial and service sector sites in
evidence. Around Kelenföld station and Etele Square (the
tram/bus terminal) there is a considerable area of vacant land
and the overall intensity of land use decreases significantly.
To the west, the barrier of the railway and the M1/M7
- Budaörsi út corridor divides Kelenföld from
the residential area of Gazdagrét extending up into the
Buda hills. Between the M1/M7 and Route 70 is an extensive tract
of comparatively open mixed land uses including the Budaörs
repülötér. Some of the open areas are of nature
conservation interest.
Along the west bank of the Danube within District
XI, a major university campus extends between Szabadság
bridge and Lágymányosi bridge with expansion of
the facilities presently taking place and a District centre planned
near the latter bridge. Farther south is an area of changing
land use structure with former industrial sites giving way to
new users, some within the commercial and service sector.
Kelenföld itself is primarily residential in
nature, but with a large hospital site located on Tétényi
út. The principal routes leading south into District XXII
through Albertfalva are Fehérvári út and
highway Route 73, the former having some commercial activity and
local centres along it.
District XXII is primarily residential in nature,
with only limited areas of industrial and employment based land
use, the southernmost part of the District being crossed by the
M0 motorway.
Outside the city boundary to the west is the settlement
of Budaörs, bounded to the south by the M1/M7 motorway and
rail route corridor and separated from Törökbálint
by an area of predominately open land and some low density housing
areas. South again, beyond the M0 motorway, are the extensive
residential areas of Érd and Diósd. The intersection of the M0/M1/M7 motorways immediately Northwest of Törökbálint is presently a focal point for fairly intensive `greenfield' development within the `Western Gateway'. This includes the BUDAPARK, the International Business Area, the TO-PARK and Törökbálint lake areas, the Törökbálint Business Area and a number of other associated uses. In total, an area of over 100 hectares is currently under development. Population
The total number of people resident in Budapest is
approximately two million, a figure which has remained relatively
constant since the turn of the century. There is also a substantial
further population in the settlements around Budapest, generating
a considerable proportion of journey to work trips, many of which
are destined for and/or pass through the study area.
Within this area of Budapest the population has
been steadily decreasing from 756,500 in 1970 (38.5% of total
for Budapest) to 685,157 (33.3%) in 1980, 619,655 (30.7%) in
1990 and an estimated 541,554 (27.1%) in 1994. Outside the boundary
of the Municipality in the Budaörs, Törökbálint,
Biatorbágy area around the intersection of the M0, M1 and
M7 motorways however, the population total is now in excess of
120,000. A further area of extensive development is to be found
at Érd, south of the motorway junctions. Figure 2.4 shows the population densities within each urban planning zone. The plan illustrates the likely concentration of demand for transport in Budapest and is based on a preliminary set of planning data from the 1990 Census. Employment
As with population the number of residents in employment,
within the study corridor, has been decreasing. In 1990, the
number of employees was 345,000 (31% of the Budapest total) whilst
in 1994 the estimated total was 328,000 (33.4%). However, it
is noticeable that the overall percentage of employment in Budapest
within the corridor edged up slightly. This is likely to be as
a result of:
In terms of commuting, the wider corridor area presently attracts
about 50% of inbound commuters to the city from settlements outside, whilst
some 29% of outbound commuters from the city to external workplaces are resident
within the corridor.
A particular feature of the economic and employment
base of Budapest in recent years has been the collapse of both
the traditional large state owned industries and their markets.
This has affected some parts of the wider corridor area, particularly
in the Ferencváros and Lágymányos areas.
These areas lie on the east and west side respectively of the
Danube within the Transition Zone. However, the overall impacts
have not been as significant as elsewhere in the Transition Zone
and generally speaking the industrial and employment base is proving
somewhat more resilient.
Smaller scale more service orientated industries
and employment generating users are emerging, producing a gradually
more mixed land use pattern supporting relatively positive trends
towards further growth along the Western Gateway - City Centre
axis. The corridor also contains a significant number of national
institutional, administrative and educational establishments which
draw their employees from within a wide catchment, both from within
and outside the city. Given continued diversification of the
economic base and development along the South West - City Centre
axis, the corridor, including the zone along the Danube, should
be particularly well placed with respect to the provision of more
sustainable and environmentally friendly industrial users, leisure
and tourism facilities, IT/Communications and Research and Development
functions, financial and distribution system users and Institutional/Educational
sites. Figure 2.5 shows the employment densities based on a set of preliminary planning data from the 1990 Census. The diagram serves as an indicator of the pockets of demand for transport in Budapest. Transport Conditions in the CorridorIntroduction
This section provides information on the transport
conditions in the south west Buda corridor. The information presented
is based on the data collected from the following sources:
During the course of the study we also undertook public transport
surveys within the study area and the results are discussed below. The following sections describe the transport services in the study area, their capacities and patronage levels. Public Transport Services in the Corridor
The urban public transport modes serving the south
west corridor consist of diesel buses (Stopping services, Semi-Express
and Express services) and trams. Furthermore, some of the main
line heavy rail services to destinations west of Budapest stop
at Kelenföld station located at the geographical centre of
District XI. These services terminate at Déli station on
the western edge of the CBD in Buda and at Keleti station on the
eastern edge of the CBD in Pest.
Figure 2.6 shows the tram and heavy rail services
serving the corridor and Figure 2.7 shows bus routes which connect
the corridor to the rest of the city. The figures demonstrate
that trams and buses in the area, jointly offer a high frequency
service between Kelenföld station, the dense residential
area around the junction of Etele út and Fehérvári
út to the CBD. Journey times from Kelenföld Station
to Deak Square in the heart of the CBD on the Pest side range
from around 20 minutes on the trams (e.g. route 49 during the
off peak period) to around 30 minutes on the stopping bus services
(e.g. bus route No. 7 from its terminus south of Etele út
to the CBD in Pest during the peak period).
The main concentration of terminating and through
services is at the Móricz Zsigmond Körter which is
a major interchange point serving both tram and bus services.
This point of the network is in fact an operational bottleneck
for routes serving the corridor. The busiest link within the
corridor is Bartók Béla út leading to the
Gellért Square at the north east of District XI and south
west of Szabadság bridge. This link accommodates four
tram routes and six bus routes which constitute an average service
frequency of some 45 trams and 85 buses per peak hour. In view of the above, there is little spare track capacity on the existing section of the network between Móricz Zsigmond Körter and Gellért Square. Current passenger carrying capacities and flows
The overall passenger carrying capacity of the public
transport services and the corresponding passenger flows increase
towards the north east of the corridor, on Bartók Béla
út and Gellért Square which are the links along
which the majority of services in the corridor converge.
Figure 2.8 shows the peak hour capacities of public
transport services along the main links in the corridor of interest.
These capacities are calculated based on the current (base year
of 1994) scheduled headways during the am peak period and the
desirable capacity. Desirable capacity is defined as 80% of crush
capacity. Crush capacity in Budapest is generally defined by
BKV as all seats occupied and 5 standing persons occupying a 1m2
of standing space. Figure 2.8 also distinguishes between
bus and tram capacities. On the busiest link of the corridor
(Bartók Béla út) the total current capacity
is some 17,500 passengers per hour per direction. Across the
Danube the overall current capacities on the Erzsébet,
Szabadság and Petöfi bridges are 9,500, 8,000 and
10,000 respectively. Therefore the total current capacity of
the Danube crossings which serve the corridor of interest is some
27,500 per direction.
Figures 2.9, 2.10 and 2.11 are based on data we obtained
BKV and show the highest morning and afternoon hourly flows and
the all day flows respectively, with bus and tram flows shown
separately. Diagrams show that, except for a few links, generally
the am peak hour is busier than the afternoon peak hour. On the public transport corridor connecting the south Buda area to the Pest side of the CBD the busiest links with respect to the ratio of passenger volumes to service capacity are Bartók Béla út and Gellért Square. The volume to capacity ratio on these links is approximately 65%. Although the BKV data is a comprehensive and consistent set of data in Budapest from our local knowledge, and experience of the services on this link, this ratio seemed low. Consequently, surveys were carried out and data acquired from other sources to check the passenger flow levels. Production of Revised base passenger flows
In addition to BKV data, data were collected from
the 1992-94 General Budapest Transport Surveys. Comparison of
this data with the BKV data showed there to be considerable differences
at important locations on the network. Due to these differences,
it was decided that new data would be collected to guide the decision
on which set of data is the more suitable to use in order to understand
both current movements and also for use in the calibration exercise
of the model.
It was observed that generally the 1992-94 surveys
are closer to the counts which were undertaken in March 1996 and
more detailed investigation of the count data from all sources
showed that in general BKV counts of bus passengers were generally
close to data from other sources (BKV uses pressure pads/weighing
equipment to count bus passengers automatically). Where there
was a notable difference between BKV's counts and other counts,
BKV bus passenger data seemed more realistic. However, with regard
to passenger counts for tram services it was concluded that BKV
data showed some under-counting and generally data from the Budapest
General Transport Survey seemed more realistic. For the purposes of demand modelling work for the study, we have taken on board this comprehensive assessment of existing count data and the above conclusions. This work resulted in the production of a new set of calibration count data and has been taken forward to the calibration of the base year model described in Chapter 3. Private vehicle flows
Current and forecast rate of growth in car ownership
will also have an impact on the usage of public transport services.
Existing car ownership rates are shown in Figure 2.12. The average
car ownership in Budapest is 267 per 1,000 inhabitants. In District
XI the car ownership rate is 266 per 1,000 inhabitants and is
therefore about the City average.
Figure 2.13 shows private vehicle flows on
the main roads during the am peak hour and Figure 2.14 shows private
vehicle flows for an average day. These show that there are a
total of some 10,000 vehicles each way crossing the river Danube
between Petöfi bridge and Szechenyi Lanchid. The conflict
between road and tram traffic creates significant congestion on
Gellért Square at the west end of Szabadság bridge.
Traffic flows have been increasing significantly in Budapest reflecting the increase in car ownership levels. The use of cars are currently not constrained by parking charges in the City Centre. There are very limited parking control, except physical ones, and very few on-street parking spaces are subject to car parking charges. This tends to encourage the continued use of cars by commuters and others into the central area.
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