An ugly bug slipped into the income-increasing plan of the Budavar municipality. At last December’s meeting of the 1st district representative body, Budavári Városüzemeltetesi Kft., which also operates Halászbástyá, was given permission to cut off another 27-meter-long, 2.5-meter-wide section at street level in January of this year in order to increase the toll-paying area. In this way, the Fisherman’s Bastion would have been practically completely closed to free spectators.
For years, you could only go up to the upper viewing terrace against an entrance ticket, the price of which so far has been HUF 1,200. (Students and pensioners could go up at half price, residents with a district municipality card, the disabled and children under 6 years old were free.) However, the new district administration elected last year reduced the 300-400 million forints collected annually from those wishing to see the Fisherman’s Bastion, and in addition to raising ticket prices, decided to increase the paying area.
From January this year, the full-price entrance ticket will cost HUF 1,500, and the operator has fenced off the last free part of the lower terrace of the Fisherman’s Bastion – between the exit of the observation terrace and the part fenced off by the cafe that operates there for most of the year – with a black drapery cordon, where until now there is no compulsory consumption or entrance fee. you could look down on Pest and the Danube.
The Fidesz municipality closed the Fisherman’s Bastion with cordons, you can look out over the Danube for HUF 1,500
“Increasing local government revenues was not a consideration in the previous term, but now it is,” declared Fidesz mayor László Böröcz in the board debate on the proposal of the operating company, and then retaliated against the suggestion of his predecessor, Márta V. Nassályi, that the operator of the restaurant should be to allow spectators to enter the part enclosed by it even without compulsory consumption. If they “want to collect money – the municipality has an income of between 300-400 million forints a year from the Fisherman’s Bastion, and they want to expand it – then decisions must be made that facilitate this. If the representative body wants the Fisherman’s Bastion to be operated, but otherwise there are open areas next to it, where the restaurant is required to be open to visitors, that is also a decision, but it does not make sense”.
Böröcz also clarified that the area was leased during the time of his predecessor, and the extended contract is valid until October of this year. At the same time, he called his predecessor’s argument in favor of free access meaningless and ideological nonsense. He did not consider the expansion of the paid area a bad idea either, since the district needs the additional income. He then drew attention to the fact that they no longer charge money for the use of the binoculars on the paid observation deck. V. Naszályi still believed that the upper viewing terrace of the Fisherman’s Bastion is a premium service, for which money is charged all over the world, and he also considered the increase in proportion to inflation to be completely legal. On the other hand, he called the image of the catering terrace unworthy, and the fact that the lower viewing terrace is also closed off from the public by means of municipal authorities is morally unsustainable.
“This is not a good solution” – The cordon at the Fisherman’s Bastion was rather broken
However, at the end of the debate, the ruling party majority body gave its blessing, in addition to the price increase, to “test the most optimal route for the final physical closure with a mobile fence and analyze the flow of the crowd” in January. This then became the black drapery cordon. It was not mentioned in the presentation or in the debate what exactly the fence will look like. In any case, the mayor of the 1st district now says that this was not the case, according to the plans, separate demarcation elements in the Fisherman’s Bastion pattern would have been made to separate the area, but they did not arrive in time. (There is absolutely no answer as to why the test period was not postponed then.)
On Friday, László Böröcz announced on his social media page that he had heard the criticisms and took measures to dismantle the cordons and close the test period immediately. But it is hardly the end, as he also added: they continue to strive for the municipality to benefit to a greater extent from the tourism revenues generated there, from which it can provide higher quality services to its citizens. By the way, the 25 percent ticket price increase alone can increase the municipality’s income from Halászbásty by up to 100 million.
Source: nepszava.hu
