Budapest hosted a wide range of environmental programmes to mark Earth Day this weekend, and 8,000 cyclists participated in a ride to promote safe cycling, organisers told MTI.
The event, dubbed Critical Mass, kicked off with participants lifting their bikes in the air at 1630 on Sunday, among them Dutch Ambassador to Hungary Ronald Alexander Mollinger, who accepted an invitation to officially start the ride.
The rally is organised bi-annually in Budapest since 2004, and each year has seen growth in the number of participants. With a record number of just under 50,000 people on wheels attending last year, organisers drove the message home to politicians about Budapest's need to freshen up its views about city transport.
This year's route started at Deak ter in central Budapest, cross Elizabeth bridge to the other side of the river, return via the Chain bridge and follow Andrassy Boulevard and finished in the City Park near Heroes' Square around 1800.
More than two dozen large cities in Hungary organised a Critical Mass ride of their own on Sunday.
Some of the 8,000 cyclists participating
in a Critical Mass Bicycle ride
in Budapest. Picture of the Day
from THE FIRST POST, London, England,
April 21, 2008. Photo: Bela Szandelsky.
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