The Urban and Suburban Transit Association (VEKE) () is a Hungarian

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, aimed at developing city transport in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Organizational structure

VEKE's headquarters are located in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. Besides this main organization there exists two affiliated ''VEKE

Érd Érd (; ; , ) is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is a city with county rights. History The area has been inhabited since ancient times. Archaeological findings indicate that prehistoric humans lived here 50,000 year ...

Diósd Diósd () is a small town located between the larger cities of Budapest and Érd in the Budapest metropolitan area, Pest County, Hungary. Though many residents commute to work to the capital city Budapest, the largest employers in the town are a ...

'' and

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

organizations. VEKE can only lobby in the cities where they have affiliated organizations. VEKE organizations are open for co-operation with the city governments, but they will always maintain their political neutrality and will always do their work on a non-profit basis.

Workgroups

The members of VEKE participate in one of the two following workgroups: * The Transport-developer workgroup does research on city transport and recommends means for improving the city's urban and suburban transport. * The Transportoperation-history workgroup does historical research on the past of urban and suburban transport. They make commemorations, informative campaigns, and want to create a nostalgic depot in the future. In 2004 and 2005 they oversaw a nostalgic bus tour.

VEKE's results so far

* November 1, 2003: Budapest tram line no. 41 was extended from

Móricz Zsigmond körtér Móricz Zsigmond körtér (, "''Zsigmond Móricz circus''") is a square in Budapest, Hungary. Located in Újbuda, or Budapest's 11th District at the convergence of some of Budapest's major boulevards ''Béla Bartók út, Villányi út, Fehérv ...

to Batthyány tér due to the fact that the reconstruction of körter removed the old turnaround and did not allow line 41 to switch tracks in the new station due to the extensive traffic of the 47, 18, and 118 trams. * July 1, 2005: Volánbusz lines to Érd got a new timetable (buses at nights and in weekends) * July 4, 2005: Budapest bus line 112 was extende

* September 1, 2005: Reform of the night service in Budapes

* October 29, 2005: A new tram was introduced on the Budapest no. 52 tram line (

TW 6000 The TW 6000 is a type of articulated light rail vehicle used on the Hanover Stadtbahn system, manufactured by Duewag, Linke-Hofmann-Busch, AEG, Kiepe and Siemens. The vehicle can serve both high platforms and street-level stops; it has cabs a ...

trams from

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

) * December 3, 2005: Reform of the no. 7 bus family (7, fast 7, 73, 173) * February 2006: Modifications in the parameter book of BKV (the BKV wanted to dissolve some bus lines) * Spring 2006: Tram line no. 6's turnaround on

was removed due to noise reasons, and a new tram stop for the no. 6 was built. VEKE presented some serious plans for further improvements of Budapest's city transport. Maybe the most important is the proposed uniting of the Gödöllő HÉV line and metro line 2. The city government did not totally agree with the plan (because of lack of money and because they think the present system is still working fine), but it still may be built after 2015. Other plans include the extension of the cog railway of Budapest to

Széll Kálmán tér Széll Kálmán tér (''Széll Kálmán Square'', formerly known as Moszkva tér or ''Moscow Square'' between 1951 and 2011) is a square in Budapest. It is one of the city's busiest transport interchanges (comparable to Móricz Zsigmond körté ...

and

Normafa Normafa is a popular tourist sight in the Buda Hills. It is mainly known for its panoramic scenery and fresh air. It is located in , a part of the 12th district of Budapest. The name The name is derived from the name of a tree, the "Norma tree" ...

and the rebuilding of the tram lines between Thököly road and the Small Boulevard. In 2020 VEKE proposed that the steel structure of Budapest's Chain Bridge should be rebuilt.

References

External links

Homepage of the Association
{{Budapest Metro Transport in Budapest Transport organisations based in Hungary

Organizational structure

Workgroups

VEKE's results so far

See also

References

External links