Generations Split over State-of-the-art Tram

Budapest's Moszkva tér was the distinctly un-state-of-the-art scene of a fashion show for the city's shiny new Siemens Combino trams, an imminent public transport upgrade that left us with mixed feelings before we had even seen them making their sleek way around town. Ok, so the villamosok are not making their sleek way around town just yet, but BKV did take advantage of the first sunny weekend of the year to show off its latest acquisition. One cynical passer by remarked, "There must be a competition to win the new tram."

But there was no competition, and no game of dodge the conductor. It was just an exercise to help Budapest burghers get used to the fact that their rattling behemoths' last stop, the great kocsiszín in the sky, is fast approaching. So what do they think? Well, where else should we begin but with the nénis, Hungary's most opinionated social group? Words like "szörnyű" (shocking)were popular, but the more articulated complained about the height of the seats, which are mounted on the wheel arches and are quite a climb. Others argued that there is less space, which is probably just an optical illusion, the new tram is considerably wider than its predecessor.

For a more streetwise opinion on the new design, let's hear what the kids have to say. Well, not much, as it turns out. They think it looks zsír (cool) and like the fact that it is very long (annyira hosszú, with a double dose of italics for annyira), largely because it is one long carriage with flexible joints to facilitate cornering. One lazy kid who obviously never gives up his seat to doddering pensioners protested, "there are hardly any seats on it at all," and he was probably right.

From a grown ups' point of view, loading and unloading kids is considerably easier now that the tram travels so close to ground level, although this seemed to be an innovation lost on the spritely elderly community. In addition, the second and seventh doors offer more space for wheelchair users, including a button for alerting the driver.

The fleet of 40 trams will be employed on the körút from July, by which time maybe they will have done something about the socialist-era monstrosity that is Moszkva tér.