There will not be a metro stop renamed after the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, after the proposal failed in the Budapest City Assembly’s Transport Committee on Monday, 27 October. According to the motion, the Bajza Street stop on Metro Line M1 would have been renamed Bajza Street–Navalny Memorial. The Bajza Street stop is located directly in front of the Russian embassy in Budapest.
The proposal was submitted by Krisztina Baranyi, representative of the Two-Tailed Dog Party (MKKP) satirical party and mayor of Ferencváros district, who argued that Navalny’s death ‘became a global symbol of the fight for freedom and human rights’. ‘This makes it particularly significant that a memorial dedicated to Navalny was created by civilians right next to the Russian Embassy, at the Bajza Street metro station,’ the proposal, submitted in early October, stated.
According to Baranyi, civilians have shown that Navalny’s memory matters to them, and therefore she believes the time has come for the city leadership to make a clear gesture by renaming the Bajza Street metro station ‘Bajza Street–Navalny Memorial’.
Dávid Vitézy, a renowned urban developer who narrowly lost to Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony last year, wrote a lengthy Facebook post addressing the issue and explaining why it would be inappropriate to rename the station. ‘Station names are essential for passenger information, appearing on thousands of maps, signs, and digital or analogue displays,’ Vitézy began, adding that replacing them would cost tens of millions of forints. This was also pointed out by the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) during the committee meeting.
‘Station names should not be changed as part of short-term political campaigns,’ Vitézy continued, arguing that it would be difficult to contain such initiatives, turning passenger information into a political battlefield over ‘which station gets renamed based on the latest symbolic dispute’. He added that stability, predictability, clarity, and short, memorable names are key aspects of effective passenger information.
Moreover, the stations of the Millennium Underground (M1) are heritage sites and part of the UNESCO World Heritage. ‘The station’s name has been part of our history for more than a century,’ Vitézy stressed, concluding: ‘Metro station names are not political message boards or Facebook profile pictures that can be swapped out from month to month in response to current events.’
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