Car-Free Europe

[marmar]

(MarketWatch) Europe’s car-free experimentation moves into high gear over the next week as hundreds of cities and towns plan to shut streets to most traffic as part of European Mobility Week.

While World Car-Free Day falls on Tuesday this year, governments aren’t sticking to that day for their events.

Stockholm is shutting down its Old Town to traffic on Saturday. Almost all of Brussels will be closed to motorized traffic from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. this Sunday, and a “bike circus” is planned at two squares. Paris plans to ban cars from the center of the city from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27.



Buses, taxis and emergency vehicles will be allowed, as will people on foot, as well as on bicycles, skateboards and roller blades.

Other European cities planning events include Madrid; Budapest; Wuerzburg, Germany; and Nottingham, England. But Europe’s arguably biggest biking nations — the Netherlands and Denmark — aren’t participating, according to a tally by Juan Caballero, project support officer at Eurocities. The countries with the most governmental units that have registered plans for a car-free event with European Mobility Week are Austria (with 167), Hungary (159) and Spain (128). ..............(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/car-free-europe-paris-brussels-stockholm-try-it-for-a-day-2015-09-18

[LuvNewcastle]

1. If I lived in a large city, I probably

wouldn't even have a car. I've used transit in Chicago and San Francisco, and it was enough to get around. But I live in a place where cars are practically a necessity. The transit system is unreliable, so you end up taking cabs, and you'll end up spending more for transit and cab fare than you would spend buying and maintaining a car.

Infrastructure spending is a must in America. It's so sad that we have let our infrastructure deteriorate as far as it has. We not only need bridges and roads, we need more trains and grants to cities for public transit. I know the auto industry wouldn't like that, but as Bernie would say, we need the system to serve the people instead of the people serving the system.

[GreatGazoo]

2. the small city next ours has no sidewalks at all, zero

and every winter at least 2 people are hit by cars while walking on the edge of the road.

They have signs that say "we love our children, please drive carefully" but I think a more comprehensive way to love their children would be to have pedestrian paths, and bike paths and to work having a future that is less screwed up by climate change.

[Flying Squirrel]

3. Scared me for a second...

I thought it said "cat-free Europe."