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A summer’s day free of traffic
10 Comments · Posted by Jack Yan in Environment, Infrastructure, Sports & Recreation
Some of the highlights in recent memory for Wellingtonians were the film premières of Peter Jackson’s films, namely The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King and King Kong. The city, closed to traffic, was manageable, and I venture to say that most Wellingtonians were not too upset at the inconvenience.
In cities across Europe, it is not uncommon to have carless days, but not one forced on people due to a fuel crisis. I remember one Sunday in the late summer where I drove from Amsterdam to Bruxelles as one city began its carless day and the other ended one. These are annual, where on one summer Sunday a year people can explore the city using public transport or bicycles or go on foot. People enjoyed a day exploring their cities free from exhaust. Oh, and it’s good for the environment.
Do other Wellingtonians see this as a good idea?
carless day · cars · Environment · Infrastructure · public transport · summer · Sunday · Wellington · Whanganui-a-Tara
Twitter Trackbacks for A summer’s day free of traffic | Your Wellington [yourwellington.org] on Topsy.com · 2009/08/26 at 12:41
[...] A summer’s day free of traffic | Your Wellington yourwellington.org/2009/08/a-summers-day-free-of-trafc – view page – cached In cities across Europe, it is not uncommon to have carless days. People enjoyed a day exploring their cities free from exhaust. — From the page [...]
Natalie Ferguson · 2009/08/27 at 22:08
Wellington is such a tiny city, I think we’re a great example of a place that COULD have a central car free area. Cut cars out of Lambton Quay, Willis Street and Courtenay place and you’ve made a big difference.
I know that’s idealistic but some city leaders around the world obviously haven’t thought it’s unreasonable.
I know Id love to bike more but have had too many near misses to risk it. Maybe more decent cycle lanes would be enough. It would be interesting to do a real cost-benefit on either of those. I would have thought that it would make sense?
Admin comment by Jack Yan · 2009/08/28 at 16:27
Natalie, I almost think we need to demonstrate the possibilities of the car-free day, then examine the possibility of more permanent pedestrian areas. On biking, a very kind Tweeter informed me about London’s Freewheeling programme, which is like what I proposed above but the city streets would permit bicycles. That sounds like another possibility.
Cycle lanes are welcome, and you are right that a cost–benefit analysis would need to be done. I also think driver habits need to change.
Cross-Culture Tweets – Week 35 of 2009 · 2009/08/31 at 04:15
[...] RT@pocketcultures – @jackyan is thinking about how much he enjoys the carless Sundays in Amsterdam & Bruxelles [...]
Laura Crellin · 2009/09/25 at 01:20
How about a rent-a-bke / rent-a-scooter facility? Car free Lambton/Wilis Street would be fantastic – and I agree, acheivable in Wellington. Oxford has park and ride,only public transport and deliveries are allowed in the city.
Admin comment by Jack Yan · 2009/09/27 at 20:17
Could be an idea, Laura. I quite like the notion of a carless day, and bicycles would work well in that environment.
Mike Mckee · 2009/11/04 at 16:50
Yeah we encourage exercise don’t we?
So we are to build a $50 indoor center supposedly for local basketball, netball and some other sport right next to the airport.
Meaning half the city must drive or bus right across the city when we do have space all over the city to develop for local sports (5-10min drive from home) and that wasn’t even considered according to my LAOIA request.
The councillors just wanted big event sites and picked the easiest (therefore cheapest) to build on.
The figures quoted have never stayed constant and the running costs are $5-6m a year even allowing for 3X 3000 banquets and several smaller ones a year.
Kaye · 2010/05/12 at 17:59
I think car free days would be utterly fantastic in certain zones in the city -
Ben Nolan · 2010/09/07 at 12:57
Making all the inner city streets dual use (so that cars had to give way to pedestrians at all times) would be an epic improvement. Also reducing the speed limit to 30kph, and making the road around to evans bay ‘local traffic only’, would make a much more pleasant bike ride to work.
Being sensible about pedestrianizing Wellington · Your Wellington · 2011/07/24 at 05:45
[...] Ben Nolan: Making all the inner city streets dual use (so that cars had to give way to pedestrians at all times)… [...]