“Motor vehicles used to make up 55% of trips in Ghent – that number has now fallen to 27%”https://twitter.com/citycyclists/status/1219188157721300993 …
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“We had people complaining that a drive of 300 metres became a car journey of two kilometres,” remembers Watteeuw. “We had to explain that we don’t want people to use a car for 300 metres: they should walk.”
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“Ghent’s plan had imagined a cycling modal share of 35% by 2030, up from 22% in 2016. Instead, after an explosive 60% rise in cycle use, the target was reached last year, 13 years earlier than planned for.”
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“Ghent now has cleaner air: nitrogen oxide levels have dropped by 20% since 2017. It’s also a quieter city.”
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Birmingham “businesses will be incentivised to remove parking spaces through the introduction of an annual £500 per space workplace parking levy” “Valuable land in short supply [should be] used in the most productive way possible”
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“allocation of road space will change away from single occupancy private cars,” the [Birmingham] council says, because the priority should be “moving people, not vehicles”
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“Watteeuw – who received death threats before the implementation of the [Ghent] plan – urges the residents of Birmingham not to allow loud voices and vested interests to derail the process”
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“A city where you can hear people walking and talking mixed with the quiet zoom of bikes is such a vast improvement over the incessant noise of cars” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/the-streets-are-more-alive-ghent-readers-on-a-car-free-city-centre …
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“The city didn’t die like many naysayers predicted. The whole thing is awesome. If your city is planning to [go car free] my only advice is: don’t listen to the haters”
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“There are also fewer accidents and the city has become quieter to live in. My advice would be to focus on the whole city not just a small area to not disadvantage people who are not able to afford to live in privileged [car-free] areas”
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“It has transformed the grey (but even then exciting town) where I came to study 38 years ago into the lively and diverse city it is now”
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“It’s a big misunderstanding that the city is not accessible anymore – we only got rid of [car] traffic that doesn’t need to be there”
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“What stands out most is the silence. Gone was the typical noise of cars. The air also tastes better than in the small towns where traffic is denser than in the city”
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“Now the city centre is fun to hang around in all day through. The number of cyclists is increasing impressively. Pedestrians are having a good time”
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“The city is much more enjoyable than before. Some busy streets were just used as a passing-through by cars, by people who don’t live in the city and who don’t really need to be there”
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“In fact, the car-free zones are just a very small part of the city. My only hope is that they continue to expand it to smaller districts outside the city centre of Ghent”
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“More people put their chairs out in the summer to sit on the pavement and talk, and some streets become ‘living streets’ where the kids can play outside”
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