https://reasonstobecheerful.world/cars-are-vanishing-from-paris/
"Bright parasols, wooden sun loungers and expanses of golden sand suddenly
appear every summer on what was once a traffic-clogged, 3.3 kilometer road
along the banks of the River Seine in the heart of Paris.
The so-called “Paris Plages” have been coming to the picturesque waterside
location since 2016, after Mayor Anne Hidalgo, following two years of
consultation, decided to take the controversial step of closing the road to
motor vehicles.
“This used to be such a stressful corner of the city,” says Françoise Genet,
38, sipping on a glass of lemonade as her two boys dig around in the sand.
“It’s not quite the Côte d’Azur, but now I almost feel like I’m on vacation
here.”
Under Mayor Hidalgo, Paris has done as much as any city in the world to wage a
war on cars amid a growing awareness of the damaging impact they have on
cities.
Passenger cars emit huge amounts of pollution and are an inefficient use of
finite public space. They are Europe’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas
emissions and the leading killer of children. Copenhagen has calculated that
for each kilometer cycled by a resident, society reaps a benefit of €0.64
($0.64), whereas each kilometer driven costs us €0.71 in impacts on health,
safety and the environment.
But over recent years, Paris has implemented an array of measures to prioritize
pedestrians, cyclists and transit while bringing car use screeching to a halt.
In addition to pedestrianizing the Seine’s quayside, the French capital has
banned heavily polluting diesel cars through the creation of a low-emission
zone (which will become progressively more stringent from now until 2030),
reduced drivers’ access to major streets, expanded green areas, and promoted
other ways getting around the city. (During the pandemic, 50 kilometers of
cycle routes were added to the existing 700 kilometer network).
As a result, the proportion of journeys by car in Paris has dropped about 45
percent since 1990, according to a paper published by the journal
Les Cahiers
Scientifiques du Transport. At the same time, the use of public transit has
risen by 30 percent and the share of cyclists has increased tenfold."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
