Tangent, but question to the Europeans:
European cities are lauded as examples to follow by the “ban all cars” crowd. However having recently visited Rome (2022, 2023), Napoli (2023), Sorrento (2022), Madrid (2022), Barcelona (2022) as well as Paris (2019) and London (2019), I’d say I saw as many cars in the streets as many American cities short of downtown Los Angeles or Manhattan.
So what gives?
In addition to what the other comments have said, none of those cities are the main examples people point to when advocating for less car-centric infrastructure - besides maybe Paris, which has made remarkably rapid progress in the past few years, but that was after you visited in 2019.
People generally point to my country, the Netherlands, as a model for non-car centric development. And indeed, our cities are relatively light on traffic and cars, thanks to some world-class urban planning and infrastructure making alternatives to driving more viable. Another very important policy is to 'disentangle' the routes of different modes of transport: in urban environments the fastest way to get around by cycling or walking is usually a different route from the fastest driving route, making both options much safer and easier since cars and bikes don't have to share the road as often. Cars are often sent along roundabout routes to drive car traffic out of narrow streets and to make alternatives potentially faster. All this incentivises people to walk, cycle and take public transport in urban environments, reducing traffic and the need for big roads, making driving nicer and easier.
My city (Utrecht) is a particularly good example of a major city that prioritised this kind of development. However, the best examples are usually in smaller towns that were built relatively recently, such as Veenendaal and Houten, which were designed from scratch with disentangled infrastructure. Their designs are great because while cycling is prioritised and often the fastest way to get around, driving is made convenient too thanks to the light traffic and separated roads.
Many older cities are still a work in progress though. A lot of them were changed and heavily rebuilt to accomodate traffic in the 1960's and 70's, just like everywhere else, and the restoration process is still ongoing. There was still a dual carriageway in central Utrecht less than a decade ago. A few streets in central Amsterdam are still overrun with car traffic.
Look at the resident density and correlate it with the number of cars you saw. 99.9% of people are not taking their cars in Paris. But because it’s 20k people per 1km2 you still see a lot of cars in the tiny streets. There is also a bias with company cars like your electrician or plumber or delivery van which represent easily 50% of city traffic, again linked with resident density.
Only the most extremes are talking about banning cars.
Also in your list, only Paris and London are actively trying to reduce the amount of cars on the streets and while they are doing it, it's an extremely slow process that will take decades.
You do see lots of cars in London, but way more people travel around central via invisible underground tubes.
Well, invisible from overland I mean.
46% of London households don't have a car, which is pretty high I'd estimate compared to other places in the uk and anywhere in the states except, I'm guessing, nyc.
Because the process is far from complete and many people in Europe like their cars. Environmental groups and modern urban design tends to favour non-car users though. It’s an expensive process to change this but you can see it in many places.
What is very common, more than in the US probably, is that you have sections of the city where traffic is limited/forbidden and you have large essentially car-free zones (often there are exceptions for taxis or mobility impaired people). Many cities have limitations on the number of cars that can enter, for example only people who live in the very centre may drive in, or something like that, and it can be expensive if you break the rule. In Italy I know they have cameras that check number plates for authorisation and it can get very expensive.
In Strasbourg in France, only a few roads allow unfettered access to cars. Many people need a remote to lower bollards that block the road.
The results were announced on an award ceremony for the fleet industry. The categories are:
* best second hand car: VW Golf (no idea why a picture of the 1st gen is used here, I don't think those are still sold in large numbers)
* best sold van: Renault Master
* best sold wagon: Peugeot 308 SW
* best sold SUV: BMW X1
* best sold PHEV: BMW X1
* best sold EV: Tesla Model Y
* best sold fleet car: BMW X1
* best sold car: BMW X1
The BMW X1 and Tesla Y were fighting it out in most categories, but at the end the X1 proved a bit more popular.
Is this only for fleet sales or is it all? Because while the lower end cars from the german trio are fleet favourites, I'd be surprised if the X1 is actually the most popular car for the whole market
For all cars. But the Belgian market is dominated by fleet cars as they're popular option in wage contracts as a loophole to pay less taxes. And 2023 was even more of an anomaly as many private customers postponed their car purchase or went to the second hand market due to the high inflation past year. In 2022 the best sold car was the cheaper, smaller Citroen C3 instead. This year the Dacia Sandero was the most popular non-fleet car.
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