I have now read the article about a city without cars. I believe that what the article states is bound to happen. In every major city this is already being applied, people don't need a car or any other sort of personal transportation, they manage just fine by taking the bus or the subway. I assume people are doing this because it is a convinience. You don't have to park the car or fill it up with petrol. But this only applies to the bigger cities, say New York or Tokyo.
In some places in the world it is already inconvinient to own a car. If you look at London which is the most expensive place in the world to park a car for a month. To park a car in London you will have to pay around $1000 to park your car for one month.
I personally do not use personal transportation all that much, I live in a small town outside of Karlstad I've been traveling with public transportation all my life and I haven't really had any problems with it at all. The only thing that I can complain about is the time schedule of the busses. The only major change this bring to my life is that if forces me to plan my days and this is not a bad thing.
But I also feel that before you ban cars or anything even remotly close to that, you are better of trying to change the mindset of the citizens. You will never be able to change peoples minds if the people doesn't want to change their minds. So in conclusion, I think that the idea of having a city without cars is good and that it is bound to happend eventually, but I don't think that you can force people into using public transports.
Max Jacobs.
Good reflection. I think it would be better by mentioning some drawbacks as well, I think that you obviously can come up with something negative about it.
SvaraRaderaBy baning all cars and creating more parks, playgrounds etc, don't you think that they'll also ban busses?
I completely agree that people generally never give up what is the most convenient for them. And as long as the car is the easiest way to get around they will use it. And yes, sometime in the future there might be a better option to cars and only then will people use it over personal cars. Therefor it is extremely important to put money into public transportation.
SvaraRaderaI also think that people will not change their point of view unless they really want to. One way would be to show the people the advantages for them and for the environment that comes by taking public transportation more often. If they realise it is economically convenient for them and better for their health maybe some people will take a bike or a bus for a change.
SvaraRaderaTo be honest, I think banning cars will be possible if we have another replacement. Otherwise, people would hardly be willing to drop the benefit they have now. Or to most extent, the proposal of banning cars would lead the huge reduction of cars.
SvaraRaderaIt is amazing you could give a number about parking fees in London. That's really impressive. And the fixed timetable you mentioned is indeed annoying. What if someone needs to change bus in the middle and the first bus is way too late. He might miss the next bus....
I think you are absolutely right; the key to be able to have a city without cars is to first change peoples attitude and mind-set. And I think the key to changing people’s attitude towards not using their cars is to make it more cost- and time-efficient to use public transportation.
SvaraRaderaIf the bus takes you where you want to go, and does this faster and cheaper than your car, you will obviously use the bus.
For the bus to be able to do this there are a few factors to bear in mind.
Firstly, the bus-stop needs to be about as close as your normal parking for the car. If it isn’t you will lose time, and comfort, going to the bus. The same applies for where you are going, that is, the bus stop needs to be near your destination.
Secondly, the bus needs to stop at your bus stop at fairly short intervals. If the bus doesn’t, you have the potential of loosing the entire time between busses as to just going to your car and leaving when you want to.
Thirdly, the route the bus takes will have to be as short as the route you would have taken with your car. If you have to change busses this will factor in as well as you will lose both time and comfort on this change.
Fourthly, the cost of taking the bus will have to be compared to the costs involved in owning and using a car such as parking, taxes, gasoline and so on.
All of these factors will have to be taken into account when you compare using public transportation to using your car.
Oskar Widehed