Velib' and World Car Free Day
Today is World Car Free Day -- a showcase of what city life could be if we used our feet more, cycled, and took public transport to get around.
Amsterdam, where I now live, has marked the occasion with a week of activities and some pedestrianized roads. Cycle lanes and bikes abound though, so it's hard to tell when there's a "bike-friendly-city" campaign, and when there's not.
Paris is a different story. The public bicycles there -- the grayish-brown Velib bikes parked all over the city -- have taken the city by storm. Now that there's a critical mass of cyclists on the roads, motors have begun driving with more care, and some have even swapped their cars for the two-wheel alternative.
There are road accidents, of course, but initiatives like the Velib and car free days have a civilizing effect on our cities that cannot be overstated. They also demonstrate that planners and public policy makers, when given enough encouragement, can do the right thing.
Did you drive a car today?
Follow Greenpeace »
Comments
In London, we had a car-free day yesterday (well, sort of). Some of the main streets through the centre were closed off to allow hordes of cyclists to pedal round. And there was talk of introducing a Velib-style bike rental system, but a new mayor was voted in a few months ago so who knows...?
Posted by: Jamie | September 22, 2008 2:34 PM
I loved the Velib's when I used them to commute on Greenpeace business in April:
http://greendaniel.blogspot.com/2008/04/vive-le-velib.html
Posted by: DanielMittler | September 22, 2008 5:25 PM