
Paris city centre goes car-free for a day - hliyan
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/27/all-blue-skies-in-paris-as-city-centre-goes-car-free-for-first-time
======
awjr
What I think this demonstrates is something that a lot of cities are waking up
to. The car is not a friend of the urban landscape.

A lot of cities are now prioritising walking/cycling/public transport over the
ability to drive anywhere and everywhere and this is having a profound effect
on health and well being of their residents. It is hard though.

Events like this show what is possible.

~~~
icebraining
I think it's possible, but one time events are misleading, in my opinion.
People use exceptional measures that are not sustainable in the long term -
out here, some people even took a vacation day when our cities did the "day
without cars".

~~~
awjr
The issue is one of persuasion. By having these days it gives local
authorities the ability to demonstrate what is possible and makes actual
implementation of smaller leaps (e.g. segregated cycle tracks) easier to
swallow.

~~~
steadicat
If no cars is the goal, how are segregated cycle tracks a leap in the right
direction?

~~~
awjr
Because it is not about "removing" the car, but making it the most difficult
thing to use vs any other type of transport. For example, you can make the
most direct route to a place via bike or walking, but if you use a car you
have to use the ring road to get from one side of the city to the other. You
enable cars to go into a city, but not through a city.

The other issue is that people equate the idea that people can walk and cycle
together. This is really uncomfortable for walkers. You need to segregate
space for each type of transport.

------
veddox
Never having been to Paris, I am surprised that it doesn't seem to have a car-
free inner city anyway (correct me if I'm wrong). I find this one day already
a great idea, but why not make it permanent? Almost ever city here in Germany
has what we call the "Fußgängerzone" \- pedestrians-only zone - in the town
center. It makes for a very pleasant atmosphere when you don't have to watch
out for cars all the time, and that part of town looks a lot more attractive
for it. (Often you will find this area is located in the oldest part of town,
so you get to admire all the old buildings even better.)

~~~
netrus
Paris does have Fußgängerzonen as well (around Les Halles for example, in La
Defance, Latin Quarter ...) but this is a huge city. Only Berlin comes close,
and there are cars all around Potsdamer Platz, Brandenburger Tor, Ku'Damm ...
But I agree, Paris would clearly benefit from a no car zone from Rivoli to
maybe Luxemburg. The roads are too small for serious car traffic anyway.

~~~
bwohlergo
"... Paris is a huge city. Only Berlin comes close, ..."

yeah, right

Paris: 2,241,346 (2014)

Berlin: 3,562,166 (2014)

~~~
raverbashing
And Boston has only 600k inhabitants, right?

(4M if we count the Metro area)

~~~
dhimes
Most of Boston seems doable for car-free too, but I don't know if the public
transportation can handle it. It's already taxed at rush hour and other peak
times. I can't imagine everybody could get to work on time if _everybody_ had
to use it without major skewing of some schedules.

It seems like a strong telecommuting infrastructure and culture should be a
part of this.

~~~
rst
Public transit in Boston is already choked at rush hour, and badly in need of
repairs (including complete fleet replacements for two subway lines, now
scheduled to start in a couple of years) -- witness the total breakdowns last
winter, which had some lines out of service for weeks.

~~~
ocschwar
And witness the repercussions. On the third day of the crisis, the Red and
Orange lines were out, and a lot of people who normally came on them, drove
instead. The result was that Cambridge was utterly crippled with traffic. On
my way back from Kendall to Medford, I walked, and I got home earlier than
anyone I know.

------
jmcomets
A small shortcut in this article that I can't help to point out:

> The Volkswagen scandal over emissions-rigging has increased pressure on the
> French government to act on car pollution.

The current mayor of Paris has been taking actions like this one since she was
instated. We regularly have to deal with "50 km/h max speed" measures and it
has nothing to do with the VW rigging scandal.

Small sidenote:

> In the rest of the city, cars were allowed but at 20km an hour.

I'm not sure this is true, but I assure to you no one was driving 20 km/h in
my neighbourhood.

All in all this was a great opportunity to see the streets of Paris without
any cars whatsoever.

~~~
hvidgaard
The most annoying this about those speeds, is that a car is far more efficient
at 50km/h, than at 20km/h.

~~~
Piskvorrr
Except you are lucky if you can get even to 20 km/h in Paris, forget about 50
km/h. "Fluid traffic" is a red herring in such circumstances - those _other_
cars always get in the way ;)

------
kweks
I was in Paris this weekend; it was great to be able to participate in this
project.

It was pleasant on multiple levels - the lack of traffic, absolutely, but also
the sense of community and sense of belonging. There's definitely a feeling of
'taking back' your city when you can circulate freely.

One of the most interesting aspects was that the road tunnels were also open.
Paris has quite a few tunnel systems in the center of town, and most of these
were available to stroll through, proving a unique insight into what is an
oft-overlooked part of the city.

That, and the ability to run / ride / skate through the system, made for a fun
day. It's definitely something other cities could adapt

------
haser_au
I was in Paris from Fri-Sun, and the difference between having cars and not
having cars in the city centre was incredible. I've been to Paris a few times
before, but the calm, lack of noise and general feeling of pedestrians was
incredible. More cities should take the lead from Paris/Germany/etc. and
reduce the number of vehicles in city centres.

------
MichaelGG
Would not having cars in the small centre actually clear up smog in a couple
of hours? I would suspect that changes in weather (wind/rain) would have a far
greater impact on air pollution. Along with the notes of happy people, I'd
imagine this is more a psychological effect. Cities do seem pretty neat
without cars (judging from when I've been out during crises and there's been
no other traffic).

Also: "emboldened to cycle in from the eastern edge of the city without a
helmet" \- I'm not sure, but are cars a massively dominating factor in bicycle
safety? I'd imagine there's still risks, like hitting someone, or a curb,
where a helmet might come in life-saving.

~~~
tajen
There is _a lot_ of controversy on whether helmets save lives. First, "it is
impossible to build a cycle helmet that will offer significant impact
protection" [1]. In Australia, 80% of cyclist death happen with a helmet.

Second, countries which have made the helmet mandatory have seen a decrease of
cyclism and an increase of obesity and heart diseases, to the point that it
increases the global mortality [2].

This may sound very disturbing if you come from a country where helmets are
mandatory. In France, they are not.

In case you wonder, there are also stories (albeit probably less than
unanimous) that cycling at the red light is safer. It is my personal belief
that I'd never go ahead when it's green for the cars in my city (Lyon), but
it's much more controversial. Some cities (like Paris[3] allow jumping the red
light).

Finally, many European countries, including London and Paris, have developed
bike stations (take a bike, 1.50€ for a 24hrs card, with deposit). Making
helmets mandatory would be a problem.

[1]
[http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/1999/jun/15/healthan...](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/1999/jun/15/healthandwellbeing.health1)
[2] [http://www.cycle-helmets.com/helmet_statistics.html](http://www.cycle-
helmets.com/helmet_statistics.html) [3]
[http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33773868](http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33773868)

~~~
awjr
Hat tip to this link [http://road.cc/content/forum/165819-whats-wrong-bicycle-
helm...](http://road.cc/content/forum/165819-whats-wrong-bicycle-helmets) but
let me quote a comment from there:

Just to save everyone else the time and effort as well as repetitive strain
injury I am going to summarise the entire crux of how these responses will go:

Someone will kick off with an anecdote about how they or a friend's life was
supposedly saved by wearing a helmet.

This will be followed by a post saying it isn't much use wearing one when
getting driven over by a HGV.

Someone else will then link to the University of Bath research.

Following again with another anecdote where a helmet was ineffective or lead
to more injury.

Now someone is going to come and call everyone else morons and telling the
other posters to stop pressing for mandatory helmet wearing- despite the fact
no one has done so.

Someone else will now make an observation about why car drivers or pedestrians
don't have to wear them.

Mr "Stop-making -me-wear-a-helmet-despite-no one -actually-calling-for-it-to-
be-law" will then quote the Australian experience before again insulting those
imaginary posters no one else can see who want to make it illegal to ride
without a helmet.

Someone who hasn't read the previous comments will again post a link to the
University of Bath research.

A sensible post will then mention Chris Boardman but this will be ignored as
the pro and anti-helmet debate hots up.

Someone makes a reference to "noddy hats".

Someone makes another sensible statement about not forcing anyone to wear one,
that it should be personal choice and they choose to wear one. That will then
be ignored as the rest of the posters get nasty and call into question each
others moral and intellectual standing, again despite NO ONE ARGUING IT SHOULD
BE COMPULSORY.

Another person again posts about making pedestrians wear helmets.

These same comments will then be repeated ad nasueum until suddenly there are
hundred of posts all saying the same thing and mirroring the exact same helmet
threads that seemingly appear every few days which no one then reads because
once you have read one, you have read them all.

~~~
Someone
You’re forgetting the ‘Someone’ who will remark that road design plays an
important role.

Relevant links from the past week that compare two approaches:

[https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/come-
an...](https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/come-and-see-
horshams-east-west-cycle-route-this-saturday/)

[https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/the-f325-fast-...](https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/the-f325-fast-
cycle-route-arnhem-nijmegen/)

IMO, almost all cycling accidents are avoidable, also those where the fault is
with others (pedestrian, cyclist or car driver) you have no control over.

Problem is, to do that, you need to pay attention whenever there is potential
for danger. Good cycling infrastructure decreases the fraction of the time
that that potential is present from close to 100% (for example, if you are
riding a 1m cycle lane next to a row of parked cars, you _must_ look forward
to check whether there are drivers in those cars that might open a door into
the cycle lane, and stay in that 1m wide lane, and check for cars making a
turn into your lane) down to 10% or so. That makes it a lot safer to ride when
you aren’t in the physical and/or mental state to pay attention 100% of the
time (which is almost always)

Oh, and “Chris Boardman”. I like making sensible posts, and accept that ‘being
ignored’ sometimes is the price for it.

------
akramhussein
I was in Paris this weekend-just-gone and sat on the bench on Sunday on
Champs-Élysées watching all these people walking down the road. I thought it
had always been like this. Then I saw the police at around 6pm start to ease
it up and march in front of the cars to open the roads again and back to
normal with cars beeping their horns and nearly hitting cyclists.

Now it completely makes sense why that old French man sat next to me and
wouldn't stop talking about the cars and pollution.

------
jsumrall
After spending lots of time in the Netherlands, where bikes and pedestrians
are respected, it was a shock to see the situation in Paris when I was there
this week. It felt like a car city. Roads sometimes took up a significant
amount of space and the sidewalk was only wide enough for one person. Drivers
also had such a lack of respect for bikes and pedestrians. It was at times
frightening to try to use a crosswalk, as nobody would stop for the people
trying to cross. Paris is much better than the states, but they have a lot of
room for improvement.

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
I think there are some cities in Europe - can't remember if Paris is one - in
which road traffic _can_ still cross on a green light for pedestrians, maybe
only a left turn and if there is no-one crossing. Of course, "no-one" crossing
is then taken with a pinch of salt by bullying drivers. This is definitely
_not_ the case in London, although traffic still has a tendency to go through
red lights late.

~~~
glandium
You're thinking about a right turn on a red light, and it's not the case in
France.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_turn_on_red](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_turn_on_red)

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
Oh yes, for places that drive on the right, that obviously makes more sense!
It might not be for the same reason, but I've definitely felt like drivers
have 'more priority' over crossing pedestrians when in mainland Europe. Even
on a pedestrian green light.

~~~
seszett
I'm not sure what you mean by "a pedestrian green light". I have never seen a
pedestrian green light that wasn't accompanied by a red light for cars? Unless
maybe you're talking about cars turning left or right at a green light
(therefore crossing the path of pedestrians who also have a green light)?

I think drivers reasonably respect pedestrians in such situations at least in
France, but for regular crossings, yeah it can be quite difficult, even though
pedestrians theoretically have priority. It's usually better in core city
centers, especially those cities which have extensive areas with reduced
speed, pedestrian areas, etc. Nantes and Lille centers are somewhat
comparable, but even in the "shared space with pedestrian priority" in Lille's
very center (which is almost entirely allowed to cars), cars try to not stop
for pedestrians, while in Nantes which has extensive car-free areas, cars will
stop and generally drive more gently in most of the city.

And just over the border from Lille, in Belgium, things are completely
different and cars sometimes stop even if you didn't intend on crossing! I
don't think there is any homogeneity in "mainland Europe" on this topic.

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
Yup, I think we're talking about the same thing. Like I said, I couldn't
remember exactly where I'd experienced it, having travelled in a lot of
mainland Europe. But, as a Brit, it's very disconcerting - here, if the
pedestrian crossing has a green light, the cars have a red light, and must not
go, no exceptions.

------
gbugniot
I don't know if it's the case too in other countries, but here in France,
there are more and more cities which go car-free during a day each month.

Most of the time, these car-free events occurs in the historical downtown of
big cities, and there are generally appreciated.

~~~
agumonkey
Some people complained (on some French newspaper website) about bikes being
reckless. Personally, seeing empty boulevards and people walking in all
direction is making my heart rate slow down. I'm becoming car anxious...

~~~
palunon
We're French... If we can't complain about cars, we have to find something
else to complain about...

~~~
agumonkey
That's limiting, France is also a country with a big poetic history, let's
focus on that part :)

------
tgb
Philadelphia had the roads in center city shut down this weekend for the
pope's visit. As someone who has no car, it was glorious! I'd love to see it
done on a regular basis, preferably without needing the national guard on
every street corner.

~~~
lfam
I have lived here for four years. This was by far my favorite weekend ever in
Philadelphia.

The feeling of being able to walk around downtown, mingling with thousands of
other people, and NEVER having to look over my shoulder make sure that I
wasn't about to be crushed by 2 tons of speeding steel was indeed a glorious
feeling.

The local businesses suffered, but I'm sure that if the streetscape changed,
the "business-scape" would, too.

------
nmc
Here is a map showing (in dark green) the areas where roads were closed for
motorized vehicles: [https://api-site.paris.fr/images/74176](https://api-
site.paris.fr/images/74176)

------
veddox
Car-free days remind me of the car-free Sundays people tell me about from the
1973 oil-crisis. They used to go cycling on the motorways - wouldn't that be
fun to do again?

~~~
ido
Israel has 1 day per year where there's no car traffic anywhere in the country
(yom kipur - no motorized transit of any kind, even trains). It's among some
of my fondest memories of childhood, i wish we had something like that in
Germany :)

People indeed cycle, roller skate, and skateboard on the highways.

~~~
smonff
Looks like they made this "speedway without cars" thing in Montreuil (east
suburb of Paris) during this event. For the 7th year... Montreuil is a much
more progressive city than Paris. [http://www.lavoieestlibre.org/#la-voie-est-
libre](http://www.lavoieestlibre.org/#la-voie-est-libre)

------
pkaye
Is the high air pollution due to population density or emissions technology
(ie Diesel vs Petrol?) For example, I look up the pollution numbers for 2015
in California Bay Area and the strict California PM10 limits were exceeded for
only 2 days in the year.* And California is known for being car crazy and we
have had hot dry weather for some time now.

* ([http://www.baaqmd.gov/about-air-quality/air-quality-summarie...](http://www.baaqmd.gov/about-air-quality/air-quality-summaries)) BTW where do I find something similar for Paris?

~~~
maelito
The proximity of the sea might be one reason.

Check www.airparif.asso.fr for the numbers !

~~~
pkaye
That would make sense. In California, there is the Central Valley which is far
from the ocean but lower population density and the pollution is much worse.

------
HSO
Sorry for the wall of text but this passage from Kundera [1] always comes to
mind when I realize (or remember) that noise, somehow, is taken for granted by
most people I know: I complain, and they say "stop whining". But it _is_
extraordinary and should not be accepted as a "fact of life". Here's to hope
that events like this will make more people aware of that.

 _“Another visit to Prague after 1989. From a friend’s bookcase I happen to
pull out a book by Jaromir John, a Czech novelist of the period between the
wars. The book is long forgotten; it is called The Internal-Combustion
Monster, and I read it for the first time that day. Written around 1932, it
tells a story set about ten years earlier, during the first years of the
Czechoslovak Republic that was proclaimed in 1918. A Mr. Engelbert, a forestry
official in the old regime of the Hapsburg monarchy, moves to Prague to live
out his retirement years; but coming up against the aggressive modernity of
the young state, he has one disappointment after another. A highly familiar
situation. One “aspect, though, is brand new: for Mr. Engelbert the horror of
this modern world, the curse, is not the power of money or the arrogance of
the arrivistes, it is the noise; and not the age-old noise of a thunderstorm
or a hammer, but the new noise of engines, especially of automobiles and
motorcycles, the explosive “internal-combustion monsters.”_

 _Poor Mr. Engelbert: first he settles in a house in a residential
neighborhood; there cars are his first introduction to the evil that will turn
his life into an unending flight. He moves to another neighborhood, pleased to
see that cars are forbidden entry to his street. Unaware that the prohibition
is only temporary, he is exasperated at night when he hears the “internal-
combustion monsters” roaring again beneath his window. From then on he never
goes to bed without cotton in his ears, realizing that “sleeping is the most
basic human desire and that death caused by the impossibility of sleep must be
the worst death there is.” He goes to seek silence in country inns (in vain),
in provincial cities in the houses of onetime colleagues (in vain), and ends
up spending his nights in trains, which “, with their gentle archaic noise,
provide him with a slumber that is relatively peaceful in his life as a
beleaguered man._

 _When John wrote his novel, Prague had probably one car to every hundred
inhabitants or, I don’t know, perhaps to every thousand. It is precisely when
it was still rare that the phenomenon of noise (motor noise) stood out in all
its astonishing newness. We can deduce a general rule: the existential import
of a social phenomenon is most sharply perceptible not as it expands but when
it is just beginning, incomparably fainter than it will soon become. Nietzsche
remarks that in the sixteenth century nowhere in the world was the Church less
corrupt than in Germany and that was the reason the Reformation started
precisely there, because the mere “beginnings of corruption were felt to be
intolerable.” Bureaucracy in Kafka’s time was an innocent babe compared to
today, and yet it was Kafka who revealed its monstrous nature, which since
then has become routine and no longer commands anyone’s interest. In the 1960s
brilliant philosophers subjected the “consumer society” to a critique that
over the years has been so cartoonishly outstripped by reality that we are
embarrassed “to refer to it. For we must recall another general rule: reality
is utterly unashamed to repeat itself, but confronted with reality’s
repetition, thought always ends by falling silent._

 _In 1920 Mr. Engelbert was still astonished by the noise of the “internal-
combustion monsters”; the generations that followed found it natural; after
initially horrifying man, sickening him, noise gradually reshaped him; through
its omnipresence and its permanence it ultimately instilled in him the need
for noise, and with that, a whole different relation to nature, to repose, to
joy, to beauty, to music (which, now become an uninterrupted background of
sound, has lost its char“acter as art) and even speech (which no longer holds
a privileged position in the world of sounds). In the history of existence
this was a change so profound, so enduring, that no war or revolution can
produce its like; a change whose beginnings Jaromir John modestly noted and
described._

 _I say “modestly” because John was one of those novelists called “minor”;
still, great or small, he was a real novelist; he was not just copying truths
stitched on the curtain of preinterpretation; he had the Cervantes-like
courage to tear the curtain. Let’s take Mr. Engelbert out of the novel and
imagine him as a real man who sets about writing his autobiography; no, it is
nothing like John’s novel! For, like most of his ilk, Mr. Engelbert is
accustomed to judging life according to what can be read on that curtain
hanging in front of the world; he knows that the phenomenon of noise, however
disagreeable it is for him, does not deserve interest. But freedom,
independence, democracy—or, seen from the opposite angle, capitalism,
exploitation, inequality—yes, oh a hundred times yes! Now, those are serious
notions, they can give a life meaning, render a misfortune “noble! Thus, in
his autobiography, which I envision him writing with cotton stuffed in his
ears, he grants great significance to the recovered independence of his
homeland, and he rails at the selfishness of the arrivistes; as for those
“internal-combustion monsters,” he has relegated them to the bottom of the
page, a mere mention of a trivial annoyance that, in the end, is rather
amusing._

PS: Much like Mr. Engelbert, I resorted to ear plugs, going through all the
varieties of it as well as noise canceling headphones. Since about 1.5 years
now, I use custom-fitted silicone earplugs and they are amazing. Each ear
canal is shaped differently, even "within" the same person from side to side,
and a custom fitting makes earplugs most agreeable to wear. I highly recommend
this if you suffer from a "too noisy world" like me. They are expensive but
the fit and apparent durability make them worth it. One of the best
investments in my sanity I've made (so far).

_________________________

[1] M. Kundera. The Curtain (Le rideau). Harper Perennial, 2005.

~~~
dijit
I definitely suffer from noise, for a time I believed I just had 'good
hearing', but in actuality I believe that it's just that my brain cannot
filter the background noise. Since I do not hear people speaking next to a
loud road, but they seem to hear me fine.

There are sounds in the world that are actually painful- I mean, causing real
physical pain. I'm referring of course to sirens, and in the UK at least they
are dastardly loud. (a requirement to offset engine noise of even the most
aggressive motorbike).

I lived for a year on a busy road in london, and, never again, the noise is
intolerable.

but; where could you go if you wanted a respite from the droning clunking of
engines? the more remote you go, the more engines are required.

~~~
ido
England might be too densely populated for you but I'm sure you can find
hiking trails in the forests/mountains that do not go near roads? There are
definitely plenty of those in Austria and Germany, you need to get to their
beginning with a train or car but after half an hour walk you can be somewhere
secluded, especially if you go during the work week.

~~~
dijit
it's about living, not visiting. :\

but yes, I moved to Sweden, the traffic here seems to be much quieter.

~~~
teddyh
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opn0L-oX3-E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opn0L-oX3-E)

------
jstoja
IMHO I just think that this retrospective isn't relevant. This measures have
not had time to really show what it can do. I just think that the past windy
and sunny days made the pollution go away. Not really representative of the
result of such actions...

------
mtgx
Instead of outright banning all cars, why not ban only the polluting ones,
essentially allowing only EVs in cities? That would also accelerate the long-
term goal of cleaning up the city of smog, which is what they're trying to do
with these "no-car days", because people would dump their polluting cars
faster.

If the no-car days don't drive people to dump their cars too fast or at all,
then these acts will be just symbolic anyway and won't have much effect on
city pollution.

~~~
upofadown
Pollution is only one of a long list of problems caused by cars in cities.

------
tim333
Maybe before too long much of the traffic could be replaced by self driving
electric vehicles? The hardest part of traffic to deal with is probably trucks
delivering goods and maybe those could be replaced by some unmanned electric
things that trundle overnight.

------
hyperion2010
A link that might be of interest [0]. I haven't read the book, but this guy
put a lot of thought into what it would take. 0\.
[http://www.carfree.com/](http://www.carfree.com/)

------
greggyb
Philadelphia recently did this. Your city can, too. Just bring the pope for a
weekend.

~~~
mixmastamyk
When the pope came to Rio de Janeiro recently they actually did the opposite
and closed the metro for a week, the mind still boggles at the reasoning.

------
caio1982
I wonder what would be the political and economical cost to have such a car-
free day at least once in, say, Manhattan. The landscape would probably look a
bit alien even :-)

~~~
et2o
I agree-Manhattan has far too many cars. I think they should shut down 1/2 of
the avenues to car traffic a la Amsterdam.

------
WalterBright
I'd like to see some of streets in the city closed to cars during working
hours. I've seen this in England, and it's quite nice.

------
ocschwar
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem go car free eery Yom Kippur. Driving ends at sunset,
and you can feel and smell the difference within the first hour.

------
lugus35
L'oligarchie (dont fait partie Anne Hidalgo) continue de prendre le taxi, les
riches bobos habitants de Paris peuvent, eux, prendre leur voiture. Les
immigrés eux, vont dans le centre de Paris grâce aux transports en commun qui
ont été financés par la France entière. Au delà des banlieues parisiennes, la
France périphérique, blanche, qui est maintenue en dehors de Paris et sa
Banlieue.

------
JoachimS
To be pedantic, Paris has been car free for most of its history.

------
jlebrech
Well, the first time in 110 years.

------
czzarr
This is the latest political stunt of the hipster left in power that doesn't
care one bit for people who actually have things to do during their day, and
only cares about tourists and skateboarders who go in circles in the very
center of Paris.

Tough luck if you come from far away for work, if you are old or handicapped,
if you planned a day in the countryside with your family of four children,
etc.

Pollution is much lower when traffic is fluid, and recent road work and
legislation have done nothing but help create huge congestions that drive
pollution through the roof.

~~~
Piskvorrr
"Pollution is much lower when traffic is fluid" \- that's all very nice, but
have you been to Paris recently? As in, within the last 50 years? On a usual
day (i.e. one without a citywide car restriction), there's no such thing as
"fluid traffic" there - you shuffle forward, meter by meter, in a massive
traffic jam covering the city.

Also, you are severely underestimating the public transport network - "if you
come from far away for work," you have probably left your car at a train
station and rode into the city on a RER or a Metro train. Same goes for the
other objections, strange as it may seem to USians.

In other words, your arguments seem to hinge on "if Paris were an American
type of city, a citywide car ban would suck." Thankfully, it's not one (i.e.
driving a car is an option, not a necessity).

~~~
czzarr
I've been living in Paris since 1997, so yes, I know what I'm talking about.

I agree that on a usual day, there are massive traffic jams everywhere. That's
because of the relentless resourcefulness with which the leftist mayors have
been hindering car transportation in Paris, by constructing countless bus
lanes, fake bike lanes, road bumps and other extravaganza. They have artfully
managed to completely fuck up Paris traffic.

"Driving a car is an option". We'll see when you are 80 years old and can't
take the bus or subway alone. We'll see when you have to move after 1am. We'll
see when you are disabled. We'll see when you have to move your children
outside the city for sports for instance. Trains are all fine and dandy but
they don't go door to door.

Oh and btw: I'm young, single, without child, don't own a car and cycle
everywhere. I'm just pissed off by all that hipster bullshit.

Last thing: when actual real solutions to traffic problems such as Uber Pop
arise, they are crushed by the government. See the hypocrisy now ?

~~~
ocschwar
"I agree that on a usual day, there are massive traffic jams everywhere."

So, how much of Paris should be leveled to widen roadways?

Do you want to see what a city looks like where there aren't massive traffic
jams everywhere? Visit Pensacola or Tampa Bay in Florida. Driving is easy.
Nothing else is.

~~~
czzarr
Roadways don't have to be widened. Just not continually shrinked like they've
been for the last 10 years. Traffic is noticeably worse now than 5 years ago,
and much worse than 10 years ago, while the population size hasn't grown as
much.

