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Government Transportation

Life In the Spanish City That Banned Cars (theguardian.com) 224

An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a report via The Guardian: People don't shout in Pontevedra -- or they shout less. With all but the most essential traffic banished, there are no revving engines or honking horns, no metallic snarl of motorbikes or the roar of people trying make themselves heard above the din -- none of the usual soundtrack of a Spanish city. What you hear in the street instead are the tweeting of birds in the camellias, the tinkle of coffee spoons and the sound of human voices. Teachers herd crocodiles of small children across town without the constant fear that one of them will stray into traffic.

"Listen," says the mayor, opening the windows of his office. From the street below rises the sound of human voices. "Before I became mayor 14,000 cars passed along this street every day. More cars passed through the city in a day than there are people living here." Miguel Anxo Fernandez Lores has been mayor of the Galician city since 1999. His philosophy is simple: owning a car doesn't give you the right to occupy the public space. "How can it be that the elderly or children aren't able to use the street because of cars?" asks Cesar Mosquera, the city's head of infrastructures. "How can it be that private property -- the car -- occupies the public space?" Lores became mayor after 12 years in opposition, and within a month had pedestrianized all 300,000 sq m of the medieval centre, paving the streets with granite flagstones.
"The historical center was dead," Lores says. "There were a lot of drugs, it was full of cars -- it was a marginal zone. It was a city in decline, polluted, and there were a lot of traffic accidents. It was stagnant. Most people who had a chance to leave did so. At first we thought of improving traffic conditions but couldn't come up with a workable plan. Instead we decided to take back the public space for the residents and to do this we decided to get rid of cars."

Some of the benefits mentioned in the report include less traffic accidents and traffic-related deaths, and decreased CO2 emissions (70%). "Also, withholding planning permission for big shopping centers has meant that small businesses -- which elsewhere have been unable to withstand Spain's prolonged economic crisis -- have managed to stay afloat," reports The Guardian.
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Life In the Spanish City That Banned Cars

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @08:06AM (#57341182)

    nailed it

  • by pr0t0 ( 216378 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @08:13AM (#57341204)

    While there are many more, and more important, things to consider; Pontevedra just made my list of cities that I might like to call home one day.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @09:04AM (#57341476)

      The whole city is the size of a typical shopping mall. There are no cars inside shopping malls - for the same reason.

      • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @11:24AM (#57342550)

        You have no idea. I lived in Spain for 8 years. Pontevedra isn't an outlier, most Spanish towns are already heavily pedestrianised and this was just the final step. This is the way modern towns and cities in the EU in general are going. Cars in town and city centres are just a waste of space and people's time.

        • I visit Spain often and I have to agree. The way cities are managing car / pedestrian interaction is incredible and varied. Lots of town planers are currently looking to Barcelona for their trial of the superblock concept:
          https://www.theguardian.com/ci... [theguardian.com] which effectively eliminates thoroughfare on many roads.

    • by luis_a_espinal ( 1810296 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @09:36AM (#57341728)

      While there are many more, and more important, things to consider; Pontevedra just made my list of cities that I might like to call home one day.

      Not to take away anything from the city, but we have suburbs larger than Pontevedra (which makes its social experiment possible.)

      If you can afford to move and live there, by all means. I just hope you are paying attention to job prospects in such a small city with double digit unemployment rate, with the Spaniard economy experiencing a lot of hurting.

      It would be a nice place for retirement (though not necessarily the cheapest.)

      • While there are many more, and more important, things to consider; Pontevedra just made my list of cities that I might like to call home one day.

        Not to take away anything from the city, but we have suburbs larger than Pontevedra (which makes its social experiment possible.)

        If you can afford to move and live there, by all means. I just hope you are paying attention to job prospects in such a small city with double digit unemployment rate, with the Spaniard economy experiencing a lot of hurting.

        It would be a nice place for retirement (though not necessarily the cheapest.)

        No need to go that far away - probably most of the benefits of going car free can be had via superblocks - https://www.theguardian.com/ci... [theguardian.com]
        I always thought being able to drive directly into my house garage was a massive luxury with clear exernalities like road noise, traffic danger and increased pollution, and honestly if I could instead park away from my house and had to walk there to take my parked car (or more likely, public transit or taxi), I'd consider it a good tradeoff (esp. considering kids would

    • by jwhyche ( 6192 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @10:12AM (#57341962) Homepage

      A city with out cars. Sounds like wonderful place to live. I lived outside SF, in Menlo Park, for a year. I didn't own a car during that time. Most things I needed was with in walking distance, and the things that where not where a train ride away. Something that we have tossed by the way side is that if cities are designed properly cars are not needed.

      I read a long time about about a town that was banning cars and legalizing electric golf carts. In down town Memphis we have these electric scooters everywhere. Rent one and off you go. Park it anywhere. My daughter and I where driving in down town yesterday. We saw a guy rent one of these scooters. When we got where we where going, and parked, that same guy came riding through the intersection. My point is even though I had the faster transportation, the guy on the scooter got to the same spot at about the same time.

      • I spent several years fixing copiers and printers. I have also worked in the HVAC industry. When I see these car free articles my first though is, "what about maintenance and repair?"

        • When I see these car free articles my first though is, "what about maintenance and repair?"

          In a pedestrianized city? You are clearly talking a load of old cobblers.

      • by rsborg ( 111459 )

        I read a long time about about a town that was banning cars and legalizing electric golf carts. In down town Memphis we have these electric scooters everywhere.

        Golf carts are great, scooters not so much. Unless all your daycare/groceries/parks were really close the need to shuttle your kids & stuff around is a big problem.

        Though to be honest if scooters existed and our culture was more like Japan with respect to school-age kids free to roam, we might just have a sustainable revolution on our hands.

  • by gDLL ( 1413289 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @08:18AM (#57341236)
    So no cars just in the historical Centre ... big deal this is common here in Europe....
    • by spth ( 5126797 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @08:34AM (#57341328)

      Yes, looking at the map [openstreetmap.org] the pedestrian zone is about as big as one would expect for a European city of this size (c.f.Freiburg [openstreetmap.org]).

      Though Pontevedra has the additional disadvantage of having destroyed or having had to destroy their trams system (as was common in Western Europe)

    • Not just Europe - this is common in the US. Every place I've lived has at least experimented with closing off streets to regular traffic to create pedestrian malls. Most people are probably familiar with Broadway by Times Square, for instance. In Philly in the 90s they tried shutting Chestnut St. to traffic but it was a disaster for the businesses. Savannah, Georgia has a pedestrian mall. All of these are or were larger than the little 0.12 sq mile area detailed in this article.

    • The big deal is making the change. If successful there is every reason to boast about it, no matter how many other examples there are of similar success.

      I see a parallel with the recent community effort to deprecate rudeness at the center of the Linux Community, that is, the Linux Kernel Mailing List. At first there is a lot of shouting from people who regard rudeness as their right. That passes, and everybody benefits. Well, we haven't seen the last part yet but it's rather obvious it's coming.

      • What in the fucking vuck is rudeness and the kernel and the SJW religion got to do with congestion mitigation in the real world ?? Thou shall bow before the all powerful all knowing townhall planners ?
  • by Oswald McWeany ( 2428506 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @08:22AM (#57341246)

    Teachers herd crocodiles of small children across town without the constant fear that one of them will stray into traffic.

    Is that really the correct group name for children? A crocodile of children?

    • by Rei ( 128717 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @08:22AM (#57341248) Homepage

      Interesting, had to look that up:

      2 chiefly British : a line of people (such as schoolchildren) usually walking in pairs

      • Interesting, had to look that up:

        2 chiefly British : a line of people (such as schoolchildren) usually walking in pairs

        Interesting indeed- I am British and spent my life up unto my teen years in the UK (when my various migrations began); I had either forgot that phrase, or it is regional, or obscure.

      • Especially when at a zebra crossing.

    • Teachers herd crocodiles of small children across town without the constant fear that one of them will stray into traffic.

      Is that really the correct group name for children? A crocodile of children?

      I've heard the terms "a gaggle of children" or a "flock" but I've never heard the term crocodile. But maybe it's used to refer to the snake like form that the groups take when following the teacher...

      • I've heard the terms "a gaggle of children" or a "flock" but I've never heard the term crocodile. But maybe it's used to refer to the snake like form that the groups take when following the teacher...

        "Crocodile" is a fun expression in the language, Esperanto too. Crocodile is used as a verb in that language and means to talk in your native tongue rather than in Esperanto.

        Crocodiling is frowned upon at Esperanto meet-ups.

    • It is now!
  • There were a lot of drugs, it was full of cars -- it was a marginal zone.

    Not sure that "pedestrianizing" street corners here is going to reduce drugs.

  • by rickb928 ( 945187 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @08:37AM (#57341340) Homepage Journal

    "Before I became mayor 14,000 cars passed along this street every day. More cars passed through the city in a day than there are people living here."

    So this is a city of less than 14,000 people. That's a good size for this experiment.

    Now would this work for some of Manhattan? Hell yeah. Brooklyn? Maybe. LA, Phoenix? Nope. For the right size and density yes.

    My only question is how those adorable coffee shops get their supplies daily. Hand trucks? Burros? So a mostly-ban would be probably just as useful as a total ban, and restricting deliveries to very early morning or late night only disturbs the sleep of residents. Small price to pay. \s.

    • by spth ( 5126797 )

      By your logic, in NYC more than 8.5 million cars pass the street next to the mayor's office daily. While I have never been to NYC, I find that hard to believe.

      Pontevedra has over 80k inhabitants. Apparently those over 80k cars did not all use the street next to the mayor's office.

    • They could make exceptions for deliveries by EV
    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      My only question is how those adorable coffee shops get their supplies daily.

      From TFS: "With all but the most essential traffic banished,"

      Take a look at the picture accompanying that article. There's a car parked on that street. Probably by special permit.

      This isn't a bad idea, particularly in 'historic' towns, i.e. not designed with off-street car parking. Take a look at some videos of the absolute shit that is parking in old European cities. People will actually shove other people's parked cars to make room for their own.

      • Take a look at the picture accompanying that article. There's a car parked on that street. Probably by special permit.

        Which makes me wonder...does the mayor of this town have a special permit?

        IOW, does the "no cars" rule only apply to the peons?

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • "Teachers herd crocodiles of small children across town without the constant fear that one of them will stray into traffic"

    what the fuck is a crocodile of small children? That's gotta be a mistranslation thing. Anyway, let's all not teach our children about the dangers of roads so they can just walk out into traffic when they're older and move away I guess.
    • Nope, its not a translation problem, its a line of children, 2 by 2, led by teacher(s) to get from one place to another
      • Oh right, as you were then.
      • Nope, its not a translation problem, its a line of children, 2 by 2, led by teacher(s) to get from one place to another

        WTF is the etymology of calling two rows of children a crocodile? Is that the easiest formation in which you can march them into a swamp to be eaten?

        • Animal (and I guess kid) group names in (British) English are wonderfully weird:
          A shrewdness of monkeys
          A business of ferrets
          A conspiracy of lemurs
          A shadow of jaguars
          An unkindness of ravens
          A risk of lobsters
          An audience of squid
          I kid you not...
          • by djinn6 ( 1868030 )
            Seems very whimsical and stereotypically British.

            I just use "bunch" to describe all of those.
        • Nope, its not a translation problem, its a line of children, 2 by 2, led by teacher(s) to get from one place to another

          WTF is the etymology of calling two rows of children a crocodile? Is that the easiest formation in which you can march them into a swamp to be eaten?

          A single file queue of people is referred to as a snake. Stands that a double file line would be something also reptilian, larger, and not quite as agile.

  • People don't shout in Pontevedra -- or they shout less

    Just how loud are cars in Spain?

    • Car engines are not the noise issue.

      Cars in Spain are as loud as anywhere else: not very, unless modified by the owner to make more noise than it did when it left the manufacturer.

      Motorbikes and scooters in Spain are as loud as anywhere else in Europe: loud or very loud. In particular, small motorbikes are very much louder than cars.

      I strongly suspect that the decrease in ambient noise volume is from two things, neither of them being car engines:
      Removing the Spanish drivers and their horn buttons from the t

    • Just how loud are cars in Spain?

      Apparently their right-of-way arbitration involves use of the horns. Constantly.

  • If they really had 14,000 cars or so traveling through there daily, where did all that traffic go? Surely it wasn't all local traffic. I have to assume his move to ban cars from passing through just increased the traffic in surrounding areas, as people were forced to detour around it.

    This doesn't seem like a very workable plan for many cities. He might get away with it as long as he's a lone exception to the rule. But as soon as you have a few adjacent cities trying to pull it off, you're going to create s

  • by Monoman ( 8745 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2018 @11:10AM (#57342402) Homepage

    We visited Florence once and found it much more pleasant as a pedestrian tourist because of their traffic restrictions.

    https://www.visitflorence.com/... [visitflorence.com]

  • They're quiet, not really a car or motorcycle... Hrmmm, seems like Bird should suddenly show up and take over! ;)

  • When you go to pick up a date, you have to _literally_ pick her up!
  • >"With all but the most essential traffic banished, there are no revving engines or honking horns, no metallic snarl of motorbikes or the roar of people trying make themselves heard above the din -"

    And banning motor vehicles is way overkill. A modern, in-spec, unaltered car or motorcycle makes very little noise. I would say 90% of typical vehicle noise comes from illegally modified exhaust systems, ancient and/or very poorly maintained vehicles, modified stereo sound systems with huge speakers/amps, an

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