Smoke and noise free cities - for a day
22 September 2000 - 22 September 2000
Cities across Europe are gearing up for a demonstration of the benefits to be gained from motorists leaving their cars at home and relying on more environmentally-friendly forms of transport.
In keeping with its long term aim of improving air quality and reducing noise pollution in urban areas, the European Commission is providing financial support for those city authorities taking part in the 'In town, without my car' initiative on 22 September.
Road vehicles are responsible for more than half of all carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide pollution in urban areas. Furthermore, air quality problems are likely to increase in future if current trends continue. Energy consumption by the transport sector is growing at a rate of 4 per cent per year and will therefore double over the next 20 years.
The event is aimed at encouraging citizens to avoid unnecessary car journeys and to use alternative forms of locomotion - by foot, bicycle, electrical and gas powered vehicles or public transport. The organisers maintain that by restricting traffic volume, city dwellers can rediscover the pleasures of these alternative methods of transport without restricting their mobility. At the same time, municipal authorities will have an opportunity to test schemes for reducing traffic congestion such as new public transport routes and supervised bicycle parking areas.
The event was inspired by a series of local initiatives in many European cities during the 1990s. Then last year a more wide-ranging scheme was carried out in 66 French and 92 Italian towns, and throughout the Geneva canton of Switzerland.
The results of that trial run were impressive - 85 per cent of those surveyed in both the French and Italian towns believed that the scheme was a good idea and should be repeated. Very few people claimed that they had been inconvenienced by the scheme and it had no overall detrimental effects on businesses. Indeed the number of customers was reckoned to be the same or higher than on a normal weekday.
Meanwhile there was an average 10 per cent rise in the numbers of people using public transport and some cities recorded increases in the numbers of cyclists of up to 900 per cent. This switch to cleaner and quieter methods of transport also brought significant environmental benefits with an average 50 per cent drop in noise levels and reductions in air pollution of between 20 and 50 per cent.For further information, please contact
Jacqueline Denis-Lempereur
French Ministry of Land Planning and the Environment
20, avenue de Segur
75302 Paris Cedex 07 SP
France
Tel +33 1 42 19 18 09 E-mail: jacqueline.denis-lempereur@environnement.gouv.fr
URL: http://www.22september.org(opens in new window)
In keeping with its long term aim of improving air quality and reducing noise pollution in urban areas, the European Commission is providing financial support for those city authorities taking part in the 'In town, without my car' initiative on 22 September.
Road vehicles are responsible for more than half of all carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide pollution in urban areas. Furthermore, air quality problems are likely to increase in future if current trends continue. Energy consumption by the transport sector is growing at a rate of 4 per cent per year and will therefore double over the next 20 years.
The event is aimed at encouraging citizens to avoid unnecessary car journeys and to use alternative forms of locomotion - by foot, bicycle, electrical and gas powered vehicles or public transport. The organisers maintain that by restricting traffic volume, city dwellers can rediscover the pleasures of these alternative methods of transport without restricting their mobility. At the same time, municipal authorities will have an opportunity to test schemes for reducing traffic congestion such as new public transport routes and supervised bicycle parking areas.
The event was inspired by a series of local initiatives in many European cities during the 1990s. Then last year a more wide-ranging scheme was carried out in 66 French and 92 Italian towns, and throughout the Geneva canton of Switzerland.
The results of that trial run were impressive - 85 per cent of those surveyed in both the French and Italian towns believed that the scheme was a good idea and should be repeated. Very few people claimed that they had been inconvenienced by the scheme and it had no overall detrimental effects on businesses. Indeed the number of customers was reckoned to be the same or higher than on a normal weekday.
Meanwhile there was an average 10 per cent rise in the numbers of people using public transport and some cities recorded increases in the numbers of cyclists of up to 900 per cent. This switch to cleaner and quieter methods of transport also brought significant environmental benefits with an average 50 per cent drop in noise levels and reductions in air pollution of between 20 and 50 per cent.For further information, please contact
Jacqueline Denis-Lempereur
French Ministry of Land Planning and the Environment
20, avenue de Segur
75302 Paris Cedex 07 SP
France
Tel +33 1 42 19 18 09 E-mail: jacqueline.denis-lempereur@environnement.gouv.fr
URL: http://www.22september.org(opens in new window)