Europe moves to curb cars — Panama to build expressways
While Panama in its rush to become a “first world” country plans to extend the Cinta Costera speedway around one of the few remaining traces of its heritage, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars.
Panama, is taking some major steps towards improving public transportation by getting rid of the polluting diablos rojos and building the first stage of a metro subway, it it has followed the U.S. in synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and is planning to build more parking lots and of course expanding the Cinta Costera.
To create a change in attitudes and move people out of their four wheeled status symbols to sit next to the hoi polloi will take another revolution, to convince people that life would be better if, instead of 50 cars, each carrying one person, and jamming the streets one bus carrying 50 would reduce congestion and safeguard the environment.
Panama shares Americas love of cars, but particularly giant SUV's, and people will drive around the block three times to find a parking space rather than walk 100 meters, or will sit blocking the entrance at Riba Smith to wait for a car to back out of a parking space in front of the door to the pharmacy entrance.
And the thought of walking half a block to the corner store is anathema.
Even those who go to Parque Omar (by car of course) for their morning jog, fall back into driver mode when they head home for a shower, and for the rest of the day forget the old song “These Shoes Were Meant for Walkin’.” Unless of course you live in, or are visiting Casco Viejo. It shares with one tiny section of Central Avenue the distinction of being a near virtual pedestrian mall and may one day get full honors by prohibiting traffic in the streets.
In Europe the rule of the car is on the way out. The methods vary, but the mission is clear — to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.
The New York Times takes up the theme:
Cities including Vienna to Munich and Copenhagen have closed vast swaths of streets to car traffic. Barcelona and Paris have had car lanes eroded by popular bike-sharing programs. Drivers in London and Stockholm pay hefty congestion charges just for entering the heart of the city. And over the past two years, dozens of German cities have joined a national network of “environmental zones” where only cars with low carbon dioxide emissions may enter.
Like minded cities welcome new shopping malls and apartment buildings but severely restrict the allowable number of parking spaces. On-street parking is vanishing. In recent years, even former car capitals like Munich have evolved into “walkers’ paradises,” said Lee Schipper, a senior research engineer at Stanford University who specializes in sustainable transportation…
Peder Jensen, head of the Energy and Transport Group at the European Environment Agency. “Here there has been more movement to make cities more livable for people, to get cities relatively free of cars.”
To that end, the municipal Traffic Planning Department in Zurich has been working overtime in recent years to torment drivers. Closely spaced red lights have been added on roads into town, causing delays and angst for commuters. Pedestrian underpasses that once allowed traffic to flow freely across major intersections have been removed. Operators in the city’s ever expanding tram system can turn traffic lights in their favor as they approach, forcing cars to halt.
Around Löwenplatz, one of Zurich’s busiest squares, cars are now banned on many blocks. Where permitted, their speed is limited to a snail’s pace so that crosswalks and crossing signs can be removed entirely, giving people on foot the right to cross anywhere they like at any time…
While some American cities — notably San Francisco, which has “pedestrianized” parts of Market Street — have made similar efforts, they are still the exception in the United States, where it has been difficult to get people to imagine a life where cars are not entrenched.
France is always good for a revolution. The bike rental system Vélib has to alter behavior patterns on Paris streets, at least a little bit. In the whole of Paris there are 1,451 rental posts with a total of 20,600 bikes available. You can jump on a bike for next-to-nothing: A day ticket costs €1 and a year ticket costs €29 ($40).
Locals, tourists and the city all stand to gain. Altogether, 46 percent of Vélib users drive a car less due to their new cycling habit. Meanwhile, 96 percent of Parisians say their home city has become more pleasant thanks to Vélib. Clocking up more than 50 million trips in three years, Vélib is the biggest bike rental business in the world — and serves as a role model for other cities.
Take London, for example, which has had its own bikes for rent since the end of July. Back in 2003, London implemented a congestion charge, a tax to reduce inner-city traffic congestion. The rental project Barclays Cycle Hire is, in the words of London City Mayor Boris Johnson, another attempt "to get people out of their cars." Some 5,000 bikes stand at more than 300 parking stations around the city. The estimated running costs are £20 million a year (€24 million), a figure the city wants to reduce through rental fees. To be on the safe side, it has taken on Barclays Bank as a sponsor, which is prepared to pay out £25 million to bolster its green reputation.
Cooperating with big firms is a necessary step. After all, the rental income alone won't keep the business afloat, especially since most cycle rental programs offer the first half hour for free, and people tend to cycle short distances. If you spend longer on your bike in Hamburg it costs €1.20 per hour, up to a maximum of €12 each day.
Panama of course needs bike lanes and sidewalks that are at least walkable, and perhaps a subway to Amador would serve the population better than an extended expressway. Now that’s a way to keep the government’s favorite contractor busy.
