'Cleaner and greener': Covid-19 prompts world's
cities to free public space of cars
Campaigners call for schemes for cyclists and
pedestrians across the globe to be made long-term
Kate
Connolly
Kate
Connolly and reporting team
Published
onMon 18 May 2020 05.00 BST
The mayor
of Athens has said he will “liberate” public space from cars. His counterpart
in Paris says it is out of the question for the city to return to
pre-coronavirus traffic and pollution levels. In Berlin, 14 miles (22 km) of
new bike lanes have appeared almost overnight.
Around the
world, from Dublin to Sydney, cities are being radically reshaped in favour of
cyclists and pedestrians as empty streets give authorities the opportunity to
implement and accelerate large-scale projects.
Cycling
advocates and environmental activists are urging governments to ensure the
revival is long-term and lasts beyond the pandemic, for fear of a pushback by
the car lobby.
The Greek
capital is embarking on one of the most ambitious rejuvenation schemes, which
has been hastened by the pandemic, according to its mayor, Kostas Bakoyannis.
He announced plans last week to allocate 50,000 square metres of public space
for cyclists and pedestrians.
At the
heart of the scheme will be a four-mile “grand walkway” uniting archaeological
sites in the historic centre. Pavements will be widened, boulevards
pedestrianised, squares enlarged and traffic banned from areas beneath the
Acropolis.
Bakoyannis,
who became Athens’ youngest mayor last year, openly admits that the pandemic
played a role in accelerating infrastructure works that might have taken years
to accomplish.
“We have this
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and are fast-forwarding all our public works,”
he said. “The goal is to liberate public space from cars and give it to people
who want to walk and enjoy the city … Athens will be cleaner, greener and
better lit.”
In Budapest,
12 miles of temporary bike lanes have been introduced on some of the city’s
busiest roads over the past month.
The city’s
mayor, Gergely Karácsony, who was elected last year on a largely green
platform, had little trouble introducing the lanes after many people expressed
their discomfort at the prospect of depending on the city’s excellent but
usually packed public transport system during the pandemic.
The mayor’s
office said it was monitoring traffic levels and that some of the temporary
lanes may remain once life gets back to normal. It is planning a public
consultation over where and how to introduce more bike lanes in the future.
Around 20
miles of temporary bike lanes have been set up across Paris, much to the
disgruntlement of car lobbyists who have protested to city hall that their
rights are being squeezed. Main roads such as the Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint
Antoine, a major east-west route, are gradually being sealed off to private
vehicles and there are proposals for a further 30 miles of bike lanes in the
city.
Many
Parisians are being offered €50 toward getting old bikes repaired as part of
the French capital’s €20m (£18m) planvélo to encourage the use of bicycles.
Those
supporting the new push for bike travel point to recent studies, one of which
showed the average journey by vehicle in Paris to is 2.5 miles – a comfortable
distance by bike for most – and another indicating that the lack of exhaust
fumes during lockdown has dramatically improved air quality in the city.
The city’s
mayor, Anne Hidalgo, had made persuading people to abandon private cars in
favour of bikes one of the pillars of her political programme even before she
was elected mayor in 2014. Despite the car lobby’s hopes that motorised
vehicles can reclaim the city once the virus is under control, Hidalgo has said
it is out of the question for the city to return to the pre-coronavirus traffic
jams and vehicle pollution.
Dublin city
council has set aside swathes of Ireland’s capital for pedestrians and cyclists
to facilitate physical distancing in a “temporary mobility plan” that may
become permanent. Authorities singled out College Green, which abuts Trinity
College, and other parts of the city centre for what promises to be a bold
transformation.
The idea is
to give pedestrians and cyclists more space to navigate the city when shops and
other businesses reopen in a 12 to 18-month respite from traffic-choked
streets.
Authorities
in Milan, among the most polluted cities in Europe, have said 22 miles of
streets will be transformed over the summer as part of a scheme to reallocate
space from cars to cycling and walking. Congestion in Milan, which is usually
clogged with traffic, has fallen between 30 and 70% during the lockdown, and
air pollution with it.
Rome’s
council has approved the construction of 93 miles of temporary and permanent
cycle routes as a way to be more sustainable while allowing people to adhere to
physical distancing rules. As part of the government’s economic decree, people
in towns and cities with populations of 50,000 or more will also be able to
claim up to €500 toward the cost of a new bike. The payment also applies to
scooters, electric bikes and Segways.
Last year’s
Tour de France victory by the Colombian Egan Bernal precipitated a cycling boom
in Bogotá. Hundreds of miles of public highways are closed to cars on Sundays,
allowing cyclists to take to the roads free of exhaust fumes and the blare of
car horns.
This
enthusiasm has made it easier for the mayor, Claudia López, herself a keen
cyclist, to introduce more bike lanes as part of plans to reduce public transport
use to 35% of capacity in the country’s effort to tackle the pandemic. Fifty
miles of new bike paths were announced last week, on top of the 300 already in
place.
Announcing
that 7,000 people were using the bike paths in the working-class south of the
city, Bogota’s transport secretary, Nicolás Estupiñan, tweeted: “Every day more
Bogotanos are getting on, and staying on, their bikes!”
Similar
developments are taking place from Brussels to Sydney, while transport
officials in many US cities report an “explosion in cycling”. From “slow
streets” programmes in California to the progressive closure of many streets in
New York, some cities have said they plan to make the changes permanent.
In Berlin
it can take up to a decade to create a new bike lane, but during the
coronavirus crisis, 14 miles of pop-up bike lanes, separated from car lanes by
traffic beacons, have been introduced in anything from three to 10 days. Most will
be here to stay, city officials have said, arguing that increasing numbers of
Berliners – at the last count 43% – have no car, and that bikes will help
lessen the burden on public transport.
The ADAC,
Germany’s automobile association, has been highly critical of what it has
called officials’ “exploitation of an emergency”, which has been taking place
in cities across the country.
“The
temporary reduction in car traffic, and incidentally bike usage as well, cannot
be used to enforce the permanent reallocation of traffic space,” Volker Krane,
of the ADAC, told German media. He said the bike lanes did little to ensure the
safety of bike riders.
Even in
some cities that have not introduced specific measures to encourage bikes,
cyclists are making their presence felt. In the Jordanian capital, Amman, they
spoke of the joy of seizing empty roads from the aggressive driving culture
that normally dominates them, after cars were banned for about six weeks.
Reporting
team: Helena Smith in Athens, Shaun Walker in Budapest, Kim Willsher in Paris,
Rory Carroll in Dublin, Angela Giuffrida in Rome, Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá
and Michael Safi in Amman
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