Paris without cars: Tom goes to his own personal heaven
Oct 1, 2015, 5:19 PM | Updated: Oct 2, 2015, 7:15 am
People walk on the Champs Elysees during the "day without cars", in Paris, France on Sept. 27. Pretty but noisy Paris, its gracious Old World buildings blackened by exhaust fumes, is going car-less for a day. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo presided over Sunday's "day without cars," two months before the city hosts the global summit on climate change. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
(AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Tom Tangney is known for saying that he’s been to Paris more often than he’s been to Bellevue. Yet, he also doesn’t have a driver’s license. So when his latest visit to the City of Light landed on the Paris’ first ever “Une Journée Sans Voiture” — translated as “A Day Without Car” — it was as if Tom had stumbled into his own car-free utopia.
“It felt like it was a party,” Tom said. “It was like a parade but without the floats. You were the parade.”
Former Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, started the France metropolis on its path away from cars, introducing the world’s largest bike-share system and setting a course for 2020, when 55 percent of city will be limited to 20 mph. Current Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo continued the dream on Sept. 27, with no motorized vehicles, with a few exceptions of ambulances, allowed to drive the streets. Hidalgo stressed the idea that people don’t need to drive cars to get around, letting Parisians and tourists to see the city without noise, pollution and, therefore, no stress.
Does this at all sound familiar?
Former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn staunchly advocated for reducing car ridership and increasing bicycling, walking, and public transportation. Current Mayor Ed Murray has followed suit, installing new protected bike lanes and overseeing the testing of pedestrian-only street closures.
In August, cars were banned for three blocks along Pike Street, between Broadway and 12th Avenue. To curb crime. On Sept. 12, three miles of roads were shut off to cars and opened to recreational use in the Central District. Ballard hosted a similar event the following week, shutting down seven miles of roads.
“Seattle is dealing with the same kind of issues that Paris is, just on a smaller scale,” Tom said.
Neither Paris nor Seattle invented the idea of pedestrian friendliness. According to Wired, in 1974, the Danish and Dutch governments implemented car-free Sundays in response to an oil crisis.
Tom’s favorite cities are also not alone in this fight. The city of Gurgaon, located south of New Delhi, has made every Tuesday car-free from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Vancouver has also seen crime plummet since making the entertainment district of Granville Street pedestrian-only on certain nights.
Of course, Tom’s co-host John Curley is among the many critics of all the pedestrian love. He would seemingly like to see Lake Union turned into a road if it would reduce traffic.
“Not all Parisians are behind this. There are John Curley’s in Paris, too,” Tom said, noting that there are French critics just as there are in Seattle.
And, as amazing an experience as it was, even Tom acknowledged that his utopia is nothing but a short-term fantasy. A switch to car-free cities can’t happen all of a sudden.
“It was a fantastic experience, but I understand that this isn’t going to work everyday,” he said. “People still need to get around. You can’t have a park day everyday.”
Curley, surprisingly, disagreed.
“You can have a park day (everyday). It’s called the 405,” John quipped.
-
Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 3pm for John Curley and Shari Elliker.
