This originally appeared as an op-ed in the Yorkshire Post
Sunday 22nd September marks global Car Free Day. Across the world, parts of hundreds of cities will be closing off roads to cars and vans and repurposing the space for play and socialising. The aim of the day is to stimulate people into thinking about what we give up to accommodate our vehicles.
We saw this enacted on a large scale during the early Covid-19 lockdowns where travelling beyond our neighbourhoods was heavily restricted. People enjoyed the ability to cycle and walk safely around their communities whilst reconnecting with their area as a place to be, rather than somewhere that cars pass through. Equally however, we missed the chance to travel and visit friends and family.
Some people will find Sunday’s closures an annoyance and will resent the idea of “car freeness” but such initiatives do at least, provide one day a year when those who dislike the dominance of vehicles in our everyday lives have a chance to make a point and to enjoy their places differently. To be honest about this, for the other 364 days they get little or no say about the role of the car.
But does Car Free Day take us any further forward in resolving the tensions between the different groups who use our streets and the way we utilise those public spaces? No, if anything, it risks contributing to a false and polarising dichotomy of Car Full or Car Free. It adds to the now well-rehearsed narratives of the (imaginary) “war on the motorist”. And more than this, it does not promise a way forward.
Post World War II Britain has been built around a society which has become increasingly reliant on the private car, like many countries around the world. We cannot go from Car Full to Car Free – the patterns of travel which society has today cannot be served by public transport, walking, and cycling alone. Even in places like Denmark and the Netherlands where urban cycling can be 20 times more popular than in Leeds, overall driving rates and emissions are similar or higher than they are here. Whilst we can, and must, make improvements to the alternatives to driving in our urban transport systems so we can accommodate the growing populations in our cities, this alone will not change the dial on the need for cars.
Here at the Institute of Transport Studies we have just started a five-year project to explore a different question which is “what would a city where you didn’t need to own a car look like?”. A city where the alternative system provided people with the mobility they need but without the requirement to own a vehicle.
The UK population spends £89bn a year on just owning, maintaining and insuring cars, three times that which it spends on actually driving them. Yet we also know that a third of cars don’t move on any given day and when they do move, they only do so for an average of four to five percent of that day.
There are lots of new transport options and new ways of sharing and accessing them which could combine to offer a different way of moving around. One which also gave people back some of the space in their communities and some of the pounds in their pocket. To do that we are asking communities to help us imagine and design what this better alternative could look like.
This has to move beyond the car/anti-car debate. So, whether or not you are participating in a Car Free Day event, have a look around you and begin to imagine what better might look like, not just for the day, but for the long run.