While I really like the changes, this article reads like a PR piece from Urban Sharing and/or the city government.
Oslo made its city center basically car-free
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Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#12I seriously think that San Francisco can benefit from this. Each zone in SF is actually very small - and very walkable. In my extreme SF transport utopia - SF would only allow pedestrians, bikes, and electric muni transport in certain regions of the city.
One km of market street and the entire Fisherman's Wharf area up to pier 35 would be great pedestrian areas.
Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#13Oslo is still heavily lacking in bike accessibility, more so than the article presents. New bike paths are around the periphery of the center. In the city center, there are close to zero bike parking spots. Everyone who wants to take the bike to work, must have parking in the workplace. In addition the tram tracks on many streets are a hazard to taking the bike. But things are improving here slowly Public transport t…
Public transportation is indeed good, I didn't have a car when I lived there. Now I live in the countryside so I have a Toyota.
But as someone who lives outside of Oslo it is hell visiting my friends that still live there if I want to bring my children and need to use the car.
It's also almost impossible to bike around in the winter as the snow clearing efforts are not really up to standards anymore.
While I support less cars in the centre I think they went a bit too far in this case.
Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#14What's interesting is that almost all traffic in eastern Norway goes through the city. Instead of having the highways go around it, they go through it. So while the city center is "car free", there is still alot of traffic and pollution.
Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#15I seriously think that San Francisco can benefit from this. Each zone in SF is actually very small - and very walkable. In my extreme SF transport utopia - SF would only allow pedestrians, bikes, and electric muni transport in certain regions of the city.
Market and Geary would be the best candidates for this. Traffic is so bad in these areas it’s kind of pointless anyway. All the traffic is just thru traffic.
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Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#16Vienna also turned one of its biggest shopping streets into a mostly pedestrian zone a few years ago. The results are great, the only issue is that two thirds of it are shared spaces where cars are still allowed to drive, albeit witout priority over pedestrians. Mostly because some parties vehemently fought against pedestrian areas, claiming businesses will lose customers and shops will have to close. Turns out, there are more people than ever and at times it's so crowded that you can't even get through on your bike. Simply because it's a nice space now where people can enjoy shopping, food and going for a walk without constant car noise and smell. It's great.
* https://www.wien.gv.at/verkehr/strassen/images/mariahilferst...
Also, large parts of the inner city district are exclusively pedestrian areas and it makes these areas so much more enjoyable:
* https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Wien_01_...
Compared to when it was still a car street up until 1977:
* https://images.derstandard.at/img/2014/02/20/1392699545647-s...
* https://images.derstandard.at/img/2013/08/12/1375652399990-U...
Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#17More information from 2017 about the fight to remove cars in Oslo: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jun/13/oslo-ban-cars...
It's interesting to see the political pushback from conservatives. Still, removing parking seems like a good way to get rid of cars (especially that large fraction of traffic that circles around cities searching for parking).
Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#18I seriously think that San Francisco can benefit from this. Each zone in SF is actually very small - and very walkable. In my extreme SF transport utopia - SF would only allow pedestrians, bikes, and electric muni transport in certain regions of the city.
The biggest issue with bikes and walking in SF (as well as Seattle) is the hills. Oslo is relatively flat, as are other very bike centered cities like Amsterdam. Mind you, the rise of electric bikes is helping a lot, but it seems like hilly cities would only be able to get rid of cars if they replaced them with better, efficient, clean public transit. And it doesn't have to be just buses. Seattle, where they exist, escalators are very helpful. Maybe trams? I'm not a public trans expert by any means though. But as a guy who's not getting any younger, I definitely start to appreciate a hill escalator (there's a couple here in Seattle, some public, some parts of buildings) when my knees are hurting.
Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#19I seriously think that San Francisco can benefit from this. Each zone in SF is actually very small - and very walkable. In my extreme SF transport utopia - SF would only allow pedestrians, bikes, and electric muni transport in certain regions of the city.
Market and Geary would be the best candidates for this. Traffic is so bad in these areas it’s kind of pointless anyway. All the traffic is just thru traffic.
Mission would be a good candidate too. We've already re-routed most of the traffic using tactics like mandatory right-turns to other streets like South Van Ness, Cesar Chavez, San Jose, and Alemany.
Re: Oslo made its city center basically car-free
#20Vienna also turned one of its biggest shopping streets into a mostly pedestrian zone a few years ago. The results are great, the only issue is that two thirds of it are shared spaces where cars are still allowed to drive, albeit witout priority over pedestrians. Mostly because some parties vehemently fought against pedestrian areas, claiming businesses will lose customers and shops will have to close. Turns out, ther…
Keep in mind that some infrastructure has to stay in place to allow for things like supply vehicles or emergency services.
The "losing business because you can't park right in front of it" is BS in most big western European city centers where you either go to a paid parking or to a spot on the street 10-15 minutes away from your intended destination sometimes.