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Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

cnn.com

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Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#21

Post by suddenlybananas »

frnx wrote: post #9
hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

The new large cycling strips that appeared in the last 5-6 years are so good. At commute time there are frequently jammed with /cyclists/, but let's face it it's miles better than being stuck in a car. I shudder to think about the alternative where each cyclist was instead alone in a small car, this wouldn't even fit on the roads.

I do wonder how many cyclists in Paris are really replacing cars versus replacing metro usage. Obviously, it's still good for people to cycle as well since the metro can be insanely crowded at times, but living in Paris, my impression is that the people who cycle are the kinds who would have been unlikely to own a car in any case.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#22

Post by philamonster »

frnx wrote: post #9
hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

The new large cycling strips that appeared in the last 5-6 years are so good. At commute time there are frequently jammed with /cyclists/, but let's face it it's miles better than being stuck in a car. I shudder to think about the alternative where each cyclist was instead alone in a small car, this wouldn't even fit on the roads.

I would love to be on what amounts to a group ride to and from work safely. That has to do wonders for all kinds of things both physical and mental. If it were safe I would do it year round.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#24

Post by whatever1 »

Of course you can reduce highways and infrastructure and reduce traffic. But you also choked access to the city.

And no public transportation does not fix the problem. It helps a bit, but at the end of the day biggest part of far commuters are gradually cut off.

If decentralization is the target, then just state it.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#25

Post by skeletal88 »

iamkonstantin wrote: post #14
hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

I think it’s no easy task to reform a city away from being car-centric. In my home town of Ghent (in Belgium), we’ve had several iterations of a traffic plan that gradually reduces the number of parking spaces, rises taxes and car related costs, makes streets one way or deprioritises cars (e.g. a car doesn’t have priority over a bike anymore) etc. It’s not easy but the city today is a lot more liveable than it was wh…

But then public transport has to improve also. You cant make owning a car impossible without offering alternatives.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#26

Post by curtisblaine »

troupo wrote: post #8
lefrenchy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Here's a helpful comparison https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/opel-astra-1998-cou...

Not so helpful; the cars are from two different generations at two different price points. Try https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/bentley-flying-spur...

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#27

Post by wiether »

delichon wrote: post #13

In an American city I would bet on the mobility impaired people to win the cage match against the fewer cars people. They are tougher than they look. Edit: The responses reasonably talk about the officially mobility impaired people. I was thinking more about the unofficially mobility impaired people by obesity, like me. French obesity rates are ~16% compared to ~42% in the US. That contributes to a fierce US constitu…

A city with less cars is a net positive for mobility impaired people.

It frees space for people (wider sidewalks...), reduce the risks of navigating the streets, and for the ones that have to use a car, there's less traffic and less people stealing dedicated parking spots.

Less cars also means less mobility impaired people. Cars create them through crashes and a lifetime of sedentariness.

Finally, it should be noted that most of the time when someone says "what about mobility impaired people?", when debating reallocating public space to people instead of cars, they are not mobility impaired themselves and don't actually care about them. They just try to guilt shame their opponents to win.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#28

Post by goldenarm »

consumer451 wrote: post #19

Complete tangent, but I met my equally nerdy brother in Paris last month. It was my first time, and his fourth. We stayed South of the Republique metro station. After the literal 30th indie Manga [0] shop that we walked by, I asked him: "how are all these shops financially viable?" He said: "look inside." Holy crap, they all had customers inside! I had no idea that Japanese culture has such a strong presence in the h…

Pedestrianization of neighborhoods like Rivoli did decrease shopping at first, but ended up exploding again once people got used to it.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#29

Post by tikhonj »

skeletal88 wrote: post #25
iamkonstantin wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s no easy task to reform a city away from being car-centric. In my home town of Ghent (in Belgium), we’ve had several iterations of a traffic plan that gradually reduces the number of parking spaces, rises taxes and car related costs, makes streets one way or deprioritises cars (e.g. a car doesn’t have priority over a bike anymore) etc. It’s not easy but the city today is a lot more liveable than it was wh…

But then public transport has to improve also. You cant make owning a car impossible without offering alternatives.

None of the changes in the comment make owning a car impossible, they just make driving marginally less privileged over walking and biking.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#30

Post by goldenarm »

hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

Travelers are more sensitive to sudden changes. I got sick in Sicily on day one of my vacation because of how bad the air was.
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