How Spanish cities are working to reduce cars and encourage bikes

Pontevedra was a metropolis individuals have been leaving as a result of the automobile was choking the life out of its medieval centre.

Decided to avoid wasting the town from fumes, congestion and deaths from site visitors accidents, the mayor of this metropolis in northwestern Spain introduced in a radical plan handy it again to pedestrians.

Inside a month of coming to energy in 1999, Miguel Anxo Fernandez Lores pedestrianised all 300,000 sq. metres of the town centre.

“Earlier than you may not hear anybody converse, now you may,” Lores instructed Euronews.

“We had between 80,000 and 150,000 vehicles coming in daily to a metropolis of 80,000 individuals, about triple the density of Madrid or London. It was unattainable to drive round or stroll. There have been everlasting jams. Individuals wished to go away as a result of it was so blocked up.”

Pontevedra determined to chop the variety of vehicles which may enter so solely “important automobiles” have been allowed into the centre.

Automobiles have been now not allowed to cross the town to go some other place. Avenue parking ended as a result of a examine confirmed that almost all congestion was brought on by individuals trying to find a parking place.

All floor automobile parks have been closed within the metropolis centre and underground ones have been opened outdoors the town centre with 1,686 free locations. Visitors lights have been changed by roundabouts and a car-free zone was prolonged. The pace restrict was minimize to 30kph and even 10kph in inner-city zones.

Pontevedra gained awards from the United Nations and the European Union for the best way it has reworked the town.

“There haven’t been any deadly accidents for 11 years. Air pollution has been lowered to half a tonne per individual per yr. And the standard of life has gone up tremendously,” Lores stated.

Related schemes have been adopted in Oviedo, San Sebastian and Logroño.

The Spanish authorities hopes to repeat the success of Pontevedra elsewhere by introducing low emission zones in 147 cities by subsequent yr to limit air pollution, congestion and noise.

An Atmosphere ministry spokesman stated: “We’ve handed a legislation which compels metropolis councils to create low emission zones in metropolis centres however how that is executed is as much as particular person authorities.”

Ecologists in Motion, a conservation group, applauded this measure, which has acquired widespread public assist in Spain, however stated they have been disillusioned by the gradual response by metropolis councils.

Below Spain’s 2021 Local weather Change Legislation, cities with greater than 50,000 inhabitants, other than Madrid and Barcelona, should draw up plans for these zones. Spain’s two largest cities have already introduced in schemes to limit gas-guzzling vehicles.

Automobiles will likely be labeled in line with how a lot they contaminate the environment. These labeled as ECO or 0 are electrical or hybrid vehicles. Drivers will likely be allowed to park the place they need in low-emission zones.

Automobiles labeled as C embody all these which aren’t hybrid, micro gasoline, electrical and within the case of petrol vehicles have been registered earlier than 2006 or with diesel earlier than 2015. This makes up the most important group of automobiles in Spain.

Others classed as B are the oldest petrol vehicles registered earlier than 2001 which can incur the heaviest fines to enter low emission zones or be banned.

Pamplona, the northern Spanish metropolis finest recognized for its world-famous bull-running pageant, is planning to carry a low emission zone in its narrow-cobbled streets by the tip of 2023.

Any polluting vehicles with out an acceptable badge could be fined as much as €200 however there isn’t any cost to enter the zone.

The automobile continues to be king in most Spanish cities, declare conservationists, however most Spaniards need this rule to finish.

A ballot for eldiario.es, a left-leaning information web site, printed on 20 September discovered that 70% of Spaniards supported limiting vitality use, limiting the usage of vehicles in cities and rising taxes for actions which trigger probably the most contamination.

One other survey for the Clear Cities Marketing campaign, which is allied to Ecologists in Motion, printed on 22 September discovered that 62% of residents in Barcelona, Paris, London, Brussels and Warsaw supported banning vehicles from cities on some days of the week to cut back dependence on oil.

If the desire to take away vehicles from cities is there, why are politicians dragging their heels?

“We assist the Spanish authorities’s measure to herald low emission zones in cities. Nevertheless, we’re disillusioned by the gradual response by metropolis councils,” Carmen Duce, of Ecologists in Motion, instructed Euronews.

“In some instances, there’s additionally a small however highly effective foyer which has managed to get measures to limit the usage of vehicles overturned. Elsewhere, some politicians could not need to usher in radical measures earlier than native elections subsequent Could.”

Nevertheless, the tide could also be turning because the bicycle is on the rise.

In Barcelona, a crocodile of small bikes snakes its manner precariously by means of the push hour site visitors in the future per week, escorted by a Praetorian guard of fogeys.

That is the bicibus – the bicycle bus – of tiny kids making their method to college as vehicles and lorries cease to allow them to go by.

A police escort makes positive they attain college with none mishaps.

Bicibus was the brainchild of fogeys in a single a part of the town who believed their kids ought to have the prospect to cycle to high school safely with out being intimidated by rush hour site visitors. After one began a yr in the past, 11 extra have sprung up throughout the town and the marketing campaign has gone worldwide.

Mother and father in Glasgow, New York and San Francisco have been in contact with the Spanish campaigners to create their very own variations of the bicycle taxi.

“There was a increase in these bicibus schemes and now we have had curiosity from around the globe,” Rosa Suriñach, a bicibus organiser, instructed Euronews.

“The council is supportive however there has solely been adjustments domestically. There isn’t any one integral scheme for Barcelona to make the town extra cycle pleasant.”

A spokesman for Barcelona metropolis council stated: “The authority helps the bicibus initiative and the usage of bicycles generally by means of the usage of bike lanes within the metropolis.”