Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
The centres of participating Belgian cities are mandatory car-free.
Parking or driving in them becomes a traffic offence, and people DO get fined if they don't participate.
When I'm working on a car free day, I have to either take the car outside the perimeter beforehand (a short drive, the ones I'd rather avoid !), or leave it outside the perimeter to collect it later.
That may have been the idea, but lets all cut the crap and face reality :
This car-free day is anything but car-free !
For all too many people the car-free city centres have become theme parks that they go visit for fun - and all too often by car as far as it'll take them.
Public transport doesn't run on normal weekly or weekend schedules either. So being able to get anywhere at all that day is no indication of what public transport might mean to anyone on a normal day.
I can symphatise with anyone who makes a conscious decision to live (almost) without a car, but please spare me the hypocrisy of these car free days.
They're an environmental disaster rather than an eye opener.
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Ok, then that was information I didn't have... That means the version of CarFreeDay in Belgium is different from most other parts of the world where I have seen it... As I said here in Sweden some cities have a permanent car free zone, and might or might not extend it for a day, but it never means fine's... It's just a question of having a legitimate errand and you get in, if not go park outside... Driving in the permanent car free zone however is very heavily fined, all days of the year... And you really, really have to want that fine since you have to work at it a while to get in there...
Also what you say is that since you live in the city centre you have to take your car outside so it's not parked in the city for the car free day? That's certainly whacked... Around her, just leave it parked, since the extended zone goes back to being one-way tomorrow... Also traffic out of the zone is OK, but you get a warning you won't be allowed in again that day...
And having extra public transport is definetly a way of turning it into a spectacle... Counter productive to say the least...
So, I'll apologise to you for that misconception and add my sympathy... That's not how it should work... That's not what the idea behind this thing is to begin with... And indeed
that is minority imposing a will on the mayority in a way it shouldn't... However my opinion on Thymeclocks critique on the phenomenon as a whole still stands...