Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
in which only a certain number of car licence plates are issued to the city's residents,
and these are allocated by a monthly lottery for plates. The odds of being successful
in the lottery were approximately 1 in 10 at the start of the policy; by mid 2013 they
were closer to 1 in 80, a ratio that will probably double in a few years. This type
of direct intervention to reduce car numbers usually needs a national government
initiative and is difficult, if not impossible, in most democratic countries given cur-
rent circumstances. Another approach has been to encourage
car sharing
, especially
among employees of the same firm or firms in close proximity, in order to reduce the
typical situation of single occupancy vehicles travelling to downtown at rush hour.
Another method used to reduce car use, especially in central cities, is some kind of
congestion charge or road pricing,
such as charging more for cars to use central
areas of cities. Singapore was one of the the first major cities to implement such a
scheme with a cordon around the city centre. In London congestion changes of ﾣ 10
a day have been implemented since February 2003 in London's main commercial
area bounded by its inner city ring road, although this is designed to reduce conges-
tion, and increase traffic speeds, rather than pollution. However electric and certain
hybrid vehicles are exempt from the charges. Fines of ﾣ 65-195 are levied for non-
compliance, with monitoring achieved by an Automatic Number Plate Recognition
(ANPR) system. Although other centres such as Stockholm and Milan have similar
schemes, relatively few cities of the world have adopted the idea.
Finally a series of
land use changes to discourage car use
have been imple-
mented in some cities. From the 1960s many changes were made in cities to improve
traffic flow. In the last decade more cities are reversing these changes to reduce both
the space for cars and their speed. Among the most popular policies are: widening
sidewalks to improve pedestrian traffic; creating pedestrian only roads and areas; re-
moving one-way roads in central areas to reduce speeds and to make them more pe-
destrian friendly; removing roadside parking in central areas; adding traffic calming
restrictions on roads such as speed bumps. Another policy is to reduce speed limits
below the typical 30 mph (50 kph) in most parts of the developed world, for acci-
dents involving vehicles below 30 mph are substantially less likely to involve death.
It also increases travel time, thereby reducing the car's advantage. In many parts of
Canada areas around schools already have 20 kph limits. In Brighton and Hove in
England, experiments with 20 mph limits around schools and a public consultation
convinced the city council—which is led by Green councillors—to start implement-
ing this speed limit from December 2013 in all but the major routes in the city.
6.4.2
Transport Systems
Some of the most important policies designed to improve mobility in cities, other
than by cars, can be seen in the development of new transit systems. They attempt to
reverse their mid-twentieth century decline because of increasing car ownership and
limited investment in these public systems. Apart from improvements and additions
to mass transit systems, underground as well as over-ground, the addition of more
commuter trains into central areas of big cities has helped reduce vehicle use, again
