Many “old towns” are (almost completely) car free. Many towns, use a system of passes and barriers to ensure that the streets remain traffic free while allowing residents parking, taxis access and permitting deliveries.
Many streets in city centers are reserved for local business people, residents, city buses, or pedestrians. To enforce this the entry to the street is always marked as such, in the local language and with standard signs, and is often blocked by a couple of 8″ diameter steel posts rising up from the road. Those with permits have a swipe card which lowers the posts momentarily so they can drive through. If you try to sneak through right after someone goes in you might hear a sort of crunching sound as the posts come up under your car. This will be embarrassing and expensive.
Some of the car-free towns we have visited include:
- Zermatt (which uses electric vehicles) is car free to prevent air pollution which could obscure the town’s view of the Matterhorn.
- Saas-Fee decided exclude most motor vehicles during the construction of the road from Saas Grund in 1951.
- Megeve
- Les Baux de Provence
- Aix-en-Provence
- Vence
- St. Paul-de-Vence
- Eze
- Les Baux de Provence
- Courmayeur
- Avignon
- Gimmelwald
To encourage walking, biking and the use of public transport, many European cities make it hard (and/or costly) to park.
- limit the amount of parking spaces
- implement or increase parking fees
- Fees paid for parking are sometimes used to encourage non-car transportation.
Eliminating parking spaces in Copenhagen has made room for high-quality pedestrian districts and bike paths, while street space once used by cars has likewise been repurposed in Paris for bike sharing and tramways.
Related articles
- Take It Eze-y, The Cote D’Azur Town Of Eze (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
- We Didn’t Know The Valley Of Hell Was So Beautiful, Les Baux (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
- Provence’s Ironwork Bell Towers (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
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