Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Car war!


In Paris, there is a very sensitive topic: cars! Since their election in 2001 (and reelection in 2007), the mayor of Paris and his team have tried to discourage people from taking/using/owning a car. They reduced the number of parking spaces, added a fair number of one way streets, narrowed a lot of other ones... They are now engaged in a more radical fight: free the Seine banks from cars!  This traffic light on the left for instance, is one of the new addition that aims at slowing down cars and make their journey hell, so that drivers are discouraged to come back... On the left bank they plan to simply close the road and turn it into a pedestrian area. Needless to say all this is highly controversial ;-)

14 comments:

  1. Often I"m so busy snapping away that I am oblivious to a lot! Here's a fine example. I don't think I realized it was possible to drive there. Guess I'm lucky I didn't get mowed down by a Fiat!

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  2. Fascinating topic, and very courageous of the mayor to take those actions. I'm sure many drivers hate it, but there are many reasons to pursuit those goals: less pollution, better pedestrian environment, less noise, increase use of transit (less pollution again). Walking the Seine is an important part of the character and history of Paris. Many cities in the U.S. regret "turning their back" to their river, and now are spending lots of money trying to remove cars, factories, and other uses that block access to the river.

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  3. Bonjour. That's a great move. Especially it's implemented to the greatest and most beautiful city in the world. I still remember how I used to walk around the city of Paris night and day, the beautiful view which angle I was standing. Paris does a view and the view goes with whenever you are. Great town planning indeed. Au revoir~

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  4. So goes Paris (velibs, fete de la musique) so goes the rest of the world with the car cutbacks, I hope..
    I think this was stated most eloquently by Jeff so I dont need to add a thing.
    Back to the picture. It struck me as a filled in perspective lesson I used to teach in my art school elementary classes.
    If the tree in front of the runner is the center, you can see all the space between the cobblestones lead to that tree. You could even put a ruler in those spaces! The trees are standing on the horizon .....I could go on and on. Did you notice all that when you took the picture, Eric?

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  5. The picture is perfect, Eric. Probably for the reasons PHX mentioned, but it's perfect no matter what.

    I wish Los Angeles were as progressive as Paris when it comes to cars.

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  6. Those who work guides in the Tourism industry and the lucky owners of vacation rentals near those two banks are not happy . Their customers would have to walk quite a bit to get to the Louvre and/Musée d'Orsay and those will luggage won't like the idea of lugging their suitcases before reaching their apts in some areas .

    There is the site for la Ville de Paris:
    http://www.paris.fr/politiques/berges-de-la-seine/apres-la-plage-paves-et-verdure-en-bord-de-seine/rub_9766_actu_118770_port_24314

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  7. I guess I can see both points of view. Although, it does seem like they are determined to stop the flow of traffic! HAH :)

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  8. The Beaver's point is a good one. Maybe cabs and buses should be allowed? There's a lot to consider, no easy answers.

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  9. The heart of Paris becoming like traffic-free Venice?!! I think it's a great idea:)

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  10. Vehicel access is important, but I wonder how many buildings rely on access from a quai directly on the Seine. Some, but probably a minority is my guess. Maybe I'm wrong. Most traffic along those riverside roads just zooms by on the way to somewhere else, even going through tunnels under other streets, places, etc. For example, look across the river: the buildings have access to an upper road, while the runner on this side is right along the river on a lower road.

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  11. Well it's complicated and it all depends on whether you are a pedestrian or a car driver!
    The thing is that Paris is certainly a huge open air museum where it's pleasant to walk, but it's also a business hub with people who need to go from one place to another, go shopping, have things delivered to their door and... families who need to carry the bicycles of their offspring to the bois de Boulogne or de Vincennes.

    Being a scooter driver, I don't really take sides about this war, but I do understand people who complain that they cannot move freely anymore.

    The main problem is actually for suburbans who absolutely need to take their car to come to work and find it hard to go through Paris or to park. Few Parisians have cars (1 in 2 approximately), and they have the metro, velib, autolib, etc.

    Anyway, there is no right answer. I think so far the Paris town hall did a pretty good job; they could have installed a tool in the center, like in London, which I surely would have hated!

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  12. @PHX and Petrea "Did you notice all that when you took the picture, Eric?" No I did not notice all this! To be honest, when I take a photo I never analyse what I see, I just wonder if it's going to be a good or bad photo LOL! Sometimes I manage, many times I don't (I'm not saying that to fish for compliments, the ones I post are only selected ones, you don't see most of the bad ones!!)

    PS: PHX, you were a teacher in art class?! You never told me this!

    @theBeaver, thanks for the link.

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