I must confess to being very stupid. Once, about 7 years ago, I arrived in Amsterdam and rented a car to drive around the city. What a fool I was! I still remember how I was constantly looking for parking, how I paid 5 euros per hour, how my only desire was to get rid of the car. This is a city where you don't need a car! It is much more comfortable to travel by trams, metro (yes, there is a metro in Amsterdam) and, of course, by bike!

I have already written a lot about the transport of the Dutch capital. Today there are some interesting details.

01. Finding a bike parking is not always easy. Additional seats will be equipped on barges! How!

02. The city has a big problem with abandoned bicycles. And tourists are often to blame for this! For example, if you come to Amsterdam for a week, then there is a temptation to buy an old bike for 50 euros! And some buy stolen bicycles at all for a penny. What do they do with them then? That's right - they just quit. There are so many bicycles that sometimes the Dutch themselves forget where they left their bike. Someone just buys a new one, and the old one forgets.

03. Underground bike parking in the very center!

04. Costs € 2.50 per day. Everything is like for cars.

05. There are even such designs.

06. Sooner or later, abandoned bicycles come to an end.

07. This is a warning about incorrect or too long parking of the bike. From the moment of appearance of such a sticker, the owner of the bike is given two weeks to remove it to another place. If this does not happen, then the road services cut the bike on their own, and the owner is sent a fine to reimburse the cost of the work performed. The main thing is to find the owner)

08. Shop the world's best folding bicycles Brompton. Dear ones, but worth it!

09. For some time now, bike paths began to appear on the streets along the canals.

10. In general, the city has very good cycling infrastructure.

11. Parking at the station.

12. Ferry stop! Ferries, by the way, are free. Don't be afraid to take a ride to the other side.

13. Parking on the street.

14. Parking by the house. Everything is littered with bicycles.

15. With regret I have to admit that more and more scooters appear in Amsterdam (They use the bicycle infrastructure, make noise and frighten passers-by. I hope the city authorities will find justice on them.

16. You don't always need a zebra on the crossing! I would say that in most cases it is not needed at all. The main thing is to highlight the pedestrian, not mask it.

17. Option with a zebra.

18. Artificial unevenness to calm traffic.

19. Replacement of tiles and designation of the place of repair.

20. The Dutch post issued these electric cars to the postmen.

21. Now postmen go from house to house and deliver parcels even more efficiently.

22. Old transport.

23. New transport. By the way, in Amsterdam many city taxi services use Tesla. A good opportunity to ride and see the car.

24. Classics.

25. More and more of these ugly little cars.

26. They are here equated with bicycles and scooters.

27. Amsterdam Central Station.

28. The station square is clean. Trams come here, here are the terminal stations of the metro and buses.

29. A barrier-free environment everywhere.

30. Very cool ticket booths and tourist information kiosks were also built here.

31.

32. Amsterdam train station is extremely interesting to explore. One of the best TPUs in the world. On the second floor there is an exit to buses.

33. Bicycle pedestrian tunnel.

34. And this is how the ticket purchase hall looks like. There are also tables where you can plan your route in Holland by public transport! You say where you need to, and they print the timetable of trains and buses for you. Very comfortably!

35. Toilet at the station.

36. For 7 euros you can take a shower.

37. Tram.

38.

39. Amsterdam trams are very strange. For example, each has a booth with a conductor! The ticket costs 3 euros.

40. The entrance is either through the front door or through the middle one.

41. In general, trams are comfortable and run frequently.

42. And this is how the board with the schedule looks like.

43. Ways.

44. Stop in the center.

45. What could be better than taking a boat, wine and going through the canals at night?

46. ​​Boat cork.

47. You can also live on a boat.

48.

49. That's it. Share your experience!

Today there are cities where driving is prohibited. What is the alternative? Somewhere there are golf carts, somewhere boats, and somewhere donkeys.

The most acceptable means of transportation in the village of Giethoorn are watercraft - electric robots that run exclusively on electricity. They calmly swim under humped bridges connecting houses on different banks of the canal. This way of life is due to the geographical conditions of the village. Local residents, having learned that their lands are rich in peat, dug it up wherever possible. In this way, pits were formed, which were filled with water. Gradually, the lakes were connected, forming a chain of canals.

There are no private cars in the village located in an alpine valley. They were banned for fear of air pollution. Even policemen move along the streets by bicycles, horses or on foot. Emergency and utilities still have vehicles, but they are only electric.

Hydra, or Hydra, is a Greek island. It has the status of a nature reserve, so any type of transport is prohibited here: no exhaust gases that pollute the air. The only car is a garbage truck.

All cars, including taxis, stop at the entrance to the city of Sviyazhsk. This museum of attractions is only 1.5 by 0.5 km around the perimeter. It can be explored in an hour. Given such small distances, it is better to inspect all architectural structures on foot than looking out of the bus window.

Perhaps Venice is one of the most famous cities, where other than water transport is inappropriate. A couple of years ago, the authorities even banned bicycles. Violators of the order will have to pay a fine of 50 euros. In Venice, completely surrounded by water, cars, even if they wanted to, could not drive along the narrow old streets and numerous bridges. The main means of transportation are gondolas, boats, small boats.

The city of Mackinaw Island occupies the island of the same name on Lake Huron. There are two ways to get to it: by plane and by boat. On the island's land, you should forget about motor transport. Residents adopted a ban on motorized vehicles back in 1898. Perhaps the people in power were far-sighted politicians: they understood that the world would be filled with cars and "poisoned" the environment. Traveling around the island is possible only by bike, horse or on foot.

Mdina is called the city of silence. In order not to disturb the local prosperity, only those who live in the city are allowed to use cars here. Neither tourists from other countries, nor even from neighboring settlements, can enter Mdina by car.

By the way, in Valletta, the capital of Malta, you cannot drive a car either. But there it is understandable: the streets, built in the 16th century, are difficult for modern transport to pass, since the city roads were originally intended for the movement of horsemen and carriages.

That Rob de Jong, who is in charge of transport in the UN Environment Program, suggested that to abandon cars, turn to the experience of the Soviet Union. Why did it happen exactly yesterday? The fact is that on September 22, World Car Free Day is held, within the framework of which citizens are invited to abandon travel by personal transport in favor of walking and cycling, as well as using public transport.

But I want to talk a little about something else:

Rob de Jong in his speech mentioned the Soviet Union in the context of the fact that it paid great attention to the development of public transport:

"The states that were previously part of the Soviet Union had a very good public transport infrastructure. I have been in many cities where public transport was really well developed - trams, buses. In recent years, public transport has somewhat lost ground and now private cars are used more. ", - said de Jong.

RIA News"

Now, as we know very well, we are not doing well with this topic. Minibuses have appeared, whole cities are closing tram and trolleybus traffic, and cars in many courtyards will soon be able to be stacked on top of each other. And this is not to mention the emissions they create ... And the London authorities set themselves an ambitious task: to completely rid the city of private cars!

London's Transport for London intends to spend £ 2.3 billion (approximately RUB 182.5 billion) so that by 2041, 80% of travel in the British capital will be on foot, by bike and by public transport. Today, this is only 63% of travel in Greater London.

Since the end of World War II, the number of cars in Britain has increased every year, according to environmentalists, and as the distances covered have increased, transport has become the largest source of carbon emissions in the country. And London is at the same time one of the dirtiest and most congested cities in Britain and at the same time annually enters the world's top cities for the quality of urban transport. The activists call walking, car sharing, electric bicycles, electric scooters, electric rickshaws, as well as the development of electric transport and buses and free travel in them as an alternative to moving in private cars.

According to the director of Lime UK, in two years its users have driven 25 million miles and avoided the 9,000 tons of carbon emissions that would have happened if they were driving.

The Russians, even if they did not participate in the Day without a Car, must have heard about it from the news - it has been held in our country since 2008, and in London it was held for the first time only last year! This time, the events were held in the city center, which was completely closed to any vehicles, except for buses in some places. Also, city communities could apply to have a Car-Free Day on their streets.

Source: Transport for London

The holiday, supported by the mayor of London, was called Reimagine. That is, something like this should look like the London of the future, London that has given up private cars.

What city streets look like without cars:


Photo:

In these cities and towns around the world, you will walk a lot. These communities have taken a step towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions in their little corners of the world. They don't just offer alternatives to vehicles for transportation; they make it a must. Do you think this is not possible?

Hydra Island, Greece

This 28 square miles island in the Aegean Sea is a great place to enjoy a car-free life. Access to the water on Hydra Island makes it easy to travel around the island by water taxi, and most locals transport large items on a donkey. Tourists can also hire a donkey, but everything is so close that walking is rarely a problem. The popularity of Hydra Island may be due in part to the filming of a large number of films. Captain's villas, monasteries and cathedrals, beautiful architecture attracts many artists and writers to the island.

Tangier Island, Virginia

This town is home to only 650 people. The islanders speak an interesting English-Irish dialect and only travel on foot or by boat.

Parismina, Costa Rica

There is no paved road leading to this small village and the only means of transport is a tractor that is used to collect trash. Other novelties that will set you back in time are the schematics of telephone services, the absence of a local post office, and the absence of any banking institutions or ATM machines. One of the local attractions is the sea turtles that come across the sand to lay their eggs.

Halibut Cove, Alaska

Available only by water taxi, Halibut Cove is a lovely community located in Kachemak National Park. Originally a fishing village, Cove is now a place primarily for artists. It is a floating community and boasts the only floating post office in the United States.

Sark Island, United Kingdom

This elegant island is located six miles east of Guernsey and can only be reached by boat. Once you've landed on the island, transportation is limited to walking, cycling, and freight. Several tractors on the island are licensed for limited use only. the island is very limited and only accessible to those who have lived there for at least 15 years. The island is referred to as Dark Sky Village, in part due to its location, but also due to the lack of street lighting.

Makino, Michigan

Although Michigan was home to the first car assembly plant, Makino breaks that mold by being a car-free city. On the island, you will only encounter hooves and crowds of pedestrians and cyclists. With a resident population of just under 500, Mackinac is a renowned car-free tourist destination with the large island park Mackinac Island State Park.

Studying on the islands

Not surprisingly, many of these car-free cities - island communities, with somewhat forced car-free status - have been associated with the difficulties of transporting cars in the past. But today, these communities have chosen a path - to be left without a car. By doing this, they undoubtedly hurt themselves in some way, but most residents take pride in the status of a car-free community. It seems that communities around the world need to take a hint from these islands to help the environment and live without a car.

Your opinion

What do you think about life without a car? Do you know places where people live without using road transport?

05.10.2009

Seven cities where cars are prohibited

It turns out that there are still cities on the planet whose roads were not touched by a car wheel. The Mother Nature Network portal managed to find as many as 7 such cities:

1. Sark Island (UK)
Population: 560
Sark Island is located in the southwestern part of the English Channel and is part of the Channel Islands group. Of the transport on the island, only horse carts, bicycles and tractors are allowed, however, recently it was also allowed to use buggies, but only if they are powered by batteries. You can get to the island only by ferry, because there is no airport on Sark, and even flights over the island are strictly prohibited.

2. Mackinac Island (Michigan, USA)
Population: 600
For some, a horse-drawn carriage ride may seem like an extravagant romantic adventure, but for the people of Mackinac it is an integral part of life. Back in 1898, all motor vehicles were very prudently banned on the island, and now if you hear the sound of a motor somewhere, you can be sure that it is either a snowmobile or an ambulance.

3. Medina Fez al-Bali (Morocco)
Population: 156,000
Fes al-Bali is home to over 156,000 people and is considered one of the largest cities in the world where cars are not used. One of the peculiarities of the city is its narrow streets: in some places they are barely more than 60 cm wide, so not only cars cannot pass through the Medina, but also bicycles.

4. Island of Hydra (Islands of the Saronian Strait, Greece)
Population: 3, 000 people
Hydra Island is the best place to take a break from traffic jams and forget for a while about the sounds of a busy city highway. All types of transport are prohibited there, except, perhaps, garbage trucks. The city is small, so people move mainly on foot, or by horses, donkeys and water taxis.

5. La Cumbresita, Argentina
Population: 345
La Cumbresita is called "the city of pedestrians": any transport is completely prohibited here. You can get to the city either on foot or by parking in a special parking lot located at a considerable distance from the main entrance. It is also noteworthy that after obtaining a special permit, you can set up camping anywhere in the city.

6. Lamu Island, Kenya
Population: 2,000
Once a center for the slave trade, Lamu is now a tourist attraction, not least because it has been designated a World Heritage Site as "the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa." Since all types of transport are prohibited there, the most popular way of transportation for local residents is on a donkey. In total there are about 2,000-3,000 donkeys working on the island.