Oslo Is Going Car-Free
Oslo, already known as a pleasant city to ride bikes may soon take it's cycling-friendly status to a whole new level. City planners have an intriguing plan to ban all cars in the Norwegian capital by 2019. According to Reuters, the city announced plans to cut nearly 350,000 motorists out of the city’s center, all while increasing public transport and, naturally, bike lanes. The city also announced intentions to fund subsidies for electric bikes in order to reduce auto traffic.
It’s all part of a master plan to cut greenhouse gas emission levels of 1990 by half in 2020. Government officials believe that this step will make quality of life better for people in the city while also stimulating the economy for local shops. However, some shop owners are nervous, since 20 percent of the shopping centers in Oslo are in the proposed banned-car area, making them less accessible for larger-scale shopping trips (if you’ve ever tried to move a couch with a bike, you know what they mean).
It will be interesting in the next couple years to watch a bustling city shift to being car-free, and hopefully the example set by Oslo will be followed by other cities around the world. Recently, Paris banned cars for a day, but banning cars forever? Let us know what you think—and what kind of cargo bike you’d buy for your travels—in the comments.
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