Ban cars to make way for public transport

File picture: Thomas Peter

File picture: Thomas Peter

Published Nov 19, 2015

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My favourite quote in development economics comes from Eñrique Penalosa, then mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, who said: “A developed country is not a place where the poor drive cars. It is where the rich take public transport.” South Africa’s obsession with bigger, better, flashier cars truly shows our developing nature.

A year ago, I stood at a traffic light outside Sandton City in a casual experiment to take a photo of every luxury vehicle that passed through the intersection. While horribly anecdotal, with no other sample to compare it with, the results were interesting. I took 320 photos in 300 seconds and most cars were occupied by only the driver.

While most of us consider a new personal vehicle the height of success – some more blatantly than others – it shows a backward mentality in our society.

So the City of Johannesburg’s proposal to ban private cars from the inner city is a wonderful step in the right direction. We shouldn’t need to drive cars to get to work. That luxury comes at the cost of efficiency, production and our precious time.

The obvious hurdle to ditching our cars is the lack of alternatives. Cars are one of the greatest obstacles to efficient public transport – because of road congestion, and because different city planning is needed to cater for both types of traffic.

Public bikes

If private vehicles were removed from parts of the city, the infrastructure could be designed to optimise crowd flow. Cars take up an immense amount of space. If this space were dedicated to co-ordinated public transport, pedestrians and cyclists, people would flow through the city more fluidly.

When I was in London earlier this year I made extensive use of the public bike service, affectionately known to Londoners as Boris Bikes after Boris Johnson, London’s mayor, who uses it himself. The bikes are not the poor person’s form of transport. All types of commuters – including businesspeople in suits – can be seen docking and undocking bikes a few blocks from their work or home, all for about R40 a day.

In London only 15 percent of commuters now use cars. In the past 10 years, 9 percent of car commuters have switched to other forms of transport and traffic has dropped by 30 percent.

Space limitations and the value of property mean housing developments are not able to offer parking. It is the 20- and 30-somethings who are the main change agents in the transport landscape. A recent study shows they would prefer to give up their cars rather than smartphones and not a single motor company featured among their favourite brands.

Cars used to be a symbol of freedom but with increased traffic congestion and limited parking space, that freedom is quickly disappearing in cities.

Younger commuters prefer to use transport services temporarily, making use of mobile applications to enhance their use of taxies, car sharing or public transport.

A move to carless city centres changes how services are provided. Central business districts will develop higher concentrations of residential services to allow people to live and work in the same area.

In time, private vehicles will cease to be a form of transport but bought as a luxury for those who enjoy driving.

* Pierre Heistein is the convener of UCT’s Applied Economics for Smart Decision Making course. Follow him on Twitter @PierreHeistein

** The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Independent Media.

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