Car Free Day
September 22; Toronto was the first city in North America to host a Car Free day. Started in 1999 in France as “In Town Without My Car!”
I did happily notice more people on the GO Train this morning. Participation in the event in which Car Free day is the final day of a week long event, has been growing steadily.
From the European Union Mobility Week press release: (http://www.mobilityweek-europe.org/)
In 2008, under the focal theme of ‘Clean Air for All!’, a record number of 2,102 local authorities signed the EMW charter and/or registered their activities on the campaigning site www.mobilityweek.eu. In terms of population, this translates into 220 million citizens in 39 countries potentially engaged by EMW 2008!
This was also an increase of nearly 4% on 2007 rates, with a good participation of old and new EU Member States, Accession Countries and EEA/EFTA countries. EMW’s successful campaigning model is also increasingly being adopted by countries outside Europe, including Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, with the major cities of Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, Taipei, Montréal, Yokohama and Quito all participants in EMW 2008.
We should be doing more with this here; many European Cities have free public transport for the day. Montreal has closed off some streets to cars…
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This is great. I have been at the Montreal event the past few years. re the closed streets: Nice to see the city from a different perspective. I notice a few people end up in the street , looking back and admiring the buildings. It’s a great way to get engaged in your city.
Been meaning to actually do something positive on this day for a few years. 2009 , canned all the excuses -rode my bike to work on car free day. Saved 68 lbs of carbon. I am starting a 3 day/week bike/GO train commute.
Way to go Jay, on behalf of my kids
thanks j
(y)