Norway’s capital city Oslo aims to ban cars from its center by 2019 to help reduce pollution.
If the proposal gets approved, local politicians say it would be the first comprehensive and permanent ban for a European capital. The proposal was put forward by the newly elected city council, made up of the Labor Party, the Greens and the Socialist Left. According to the council, banning cars in central Oslo would benefit all citizens despite fears from business owners that they will lose customers.
“We want to have a car-free center. We want to make it better for pedestrians, cyclists. It will be better for shops and everyone,” Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, lead negotiator for the Green Party in Oslo, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
To make it easier for people to move around the city, the council pledged to build at least 60 kilometers (37 miles) of bicycle lanes by 2019 and provide a “massive boost” of investment in public transport.
As part of the plans, buses and trams will continue to serve the city center, and access will be granted to cars carrying disabled people and vehicles transporting goods to stores. Members of the Oslo city council said they will hold consultations, study the experiences of other cities and conduct trial runs.
Oslo has a population of around 600,000 people and almost 350,000 cars in the whole city. While most car owners live outside the city center, they are within Oslo’s boundaries.
Temporary car bans in city centers are not new – Paris experienced one last month. Other cities such as London and Madrid have congestion charges to limit car traffic. However, a permanent ban would be something different and would no doubt take a lot of time and negotiations to implement.