Berlin could soon have the largest car-free area of any city in the world.
The plan to rid the German city’s streets of cars came to life when three friends were having a drink at a bar in 2019. They quickly formed the Volksentscheid Berlin Autofrei group, or People’s Referendum for an Auto-Free Berlin, and proposed limiting cars within the circular Ringbahn train line in the city, an area that is larger than Manhattan.
A petition was launched in April last year and quickly received more than 50,000 signatures. It is now being considered by the city’s governing body, the Berlin Senate, and a decision will be made on whether to make Berlin a car-free city in February.
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A number of exemptions would be offered. For example, special permits would be provided to emergency vehicles, garbage trucks, taxis, commercial and delivery vehicles, and residents with limited mobility that depend on cars for transportation. Additionally, residents would be able to use a car through a car-sharing program up to 12 times a year to run longer errands.
A report commissioned by Berlin’s regional parliament in 2014 found that 58 per cent of traffic space in the city was devoted to cars even though only a third of journeys on Berlin streets were made by car. By comparison, just 3 per cent was set aside for bicycles even though they account for 15 per cent of journeys.
“It’s as much about our immediate environment as it is about the environment at large,” initiative co-founder Nina Noblé told The Guardian. “It’s about how we all want to live, breathe and play together. We want people to be able to sleep with their windows open, and children to be able to play in the street again. And grandparents should be able to ride their bicycles safely and have plenty of benches to take a breather on.”
