CARFREE TOKYO

- a collection of notes and reflections on urban living from the perspective of a family of five in Tokyo. It was many years ago, but being hit by a motor vehicle and seeing your life flash before your eyes can make you pause to reflect on whether American style auto-centric urban transportation of the Roosevelt era really is a Good Idea for civilized modern cities in the 21st Century. This blog explores the good and the bad in urban planning and design, here and elsewhere. The goal is simple - not "death to all cars," just more walkable communities, quiet tree-lined streets, good public transport, traffic calming, Velib style bicycle sharing and the like - in other words reclaiming cities for their people, not their cars. Partly theraputic (so I don't go trying to throttle every dangerous driver I come across) and partly out of a real desire to see positive change, this blog explores how it can be done, the people who do it, and how, in many small ways, this very old idea may at last have found its zeitgeist. Comments and suggestions welcome.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Has the Tide Already Turned?


There was a fascinating article in the Washington Post on Saturday about a massive new program in Paris to provide cheap and easy bicycle rental throughout the city - with a rental station every 250 metres! Absolutely incredible. There are similar plans afoot (pun intended) in other large cities throughout the world, including Sydney and Melbourne.

Why Tokyo has not latched onto this I don't know. It would be perfect here. There appears to be not enough public pressure for change away from the nasty old "more, bigger, faster roads for cars and everyone else be damned" attitude. If only we had some politicians who would stand up for "everyone else".
at 6:54 AM

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