Oslo has decided to drastically reduce parking spaces, so as to prevent cars from accessing the city centre. Public transport and cycle lanes will be expanded to guarantee mobility for residents and commuters.
Oslo wants nothing more to do with cars. Following the agreement among the main political parties to ban the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2025 – a resolution not yet converted into law – the municipality of the Norwegian capital has launched a new crusade against four-wheeled vehicles. Of whatever kind they may be. The goal is, by 2019, to ban all cars from the city centre.
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Electric, hybrid or fossil-fuel powered – it makes no difference: within three years all vehicles will have to say goodbye to central Oslo. The city administration – led by a coalition of Labour, Socialists and Greens – aims to turn the Nordic capital into a "car-free" city. How? According to The Nordic Page magazine, by removing parking spaces. The elimination of parking bays, with the exception of spaces reserved for people with disabilities, is set to begin as early as next spring, with no distinction made for the type of vehicle, thereby also affecting the significant share of battery-powered cars, which account for 24 per cent of the country's entire vehicle fleet.
The elimination of parking spaces has the clear objective of discouraging cars from entering the city. The parking zones, once "freed" from the obstruction of vehicles, could – according to the city administration – be converted into restaurants, street theatres and recreational areas. A transformation that could potentially bring about a 50 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions.
Around one thousand people live in Oslo's city centre, but during the week the area is home to at least 90,000 workers.
To meet the travel needs of residents and commuters, the municipality aims to expand the cycle lane network by creating at least 60 new km of dedicated routes, as well as massively reinforcing the bus and tram network.
A radical change in the capital's mobility, in preparation for which electric bicycles will play a crucial role. The local administration intends to promote a large-scale incentive campaign, similar to what was done in the past at a national level for cars, encouraging the uptake of pedal-assisted two-wheelers as the designated replacement for vehicles.
Paris has so far limited itself to a few "car free" days, in order to bring down PM10 levels in the air, while Helsinki aims to make private car use redundant by 2025 and is expanding its integrated public transport system to such a degree as to make that possible. Without, however, banning cars outright. Oslo could therefore become the first European capital to completely ban vehicles from the city centre. A record first.