Car-free town

[BayPaul]

I'm staying in Sitges, a small town near Barcelona, which is one of my very favourite places. One of the reasons I like it so much is that the town is effectively car-free. The old town centre has a dense network of narrow streets that are too narrow for cars to use, so they are mainly pedestrianised, with a few one way or dead end streets allowing a very small amount of traffic.

Surprisingly, it all works very well, making for a very attractive and livable town. I wonder if it could be a good model for new town communities in the UK.

Sitges benefits from a number of advantages that help it be a practical near-car free town
- A fairly high population density, mainly 4 floor high small blocks of flats.
- An excellent metro-style train service to Barcelona, with 2 slow and 2 semi-fast trains per hour, each calling at 3 stations in Barcelona.
- Barcelona's excellent and integrated public transport, which makes it very practical to commute to anywhere in the city from Sitges
- A we'll-located train station in Sitges, an easy walk from most of the town
- Good facilities for e-scooters, mopeds and cycling
- Being sandwiched between the sea and the mountains, most other destinations of choice (Villanova, Tarragona, Casteldefels etc) are also on the railway.
- Having cheap car hire available in the town
- Reasonable long-stay car parks around the periphery
- Streets are able to be used by emergency vehicles, bin lorries, large deliveries etc, as well as by e-scooters etc.
- Excellent local shops in the town centre
- Good leisure facilities in easy walking distance.
- A toll on the main motorway that is the only decent road to the town.

Surprisingly, the local public transport is a bit rubbish - a couple of low frequency bus routes and a tourist mini-train. The suburbs of Sitges are more like a standard UK town, but seem to have low traffic.

I could imagine a well designed new suburb of a major UK city with good transport links being able to work quite well, and be a great place to live.

 

[rvdborgt]

Surprisingly, the local public transport is a bit rubbish - a couple of low frequency bus routes and a tourist mini-train.

Taking into account the city size, 2 bus lines with a 30' frequency and one with a 40' frequency, running every day, isn't too bad. French cities of that size hardly have anything useful, let alone with a fixed frequency on Sundays...

 

[Bletchleyite]

While I suppose this is more widely pedestrianised because you get the residential/centre crossover you get in the UK, a very large number of town centres in the UK were pedestrianised in the 1990s so we aren't that behind with it! Curiously London seems very resistant to this, but it's the norm elsewhere in medium to large towns at least but also some small ones (e.g. Ormskirk).

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Most Spanish towns and cities have adopted this model, with their historic cores pedestrianised - and are all the better for it. I can remember back to the '70s how grim some some of them were, clogged with traffic and the noise, fumes and heat! Málaga and Valencia in particular have scrubbed up quite well.

Sitges does have an excellent train service, but it is surprising to UK eyes how it tails off in the evening with quite an early finish going into Barcelona. It is also a pain if you want to go south to Valencia and beyond - long-distance services do not call at Tarragona any more, being diverted to the LAV, so you have to go into Barcelona and out. I think there is a case for stopping some RE services in Sitges.

To be fair the bus service in Sitges is not bad for the size of the place - the last time I was there it was a reasonable 1 Euro flat fare with midi-buses scooting around.

 

[SHD]

French cities of that size hardly have anything useful, let alone with a fixed frequency on Sundays...

You are painting the French picture with a brush that is slightly too dark (and why is the French situation relevant to a comment about Catalonia anyway?)
There are obviously several French cities with ~30,000 inhabitants that have decent bus service. One example on top of my head: Aix-les-Bains (only one line on Sundays but definitely a fixed frequency),

 

[BayPaul]

While I suppose this is more widely pedestrianised because you get the residential/centre crossover you get in the UK, a very large number of town centres in the UK were pedestrianised in the 1990s so we aren't that behind with it! Curiously London seems very resistant to this, but it's the norm elsewhere in medium to large towns at least but also some small ones (e.g. Ormskirk).

It goes very much further than the standard UK high street and adjacent roads pedestrianisation, to being most of the central urban area, including roughly half of the dwellings in the town. It also isn't just pedestrianisation - even the streets where cars are allowed have tiny numbers of them.
For me, the big difference to the UK is that this is a small town where you can comfortably live without a car, in a similar way to you can in London. There aren't many places in the UK where you can do that. UK pedestrianisation is only about making a pleasant shopping experience.

Sitges does have an excellent train service, but it is surprising to UK eyes how it tails off in the evening with quite an early finish going into Barcelona. It is also a pain if you want to go south to Valencia and beyond - long-distance services do not call at Tarragona any more, being diverted to the LAV, so you have to go into Barcelona and out. I think there is a case for stopping some RE services in Sitges.

True, but there is a decent night bus I believe.

Given the passenger figures at Sitges, which always seems the busiest station on the line, I agree that some long distance trains should stop.

To be fair the bus service in Sitges is not bad for the size of the place - the last time I was there it was a reasonable 1 Euro flat fare with midi-buses scooting around.

Taking into account the city size, 2 bus lines with a 30' frequency and one with a 40' frequency, running every day, isn't too bad. French cities of that size hardly have anything useful, let alone with a fixed frequency on Sundays...

Fair point! I guess I've never really had a chance to use it.

 

[rvdborgt]

You are painting the French picture with a brush that is slightly too dark (and why is the French situation relevant to a comment about Catalonia anyway?)
There are obviously several French cities with ~30,000 inhabitants that have decent bus service. One example on top of my head: Aix-les-Bains (only one line on Sundays but definitely a fixed frequency),

I was thinking about Maubeuge. Sunday network is different than on other days. IIRC the frequency was around 68 minutes at some point but now it seems to be a fixed 75 minutes. I've also seen variable frequencies elsewhere, say between 55 and 70, different each hour...

 

[daodao]

English towns of a similar size such as Macclesfield and Northwich tend not to have any local bus services in the late evening (after 1900) or on Sundays.

 

[styles]

If you go to some Swiss villages, like Saas-Fee, they are literally car-free. You have to park in designated car parks on the border (or get the bus to the bus terminal on the border). There are a handful of small electric carts but that's it. And this was a decision they made in the 1950s.

It is absolutely wonderful.

 

[BayPaul]

If you go to some Swiss villages, like Saas-Fee, they are literally car-free. You have to park in designated car parks on the border (or get the bus to the bus terminal on the border). There are a handful of small electric carts but that's it. And this was a decision they made in the 1950s.

It is absolutely wonderful.

So do you think this could work for a new town in the UK?

A small and dense town, with excellent public transport connections, both externally and internally, including a good metro style service to a nearby large city. Excellent attractive foot and cycle paths, escooters, and cheap hire cars so people don't need a car of their own. The layout planned with shops, employment, schools and leisure facilities in easy reach of where people live.

I would love to see it.

 

[daodao]

If you go to some Swiss villages, like Saas-Fee, they are literally car-free. You have to park in designated car parks on the border (or get the bus to the bus terminal on the border). There are a handful of small electric carts but that's it. And this was a decision they made in the 1950s.

It is absolutely wonderful.

A couple of other examples are Wengen (where I stayed as a teenager over 50 years ago) and Murren, both in the Bernese Oberland.

 

[styles]

So do you think this could work for a new town in the UK?

A small and dense town, with excellent public transport connections, both externally and internally, including a good metro style service to a nearby large city. Excellent attractive foot and cycle paths, escooters, and cheap hire cars so people don't need a car of their own. The layout planned with shops, employment, schools and leisure facilities in easy reach of where people live.

I would love to see it.

I think it could but it would have to be a new town. There's enough 15 minutes city conspiracy theorists out there ready to shout down any and all forms of congestion reduction or traffic calming measures, that you just couldn't do it to existing towns. Maybe somewhere a bit more hippy like Machynlleth centre at a real push.

Basically it would have to be, I believe, something people opted into from the outset. In fact in the Saas-Fee example, I believe doing it in the 1950s before everyone wanted a two-car household, helped them. I imagine there would be objections if cars had been allowed until 2025 then they suddenly suggested banning them all.

 

[jupiter]

Many places in the UK would benefit from having cars removed from significant parts of them. I'm looking at you St. Ives.

 

[BayPaul]

Many places in the UK would benefit from having cars removed from significant parts of them. I'm looking at you St. Ives.

St Ives is a great example. Polperro is the place where they have basically made the Swiss style system work, with a big car park on the border and only very limited cars let into the village.

I think it could but it would have to be a new town. There's enough 15 minutes city conspiracy theorists out there ready to shout down any and all forms of congestion reduction or traffic calming measures, that you just couldn't do it to existing towns. Maybe somewhere a bit more hippy like Machynlleth centre at a real push.

Basically it would have to be, I believe, something people opted into from the outset. In fact in the Saas-Fee example, I believe doing it in the 1950s before everyone wanted a two-car household, helped them. I imagine there would be objections if cars had been allowed until 2025 then they suddenly suggested banning them all.

I agree. In a new town, if people aren't happy with buying homes without parking spaces, they don't have to move there.
You would need some very strong guarantees that the necessary infrastructure would be there long-term.

 

[bspahh]

I think it could but it would have to be a new town. There's enough 15 minutes city conspiracy theorists out there ready to shout down any and all forms of congestion reduction or traffic calming measures, that you just couldn't do it to existing towns. Maybe somewhere a bit more hippy like Machynlleth centre at a real push.

Basically it would have to be, I believe, something people opted into from the outset. In fact in the Saas-Fee example, I believe doing it in the 1950s before everyone wanted a two-car household, helped them. I imagine there would be objections if cars had been allowed until 2025 then they suddenly suggested banning them all.

The centre of Ljubjana has had a traffic free zone since 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/2017100...ljubljana-turned-itself-europes-green-capital says the population was 287k in 2016. Its now 293k so it seems to have been a success.

The centre of Ljubljana only allows buses, delivery vehicles and electric taxis. https://www.visitljubljana.com/en/v...tting-around-the-city-centre-by-electric-car/

Ljubljana's electric-powered vehicles referred to as Kavalirs (Gentle Helpers) are a free city centre public transport option friendly both to people and the environment. Kavalir vehicles are not intended for sightseeing tours but are primarily meant for elderly and mobility-impaired individuals.

 

[SHD]

Venice has been car-free, except Piazzale Roma and the port area, since... well since the automobile was invented.

 

[NCT]

Britain has so much learn from its European neighbours. So many of British towns are but a carcass of a town centre surrounding by giant vultures of retail sheds in car parks. Almost nobody lives in the town centre and nobody has an enticing walking route into the centre. I'm looking at Bridgwater and Stafford. If you have to walk through the sea of car parks and sheds just to get to a dilapidated high streets with struggling chain stores, why not just drive to the car parks and shop in those sheds with the same brands?

We have a nationwide housing crisis and awful congestion problems. The only way out is to repair our town centres and inner areas to repair walking and cycling routes and inject people into those actual towns.

 

[StephenHunter]

Karlovy Vary has a car-free city centre.

 

[johncrossley]

Almost nobody lives in the town centre and nobody has an enticing walking route into the centre.

In SE England town centre living has become more popular in recent years. Offices have been turned into flats and developers have been building lots of new apartments near railway stations, typically with limited or no car parking. Some big cities have benefited from gentrification over the last 20 years or so. In particular, Manchester's inner city has been transformed from a wasteland into many huge blocks of flats.

 

[StephenHunter]

In SE England town centre living has become more popular in recent years. Offices have been turned into flats and developers have been building lots of new apartments near railway stations, typically with limited or no car parking. Some big cities have benefited from gentrification over the last 20 years or so. In particular, Manchester's inner city has been transformed from a wasteland into many huge blocks of flats.

The Arndale Centre bombing in 1996 may have been a factor in that.

 

[Krokodil]

Britain has so much learn from its European neighbours. So many of British towns are but a carcass of a town centre surrounding by giant vultures of retail sheds in car parks.

It wouldn't be true to say that those don't exist abroad though. Even in the Netherlands: Westermaat for example.

 

[NCT]

In SE England town centre living has become more popular in recent years. Offices have been turned into flats and developers have been building lots of new apartments near railway stations, typically with limited or no car parking. Some big cities have benefited from gentrification over the last 20 years or so. In particular, Manchester's inner city has been transformed from a wasteland into many huge blocks of flats.

That's really good to see. There's still a Herculean task ahead to spread this model to other parts of the country though!

It wouldn't be true to say that those don't exist abroad though. Even in the Netherlands: Westermaat for example.

They are rarer though. Even Westermaat looks well planned compared to British counterparts. Westermaat doesn't seem to have a huge retail element, unlike say Westwood Cross which has pretty much all the supermarket brands in big box formats with huge car parks. Purely through looking on Google Maps, the offices at Westermaat seem to be surrounded by surprisingly few car parking spaces - I'm going to guess that's because the campus is quite cyclable from Hengelo and Borne, unless they've hidden all the car parks underground ...

But yes, town planning in the Netherlands does seem to get more car friendly the further away from the Randstad you go.