Current Events > Ghent, Belgium got rid of cars in its city center. Here's how residents respond

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/the-streets-are-more-alive-ghent-readers-on-a-car-free-city-centre?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco

The city has become a pedestrians and cyclists joy, especially for people like me who live in the city centre and have no car. As I type, they are busy turning our street into a low-traffic, communal woonerf or living street. It has become easier and safer to navigate the town on foot or by bike. Having recently returned from the Middle East the changes are even more striking, especially when it comes to my son. We were uncomfortable for him to cycle on the roads there but the ones here have been a fun and relatively stress-free experience. The changes have made an enormous difference to peoples quality of life.
Khaled Diab, journalist and writer

I sold my car and switched to electric car sharing
Yes it was drastic, but I believe there is no other way if we want liveable cities. Banning cars isnt the end of the world. I sold mine and switched to electric car sharing. I worried about it but didnt use it as much as I thought. In town I use the bicycle and it makes me happy. There are some negatives though. Public transport could be better at times and the city was cursed with negative communication: everyone thought the plan would be hell. So at the start people stayed away from the city, but things have now balanced out.
Ine

People walking and talking mixed with the quiet zoom of bikes is a vast improvement
A city where you can hear people walking and talking mixed with the quiet zoom of bikes is such a vast improvement over the incessant noise of cars. One really has to drive along the Coupure at rush hour to appreciate it in full. Thousands of people on their bikes on the busiest road and yet there is a certain calm to it. Businesses are flourishing and the city didnt die like many naysayers predicted. The whole thing is awesome. If your city is planning to do the same my only advice is: dont listen to the haters.
Manu Joye, 41, IT manager

It has transformed the grey (but even then exciting town) where I came to study 38 years ago into the lively and diverse city it is now. Living just out of the centre and in the area where cars are still allowed there are positive consequences. As the plan contains a reduction of gates you have to use to get to the parking spaces (many of which are in the centre as they were built before the plan was conceived) the through traffic is managed better.
Koen De Maeseneir, 56, manager of the federation of community health centres in the city

Cyclists and pedestrians are king
I have a safer feeling as a cyclist compared to the time before the circulatieplan. The border of each area is now demarcated by knips. At these points cyclists and pedestrians are king. Its a big misunderstanding that the city is not accessible anymore we only got rid of traffic that doesnt need to be there. If you want to go from point A to B by car, you use the ring [road] and dont go through the medieval city centre. Thats logical, isnt it? If youre thinking of doing the same, dont be afraid of change.
Stijn

Its funny to hear people say how it was impossible to get around Ghent and that they couldnt use their car. For me, living in Leuven, a town with a similar circulation plan, it sounded like people were talking about visiting a war zone. My brother and his family live in Ghent and they got rid of their car because it became obsolete. What stands out most is the silence. Gone was the typical noise of cars. The air also tastes better than in the small towns where traffic is denser than in the city. And then you have the wonderful experiments of living streets, where people turn their streets into sitting rooms and extra gardens. Without cars there is so much more space in a city.
Tine Hens, journalist, Leuven

Before the plan, big parts of the city used to be gridlocked for several hours each day. Although there was already an extensive pedestrian area, many lovely streets were spoiled by queueing cars. Now the city centre is fun to hang around in all day through. The number of cyclists is increasing impressively. Pedestrians are having a good time and most shopkeepers are doing great business. Most people are taking the change for the better for granted already.
Lieven Van de Woestyne, 54, teacher

Im pro circulatieplan and really glad the city introduced it. The city is much more enjoyable than before. Some busy streets were just used as a passing-through by cars, by people who dont live in the city and who dont really need to be there. This caused a lot of unnecessary traffic. The city is still perfectly reachable for cars. There was so much negative publicity before its introduction that visitors now think they cannot visit Ghent by car anymore, which is not true. In fact, the car-free zones are just a very small part of the city. My only hope is that they continue to expand it to smaller districts outside the city centre of Ghent (eg Muide, Brugse Poort, Bloemekenswijk). If youre thinking about doing the same, just go for it!
Jolien

The inner city is a dream to walk and cycle in since there are barely any cars except for some taxis. Most of the cars that do drive in the inner city also drive a lot slower than they used to. Personally I feel like the streets are more alive as they arent just for cars anymore. More people put their chairs out in the summer to sit on the pavement and talk, and some streets become living streets where the kids can play outside, skate, and adults hold barbecues.
Eline

---

FWIW, this would be incredibly difficult to implement in a lot of American cities.

---

scar the 1 posted...

FWIW, this would be incredibly difficult to implement in a lot of American cities.

Imagine if they banned cars in Dallas.

---

mrgoatthief posted...

Man this sounds like a fucking paradise toucannon

what's stopping you from moving there?

---

Jabodie posted...

Imagine if they banned cars in Dallas.

Haven't been to Dallas but I was in FW once and if I wanted to go anywhere I had to walk pretty far, I'm guessing Dallas (and many cities in America) is similarly planned for car traversal

---

scar the 1 posted...

Haven't been to Dallas but I was in FW once and if I wanted to go anywhere I had to walk pretty far, I'm guessing Dallas (and many cities in America) is similarly planned for car traversal

Yeah, the degree of urban sprawl you see in the U.S. is a unique obstacle to getting functional public transit up and running in many American cities, let alone getting rid of cars entirely.

it's a real shame that some of you are so cursed to live in america, where we have cars and personal property and bad ass attitudes

---

The Trent posted...

it's a real shame that some of you are so cursed to live in america, where we have cars and personal property and bad ass attitudes

Simmer down champ

---

no you simmer down CHAMP

---

The thing about Americans is we all hate each other and dont want to be anywhere near each other. Thats why we drive alone and keep moving farther and farther away from each other.

---

KiwiTerraRizing posted...

The thing about Americans is we all hate each other and dont want to be anywhere near each other. Thats why we drive alone and keep moving farther and farther away from each other.

This is true. We have poorly planned sprawl and roads filled with people who cant drive but have to to get literally anywhere because of that.

---

Here in SF they are banning cars downtown on Market street (starting next week I think). If you don't know it's the primary street that cuts through downtown, about a 2 mile stretch. Definitely think it's a good move, and hopefully improves my bus commute as it goes right down the street

---