According to the official European Mobility Week website, 359 Spanish cities have signed up to take part in the Week and also the Car-Free Day (today). Despite the fact we are the European country with the second highest number of cities supporting this initiative (Austria is top with 375 cities), it is clear that the true impact on the mobility and quality of life of these cities' residents is irrelevant. This stems from the lack of interest shown by the vast majority of participating city councils which limit themselves to carrying out a few superficial activities without showing any real commitment to reducing car traffic.
Given the sparse encouragement and interest from city councils and the Spanish driving force, the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marina Environs, it comes as no surprise that the majority of drivers learnt about this official Day from listening to the radio whilst stuck in moorning traffic jams.
Moreover, the municipal approaches verge on ridiculous in some cases. There is no other way to describe the initiatives from the likes of Malaga and Valencia, where the main activity of Car-Free Day – cycling – was carried out on Sunday in order to avoid interfering with weekday traffic. If Car-Free Day has any meaning, it's that it allows for the demonstration of how a city with fewer cars would work, as well as allowing for decisions on the most reasonable methods to meet this objective and make it permanent. This objective is not borne from a desire to annoy drivers, rather the intention to reduce the serious problems which excessive car usage causes in our cities: pollution, noise, children being unable to play in the streets without supervision, public spaces being lost to cars etc.
A review of the rest of the activities organised by our city councils also fails to inspire much hope. On Car-Free Day, the Mayor of Madrid and many councillors will use public transport or electric motorbikes instead of their official cars, whilst simultaneously announcing the creation of a bicycle hiring system. Valladolid will enforce restricted access to certain zones for one day, but there is no-one/nothing controlling the access of non-residents. Today in Santander, buses will be free, however cycling will be left until the following Sunday. Segovia has restricted access to the city centre, except for residents, whilst at the same time travelling by bus is free.
In short, it is once again clear to Ecologistas en Accion that our politicians are not rising to the occasion. They are not tackling the challenge of contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases caused by cars in the city. Similarly, they are not addressing the costs and damage to our health and welfare brought about by excessive car usage.
