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Amsterdam's head of transport has announced plans to ban petrol and diesel cars in the city by 2030.
The clean air action plan aims to make the Dutch capital a "world leader in emission-free transport".
Transport chief Sharon Dijksma said residents "live a year less on average due to dirty air" and that the plan should "prolong the health of the average Amsterdammer by three months."
But the plan has already incited strong reactions in the Netherlands with one motoring organisation branding it "bizarre" and wondering how normal people would afford electric cars.
The plan, which would be applied 20 years before the Paris Agreement aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions, would require up to 23,000 electric charging points by 2025. The city currently has 3,000.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @12:14PM (19 children)
Wow, that seems delusional. But car culture fits for canuckistan as cities are designed for cars, not people. Just like in Trumpland to the south.
In places like Amsterdam, people want to enjoy their life *outside* of a car, not in one. But you are so attached to your car, maybe you should live in one or something? I don't know, but if you can't even be apart from your car, I'm not sure you would like to live in place like Amsterdam or most of Europe for that matter. Even in German cities, getting around with a car is a pain in the ass and you are much better off with a bike.
Yeah, here people like to take their bikes out to places like that and actually take it easy. If you are driving, you see nothing. But I understand your culture. Like driving to a community mailbox, 50m down the street, because walking would somehow corrupt you car-soul or something. Yes people, that's a real thing they do in Canada or America. Drive even down their driveway to pickup their mail.
In Germany people drive a lot less, even if it is just to preserve their parking spot. Everyone bikes here in Germany. But Amsterdam, that's taken to another level. Evening imaging to move to Amsterdam and wanting to have your own car moved is quite disconnected. There are things called trains, buses and planes here to move around, not F-150s. And for some weird reason you actually need a car, then you can rent one. I've moved 3 years ago (from Canada) and neither miss or need a car.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 07 2019, @01:09PM (3 children)
Not all driveways are created equal. In the West, it's common for the mailbox to be next to the rural highway, a mile away from your actual house. Are you going to walk for the better part of an hour to get your mail?
Amsterdam, I would say, already has a post-car transportation culture so it's not so hard for them to ban them completely. It's like a vegetarian going full vegan--he's already most of the way there.
Still, even in densely populated cities with multi-modal transportation there remain valid use-cases for car ownership. Just because you might not have one does not mean others don't, and that their use cases are not valid. For example, in NYC there's no reason to have a car if all you ever do is commute into Manhattan and occasionally go somewhere else. But if your main axis of movement is from Far Rockaway, Queens, to the Bronx, then you better have a car or it will take you five hours each way to ride public transportation.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aim on Tuesday May 07 2019, @02:27PM (2 children)
Now that sounds like a very reasonable distance to use a bicycle, not a car. That in turn could do wonders for fitness (ok, walking would, too, but I'll accept that one doesn't want to spend that much time).
Oh. Do they also put recycling containers for paper up right there for all the advertisements, or are "no ads please" stickers respected?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 07 2019, @07:25PM (1 child)
Winter, snow, ice. Summer, 100F, rattlesnakes. That's if you're young and spry. Heaven help you if you're elderly.
Bicycles are great, and are more useful than most Americans suppose. They are not the right solution in every case.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:32AM
Plus if you drive you can get back on your couch quicker to watch Jerry Springer re-runs. Why waste all that time outside?
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday May 07 2019, @01:12PM (12 children)
Do the buses have weird restrictions on time of day or day of week the way there are in many cities in Trumpland? I ask because a couple of my neighbors work a schedule including Sunday, when buses in my city don't run, and a third works more than a kilometer from the nearest bus stop. And do the planes require a paid subscription to a precheck program in order not to get felt up?
How does liability insurance for car renters who don't own a car work? Are there weird restrictions on renters under 25 or on crossing state/provincial/etc. lines the way there are in Trumpland?
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday May 07 2019, @03:02PM (7 children)
How does liability insurance for car renters who don't own a car work?
How wouldn't it work? You hire the car, and you're insured. Job done.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday May 07 2019, @03:43PM (6 children)
Unless the rental company adds a surcharge for those without valid insurance on another vehicle, on grounds that those without a personal vehicle are likely to be less experienced at driving.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 07 2019, @05:01PM (5 children)
That ... is just not the way it works. Have you ever rented a car ?
Anyone over the minimum age (25, usually) is offered the same coverage options.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday May 07 2019, @05:30PM (4 children)
You guessed correctly that I have never rented a car. Nor have I owned one. I'm going based on what I have heard from others.
Which leaves what for people between graduation and the 25th birthday?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 07 2019, @05:42PM
A few rare companies renting starting at 21, usually with a supplemental cost.
Beyond that, family, friends, public transport ... we all survived it, even before Uber/Lyft, even if it can occasionally really suck.
I blame all the moronic boys (mostly them) who can't be convinced to be responsible behind the wheel under 25, making the stats and my insurance premiums what they are/were.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Tuesday May 07 2019, @05:44PM (1 child)
Which leaves what for people between graduation and the 25th birthday?
Partying.
How old are you?
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:59PM
I am over 25. I am asking on behalf of relatives who are 18 to 24.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday May 07 2019, @10:37PM
Which leaves what for people between graduation and the 25th birthday?
Paying more
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday May 07 2019, @06:02PM
As you can travel throughout most of Europe without even being checked at national borders it wouldn't make sense to have limits on travel. Most car insurance in Europe covers you for the whole of Europe, including the extra areas which are not part of the free travel Schengen Agreement, for example UK and Ireland. [wikipedia.org]
Since 2016 some countries have re-imposed border controls in an effort to check migrant movement, but other aspects of the agreement remain as before.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @06:17PM (2 children)
Of course not, the restrictions are quite sane: reduced frequency on weekends, reduced service between 01:00 and 06:00.
For that you can take your bicycle [wikipedia.org] with you.
How do suppose it works? Liability insurance is part of the rental contract, of course.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @06:59PM
Lots of credit cards have built in insurance too, if you use that car to rent...
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:05PM
What difference in the economy makes running the buses more often than once an hour, or at all at night or on Sundays, viable where you live?
That sort of depends on climate. Do you get thunderstorms or snow where you live?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @06:27PM (1 child)
Heh, our cities are very much designed for people. And for public transit. AND for cars.
I love Europe, been great every time I visited. I can see living there. But the simple truth is that European cities are older, and therefore, had narrower roads. And fast moving highways are much rarer.
This doesn't even remotely mean that Canadian cities don't have public transit. But it does mean that since Canadian cities are "younger", they have nice, wide roads everywhere... loads off highways, and can ALSO have public transit.
Toronto has subways, trains, buses, boats, ferries, everything you see in Europe. And! It has much, much better driving.
But please, continue your narrative. Close your eyes, and believe it is binary.
Because judging from your post, I doubt there's any point trying to convince you elsewise...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:36AM
Yay! Canada wins!!! Only indoors for 6 months.