Experts believe that the initiative approved by Barcelona helps to discourage car use while promoting sustainable mobility, but supporting measures are vital
Im currently in SE asia. Motorcycles and ebikes are 100x better than cars. Anytime there are cars here they are just in the way and even dangerous but bikes an scooters tuck away really nicely.
A single car parking space can accomodate three to four motocycles / big scooters or up to ~15 bicycle / small E-Scooter parking spaces (or even more when stacked).
Likewise a single car parking space can be converted into two lots for small wheelchair-accessible mobility vehicles (basically tiny 50 kmh cars just bigger than the wheelchair that can be driven straight into them). Which still offer better accessibility.
A lot of wheelchair users need someone else to drive the vehicle because it’s not just their legs which don’t work. Or because they’re children or elders. A minivan is the smallest vehicle they can use. Especially if they have kids as well. And public transit is often difficult or impossible, especially older systems. (I can’t judge Barcelona’s in particular, the buses are accessible though I’ve read there’s problems with/scarcity of elevators in key Metro stations)
All of that is true in some cases, for which there still can be and are parking spots. But those cases can’t be used as a scapegoat to build everything for cars (mentioning this specifically since car-brained people constantly do exactly that). Even in streets not made for cars you can drive if there are good reasons (emergency, moving in and out, accessibility…). Not to mention that, if a city or town you live in was build properly, even families don’t necessarily need their own car there.
If your cities’ public transport still isn’t wheelchair-compatible that’s a totally different (huge) issue.
Not disagreeing with your points but I want to mention that people who live in cities often like to get away from them to the countryside fairly frequently, and that can’t be done on public transit, especially if they need to take stuff with them. Planning should take that into account, and provision made.
This will result in motorcycles and ebikes occupying all the space
Im currently in SE asia. Motorcycles and ebikes are 100x better than cars. Anytime there are cars here they are just in the way and even dangerous but bikes an scooters tuck away really nicely.
A single car parking space can accomodate three to four motocycles / big scooters or up to ~15 bicycle / small E-Scooter parking spaces (or even more when stacked).
Likewise a single car parking space can be converted into two lots for small wheelchair-accessible mobility vehicles (basically tiny 50 kmh cars just bigger than the wheelchair that can be driven straight into them). Which still offer better accessibility.
It’s not even a damn competition.
A lot of wheelchair users need someone else to drive the vehicle because it’s not just their legs which don’t work. Or because they’re children or elders. A minivan is the smallest vehicle they can use. Especially if they have kids as well. And public transit is often difficult or impossible, especially older systems. (I can’t judge Barcelona’s in particular, the buses are accessible though I’ve read there’s problems with/scarcity of elevators in key Metro stations)
All of that is true in some cases, for which there still can be and are parking spots. But those cases can’t be used as a scapegoat to build everything for cars (mentioning this specifically since car-brained people constantly do exactly that). Even in streets not made for cars you can drive if there are good reasons (emergency, moving in and out, accessibility…). Not to mention that, if a city or town you live in was build properly, even families don’t necessarily need their own car there.
If your cities’ public transport still isn’t wheelchair-compatible that’s a totally different (huge) issue.
Not disagreeing with your points but I want to mention that people who live in cities often like to get away from them to the countryside fairly frequently, and that can’t be done on public transit, especially if they need to take stuff with them. Planning should take that into account, and provision made.
That’s what Carsharing is for.
Uhhh… someone needs a car for that mate… get rid of the cars and you couldn’t do that…
Even if that were true, it would still be better than cars taking all the space.