Culture
16:54, 16-Sep-2018
Mayors of Paris, Brussels call for car-free day in Europe
Updated
16:19, 19-Sep-2018
["china"]
Share
Copied
Paris and Brussels are holding a vehicle-free day that their mayors want to extend across Europe.
Sunday's action to ease air pollution is part of the European Heritage Days 2018, a weekend of cultural events staged every year in countries throughout the bloc.
In a joint statement, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and her counterpart in Brussels, Philippe Close, pointed to "the urgency of climate issues and the health impact of pollution."
In Paris, City Hall had on Friday said six areas at the heart of the capital would remain traffic-free on the first Sunday of every month, including Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint-Louis, Louvre, Opera, Chatelet, and the Marais.
The plan will kick in from October 7, with cars only allowed on the major roads crossing these neighborhoods.
Between 2017 and 2018, car traffic in central Paris fell by 6.0 percent, which reduced air pollution "by a comparable proportion," City Hall said, describing it as a "record" drop.
Source(s): AFP