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Car-Free Day |
| Roller skates, bikes, tandems, skateboards
- on 9th September 1997, the population took over La Rochelle's centre
for the day, relying, with no small pleasure, on alternatives to exhaust-spewing
fuel-powered cars to get around town. A festive atmosphere reigned in the city as for once it heard itself breath, talk and walk, sounds usually
drowned out by noisy engines. |
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This was a genuine innovation. All of a sudden, a community
dared say no to the all-powerful internal-combustion
engine and hand the city over to its citizens. La Rochelle has
since gained a following. The day, baptised "Around town without
my car!", is becoming a veritable institution in France and even
internationally. One day is not that much, but it is not a gimmick
either.
Weeks of preparation went into the organisation of the event on 9th
September 1997, aimed at implementing coherent means of conveyance
to skirt the city centre. Indeed, the conurbation later drew inspiration
from the experience in setting up its Urban
Transport Plan. Right from the first experiment, it was able to
assess the impacts of the Day on the quality of the air (a 50% decline
in nitrogen dioxide and sulphur content, noise well below the usual
level).
Since that time, La Rochelle has never stopped
innovating and stepping up its pioneering experiments. Every year,
on "Around town without my car" Day, the city tests novel measures
to deal with traffic. Elcidis,
the electric delivery system, for example, was put through a trial
run before implementation on a year-round basis. In 2001, the conurbation
went a step further by launching the "To work without my car" operation.
This time the experiment focused on travel to and from work and lasted
not just one day but a full week. Chosen on a volunteer basis, employees
working in the centre parked at the outskirts and then used the free
shuttle service provided by the CDA to get into work.
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