Though car-free sceptics might feel a personal vehicle is a must to take them from door to door at a moment’s notice, there are many downsides to having a car as a visitor. There’s driving in a strange place (possibly on the other side of the road) with unfamiliar routes to follow, signs which may be in a language we don’t understand, and the occasional unpaved surface or tricky track to navigate. In some destinations, there’s congestion to contend with, or local rules of the road that are treated more as a series of loose guidelines – if observed at all – by fellow drivers.
And that’s before we factor in the need to find and purchase fuel regularly, or pay tolls, both of which can mount up for travellers on a budget. Speaking of added expense, the perceived convenience of having a car handy soon pales when we must locate – and potentially pay for – a place to park. Sometimes for many days at a time, and possibly some distance away from our accommodation.
On top of added hassle and costs, there are the obvious environmental impacts of too many cars, as compared to high-capacity public transport.
As the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) explains on its Climate Portal website, ‘Public transportation gets people where they’re going while emitting far fewer climate-warming greenhouse gases than private cars. The reason is simple efficiency: while cars usually carry just one or two people at a time, a bus can carry 50 or more, and a train in a large city may carry thousands.’
So the shift to mass transit and away from one- or two-occupant cars is crucial, whether the people being moved are at home or away. In general, the success of public transportation in a destination is largely dependent on how efficiently it works, and how well it serves users’ needs – but whatever’s on offer, as responsible travellers with a choice, we need to make use of it a priority whenever practicable.
As I wrote previously, as visitors, while our time spent on a trip is precious, we need to intentionally engage in slower travel, something that can dovetail beautifully with using public transportation. To fully embrace this, first we need to switch out of the hop-into-a-car mindset and begin to build options like buses, trams and trains into our itineraries.
We can plan our journeys in a different, more planet-friendly and less stressful way, lightening the burden on the environment. That’s good, but when many people still opt for private car travel to get from A to B on a daily basis, what’s the answer?
Enter the concept of car-free days. Around the world, car-free days – whether observed on a weekly basis or celebrated as special occasions annually – encourage people to leave their cars at home and travel by alternative means. Some cities, like Jakarta, host regular car-free days. Other places set aside certain days of the year to close roads for pedestrianised festivals and fairs. On a larger scale, World Car Free Day is celebrated on 22 September every year, with a series of events organised globally.
The concept of car-free days was first proposed in the 1970s but gained popularity as it spread in the 1990s, from the Netherlands to Caracas and Britain to Australia. Bogotá in Colombia is the reigning champion, with the world’s largest weekday event, La Ciclovía, opening up the city to walkers, cyclists, and skaters with a network of car-free routes from 7am to 2pm each Sunday.
First sparked by a one-day anti-car protest in 1974, it shows what firm civic commitment combined with political will can achieve, as Ciclovía celebrated its 50th year in 2024. It’s also become an international model for innovative thinking and a worldwide blueprint for success.
If you’re lucky enough to time it right, visiting a city on a car-free day can be particularly special, letting you take part in a unique community-wide event. You can feel the enhanced calm of the urban landscape freed from its car-centric shackles. It’s beneficial for body and soul. But even if that isn’t part of your plans, deciding to be without a personal car for your journey is an important step.
While on the one hand, you’re at the mercy of the transit schedules, on the other, you can let the train take the strain or leave the driving to the bus company. In a refreshing way, your destiny is in their capable hands. Though that may not sound like a good thing to some, in reality, it frees us completely from worry. Traffic is not for us to fret about, nor are we bothered about confusing road layouts or baffling junctions. Panicked moments on the motorway are for other people.
Instead, we can relax, serene in the knowledge that we will get there, eventually. Once we arrive, we can hop off our alternative mode of transport unencumbered by the persistent 1,000 kg responsibility of a personal vehicle. Some of my best recent journeys have centred around tram and train transportation, with the occasional bus trip thrown in for good measure. It was positively liberating.
And the ability to see a city much better while walking through it to reach public transport shouldn’t be underestimated, either. It’s an excellent way to get your bearings, spot interesting little shops and cafés to visit and get a feel for the local way of life… rather than seeing only a fraction of what a destination has to offer through a car window as you speed past the good stuff.
