Local transportation without cars?
06/03/2021
The headline may sound like a modern trend, but such ideas are not entirely new.
Almost 50 years ago, cities wanted to eliminate the automobile from everyday traffic. In Bonn, at least, the intention was to replace private cars with streetcars and buses, as the magazine "auto motor und sport" commented in detail in 1974.
Obviously, however, this was not so easy, even though local public transport was really cheap at the time. In 1974, a journey within the urban area cost DM 1.00 in Stuttgart, DM 1.10 in Hamburg and DM 1.00 in Munich. But it was often much quicker, as test drives in four German cities proved at the time.
Little has actually changed, although our cities are probably even more congested today than they were in 1974.
And so the conclusion from back then is probably still true:
" The consequence of all this is that, parallel to the expansion of local public transport, roads must be built on a sensible scale and the development of environmentally friendly cars must be driven forward. "
At least in the last point, we have actually made enormous progress in the last 47 years, but probably less so in road construction ...