London to have ‘car-free day’ in September

In a bid to highlight the ongoing problem of pollution from vehicles, London is to stage its biggest car-free day yet on 22 September. The Sunday date has been timed to coincide with World Car Free Day, which encourages motorists to give up their cars for a day. This type of activity is increasingly popular in cities worldwide – with Bogota, Colombia, and Jakarta, Indonesia, among the early adopters – as authorities wake up to the health impacts. More than half of air pollution in the UK capital is ca
June 21, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

In a bid to highlight the ongoing problem of pollution from vehicles, London is to stage its biggest car-free day yet on 22 September.

The Sunday date has been timed to coincide with World Car Free Day, which encourages motorists to give up their cars for a day. This type of activity is increasingly popular in cities worldwide – with Bogota, Colombia, and Jakarta, Indonesia, among the early adopters – as authorities wake up to the health impacts.

More than half of air pollution in the UK capital is caused by vehicles, and is thought to be responsible for 9,000 early deaths each year.

London mayor Sadiq Khan said 12.3 miles of roads will be closed in the centre of the city.

“I encourage as many Londoners as possible to join in the fun and see the city from a different perspective,” Khan said.

A variety of events will be held promoting alternative modes, such as public transit, cycling and walking. Charity London Play is using funding from 1466 Transport for London to make 200 streets “open for play - and closed to traffic” on the day.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Women driving innovation in mobility
    March 9, 2022
    Transportation was built through the lens of men: that ecosystem needs to change
    Read More
  • Connecticut Transit uses web feedback to improve user experience
    May 27, 2014
    Connecticut champions open government and open data to help fostertransparency, accountability and citizen engagement – and that includes transportation matters as Andrew Bardin Williams discovers. The last thing anyone wanted was to inconvenience or displace others - least of all people who lived and worked in the neighbourhood. Yet, workers in an office building in downtown New Haven, Conn., were tired of shuffling through hoards of people who kept sitting on the stoop to the building while waiting for th
    Read More
  • Funding boost to cut pollution from local buses
    August 30, 2013
    Towns and cities in England are set to benefit from US$7.7 million of funding to reduce pollution from local buses, Local Transport Minister Norman Baker has announced. A total of eleven local authorities have been awarded grants from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Clean Bus Technology Fund, which will allow almost 400 buses to be upgraded.
    Read More
  • Priority boosts ridership and cuts congestion
    May 4, 2016
    Transit priority is proving a win-win in Europe and Australia. David Crawford reports. Technology that integrates with the Australian-originated Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) is driving bus signal priority and performance analysis initiatives on both sides of the world; in its homeland, with a major deployment in 2015, and in the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
    Read More

Highlighted Content