Skip to main content

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.

Related Content

  • January 30, 2018
    Innovate UK to provide update on low emission trials at Microlise
    Innovate UK will present an update on the £20m ($28m) government Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trials (LEFT) at the Microlise Transport Conference held in Coventry this May. The trials have deployed hydrogen dual-fuel vehicles, electric vans and trucks with the intention of encouraging the wide-spread introduction of low and zero emission vehicles to UK fleets.
  • February 21, 2019
    Moscow is world’s most gridlocked city, says Inrix
    Moscow is the most gridlocked city in the world, according to a survey of snarl-ups by Inrix. The company’s annual Global Traffic Scorecard found that road users in the Russian capital lost 210 hours last year because of congestion. Inrix weights the data for population, and found that the next four cities on the congestion roll-call were Istanbul, Turkey; Bogota, Colombia; Mexico City; and São Paulo, Brazil. Brazil had another entry on this unwanted list, with Rio de Janeiro in seventh place. Russ
  • December 19, 2017
    Road user charging comes a step closer in Oregon
    Having been the first US state to introduce the gas tax a century ago, Oregon is now blazing the road user charging trail. Colin Sowman looks at progress to date. For more than a decade, authorities in Oregon have known of the impending decline in fuels tax income and while revenue increased by more than 5% in 2016, that growth will slow considerably this year and income is projected to start declining in 2020.
  • June 11, 2019
    RCA designs mobility for life
    The Royal College of Art is a design powerhouse, and researcher Artur Mausbach is turning his attention to what future mobility will look – and feel – like. Adam Hill finds out more The name Royal College of Art (RCA) does not immediately bring to mind images of industrial design. But past alumni of this prestigious London institution include vacuum cleaner king James Dyson as well as that former enfant terrible of the artistic world, Tracey Emin: the RCA has always had a foot in both camps. And now it