Car Free Day will return to London on Sunday 20 September, the Mayor of London’s office has announced.
Held for the first time last year, London’s Car Free Day event is designed to provide residents and visitors to the UK capital with the opportunity to “reclaim their streets and reimagine their city car-free”.
In 2019 activities were held across more than 27km (16.7 miles) of closed streets in central London including Tower Bridge (closed to all traffic), London Bridge (buses only) and much of the City of London.
Local events also took place across 27 boroughs in 2019, with 385 Play Streets – almost double the target of 200.
This year’s event will take place across the same footprint, with Transport for London (TfL) working with City of London for the second consecutive year.
TfL and Khan said they will work with borough councils to announce a full programme of events across the capital in the summer.
Christina Calderato, head of transport strategy and planning at TfL, said: “We’ve already seen a really positive shift in the way people travel, removing the equivalent of 2.9 million private vehicle trips from London’s roads each day, with nearly two thirds of journeys now made by walking, cycling and public transport – up from around half of all journeys when TfL was formed in 2000.
“Engaging the public to imagine their city car-free this September will help us along this journey, towards our ambitious target of 80% of journeys to be made by sustainable modes of transport by 2041.”
The Mayor’s office claims that there are more than two million Londoners currently living in areas that exceed legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), including more than 400,000 children under the age of 18.
However, City Hall analysis of the Breathe London air quality sensor at Bank Junction found concentrations of NO2 were 40% lower on Car Free Day than the day before.
What’s more, a temporary monitor installed by King’s College at Regent Street to measure the impact of its closure found NO2 concentrations were 60% lower on Car Free Day compared to the day before.
Last year’s event also reportedly broke records for Santander Cycles. A free promotional code giving people across London free cycle hire for 24 hours resulted in 1,373 redemptions, which TfL claims is the highest of any day code in the history of its Cycle Hire scheme.
Furthermore, a YouGov poll of 1,416 people conducted immediately after Car Free Day 2019 reportedly found that 65% of Londoners were inspired to use a car less, while 57% of Londoners believe that holding a Car Free Day event in the capital is a good idea.
Want to learn more clean air initiatives in cities? CiTTi Exhibition takes place on the 3rd and 4th of June at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena. Register your interest to attend at www.cittiexhibition.co.uk
