Pretoria looking at introducing “car-free” zones: report
The City of Tshwane is looking at declaring parts of the city as car-free zones in an effort to cut down on carbon emissions, according to a report by the Pretoria News.
Speaking at a seminar on transport and mobility at the CSIR on Wednesday, Bopang Khutsoane, project manager of global climate change at the department of transport, said that the possible change to the city’s spatial planning would be in line with the department’s strategy for metropolitan cities in the country.
Should the plan go through, Pretoria will join a number of other metropolitan in South Africa, most notably Cape Town and Sandton in hosting car-free zones.
While the proposal still needs further discussion on the infrastructure needed to implement these types of zones, the idea was welcomed, noted Bongani Mntambo, executive director at the Tshwane Bus Service.
Mntambo told delegates at the seminar that the city would host what it termed “a car-free week” in support of efforts to decrease carbon emissions and congestion on the roads. This would take place during Transport Month in October.
This follows a similar initiative in 2016, where the city encouraged Tshwane citizens to leave their cars at home for the day.
“On the day people will be encouraged to leave their cars at home and walk or you can use public transport or cycle. We are still at the planning stage with regard to the car-free week, and we don’t have the results about the impact of last’s year campaign,” said Mtambo.
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