What Happened When They Banned Cars

[@CityBeautiful]

What's your favorite car-free street?

[@josepho3366]

I would say Faneuil Hall or Church street in Burlington, Vermont.

[@bearcb]

Cars were banned from the historical center of São Paulo decades ago. It doesn’t even have buses or trams, it’s just a network of pedestrian streets. Somewhat remarkable for a city so dependent on cars and plagued by bad traffic, with a nice subway, but too small for the size of the city (23 million). In Europe this is very common in small historical towns, but not so much in big ones.

[@singo7261]

would you make a video about Land Value Tax and it's effects on urban areas?

[@carfreeneoliberalgeorgisty5102]

Kensington Market neighbourhood in Toronto isn't car free but it's close and a very interesting neighbourhood

[@carfreeneoliberalgeorgisty5102]

You should make a video on urban cosmopolitanism and/or the role that urban economics/economic geography plays in cities and the wider national/international economy. There's a reason why there are a select few urban economic powerhouses around the world that are responsible for a disproportionate amount of GDP output in the world and why some cities have a disproportionate cultural influence.

[@UnbearableYT]

I wish people wouldn't be so opposed to car free centres.

[@stueyphone]

sadly cars are very deeply embedded in american culture

[@user-pn3im5sm7k]

I love cars

[@Cyrus992]

@@stueyphone Because of codes, loans and lobbyists

[@draglorr5578]

So do I. Can't stand driving and they are so dang dangerius.

[@draglorr5578]

@@filipzatka8212 ??

[@Diana-le7oh]

I remember biking on Market Street many times during rush hour before they removed cars and added better bike lanes it was so hectic and scary. I live a couple blocks off of Market Street now and whenever I walk down there its so much easier to get around there without a car now.

[@kentredwine9515]

And crossing it before recently was hell

[@ashishdev5151]

Me too. Just moved to West Soma. Two blocks from Market Street

[@PeterShipley1]

Nice to bicycle into the city from Oakland I would take the ferry, I quickly learned to stay with the "pack" for more safety when leaving the ferry building. The most dangerous thing about bicycling down market Street are the pedestrians stepping off the sidewalk 5ft in front of you. (That and the trolley tracks near 2nd Street)

[@KuK137]

Sadly, I can see them electing some insane R-thug who will rip out all the improvements, make it trucks rolling coal only, and ban the cyclists soon :(

[@Evanrholloway]

@@ashishdev5151 I used to work in SoMa. How is the area doing? Best wishes with the move :)

[@Msoxcookie]

I work in the financial district in San Francisco and I remember the city transiting banning cars on Market street. One day it was busy with traffic. The next day, it became very quiet on Market. Only buses and bikes were on the streets. It was strange at first but I gotten use to it. I feel safer walking across Market now without heavy traffic. So I think San Francisco made a good move.

[@jeffmorris5802]

Now if only it wasn't a massive dumpster-fire of a city. Baby steps I suppose.

[@meroinheroin]

​@@jeffmorris5802 wanna hear of a dumpster fire city? Check out Miami lol. Elephants have killed this state

[@blorblin]

​@@jeffmorris5802 austerity combined with late stage capitalism and entrenched neoliberal city council members = bad

[@St4rTr3v1Ut10n]

​@zorblin7190 "Late stage capitalism" has to be the most hilarious outing of people who have no clue what economics is. How many people flee the US for Venezuela every year?

[@meroinheroin]

@@St4rTr3v1Ut10n how many people in the US die every year from lack of healthcare?

[@joerobertson8034]

Have you ever thought about a series taking cities with massive transit problems and suggesting steps to make them more efficient and pedestrian friendly?

[@no.reply_]

Yes to this! And not just the usual cities everyone talks about, I'd be nice to hear about cities in Africa, Asia, South America because that's where the population will have the most growth so better, efficient cities are needed there the most but talked about the least, I'd love to see someone tackle Lagos, Kinshasa, Manilla, Jakarta, Dar el Salam

[@luis_zuniga]

This's a fantastic idea, hope it becomes a series

[@wclark3196]

I suspect, no matter the best of intentions, that would just result in all kinds of inappropriate conclusions. There are lessons to be learned from all over the world, but each city has many unique elements. You can't just drop a model from someplace quite different and expect it to work. We've seen that time and again, as cities bring in people from outside who get many things wrong.

[@stephenayeni992]

@victoria thats an excellent point!

[@pringles2702]

Would love this

[@CheapCharlieChronicles]

My favorite street in the world is called none other than "Walking Street" in Pattaya, Thailand. It's a one mile stretch full of nightclubs, bars, street food vendors cooking up food, people dancing and enjoying themselves and drinking beers on the streets purchased from 711, etc. During the daytime it is open to traffic but at night it's closed and it is full of people until 6 am, Also there is Khao San Road in Bangkok, very similar and is a hub of backpacker travelers. Right now both streets are a shell of their former selves due to the pandemic but they are fun places to hang out all night. In America there is Bourbon Street in New Orleans which is very similar to these streets. City streets are not meant to be places of just "transit" which seems to be the only consideration of urban planners, but can also be a place to enjoy ones self, to do business and commerce, to cook up food like a street barbecue, to play sports or exercise, to hang out, etc.

[@50733Blabla1337]

Favorite place Pattaya ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) well well well

[@HollisPresnell]

Sex tourists are insufferable.

[@undesignated3491]

It is the best place in the world its what you want it to be, Pattaya and Jomtien love ❤ em

[@AshLilburne]

@@HollisPresnell Nearly as insufferable as people who just think of Thailand as a brothel

[@AshLilburne]

Bangkok is definitely brilliant for this, the night markets are great.

[@Roque-Cachamuiña-gs1wd]

I live in a small provincial capital in the northwest of Spain, Pontevedra, Galicia. More than 20 years ago, a left-wing nationalist party won the mayoral elections. Its star proposal was to pedestrianize the city. At first, it had a lot of opposition from merchants to the neighbors themselves, who did not understand that it was possible to live without cars. Nowadays merchants are the greatest defenders of pedestrianization, the city has become a shopping place for all the surrounding areas, where before there were cars, now there are terraces, parks, people walking, the city has won some awards, the number of tourists has increased, perhaps more than would be advisable. The mayor remains the same and when people come from outside, they always ask how such a conservative city has a nationalist and left-wing mayor... the answer is people walking on the street, children playing in the squares, there are no cars, There is no noise and the only fumes there are in autumn and winter from the chestnut roasting stands.

[@dpsdps01]

You can show people thousands of these examples and they will still go "but that will NEVER work in [city]"

[@christurner6330]

@@dpsdps01 indeed, it's really sad. The mayors that oppose these ideas (who don't want to invest in pedestrianization either becasue they themselves don't believe it or want more money to invest into their own pockets or their own ego boost projects) successfully convince people that pedestrianization means that no one will be able to own and ride their own cars and that they will be forced to take public transportation among homeless people. And sadly, many people buy this.

[@ilmaio]

Yeah, better air quality because they use Uighur children to do house heating I suppose, or do you freeze in winter? No noise because your tramways use magnetic levitation, or because 10 billions of public money have been invested into a subway? To make pedestrian areas in the downtown is OK, especially in a small town. To ban the private cars from all urban area just destroys the city in short term. Leftist administrations always mean a flow of illegal immigration, crime, drug dealing, city invaded by cyclist lanes making impossible to park, business bankrupt, prices in the downtown skyrocket, population collapes, city collapse. Of course, leftist propaganda says the contrary. And that women have penises. And some believe it.

[@grumpoggo2636]

Hey, might move to spain when I’m older, what’s it like there? Are the people there nice?

[@Roque-Cachamuiña-gs1wd]

People are the same everywhere in the world, only circumstances change. If you live in a city designed for pedestrians, where social life takes place in the streets and squares, people will relate differently than if you live in a city built for cars and where to go buy bread, vegetables or You have to go to the post office by car. The climate also has its importance but I think it is not fundamental. I live in a city in the NW of Spain with a type of oceanic climate (Csb) and we spend more time on the street socializing than, for example, in cities in California with a less rainy Mediterranean climate. In the Nordic countries, when the good weather arrives, people go out to the parks, the terraces appear, the shopping streets fill up..., the cities and towns are designed for the enjoyment of their inhabitants, not for cars.​@@grumpoggo2636

[@AFAndersen]

Most, if not all, Norwegian cities have walking-only streets, where old streets have been turned into walking streets only. Often connected to a local farmer-marked area and/or outside the church/cathedral or other public areas. They're just called "gågate" which directly translates to "walking street". Even riding your bicycle there is illegal (but not enforced) since a bicycle is a vehicle. There are of course some exceptions like delivery vehicles are allowed in certain timezones (usually before stores open or after stores close), and emergency vehicles are allowed.

[@iQKyyR3K]

Fußgängerzone in German, pedestrian area. usually cafes with tables on the street, farmer's markets and a nice place to walk through.

[@randypeterson9761]

Same in Denmark gågade

[@Mgameing123]

in denmark in the big town we also have gågate well in danish gågade

[@fakedoorsfordinner1677]

In the Netherlands bikes are more important than people.

[@shadowcween7890]

@@fakedoorsfordinner1677 On the contrary, they changed the infrastructure to accommodate bicycles and pedestrians, which is caring about the people

[@neurofiedyamato8763]

One thing US streets lacking compared to ones in Europe and especially Asia is STREET VENDORS AND FOODS!!! There are some but no where enough, especially on these ex-arterial where it is super wide. Having more open-air shops and stores (no door or walls separating the sidewalk from the interior space) and more food carts or outdoor seating for restaurants would be a fantastic move. It creates a livelier atmosphere and encourage people to be outside in the public space enjoying the weather and not hidden inside buildings. This create a far more welcoming space. The example in Madison feels dead with the lack o people there. Of course denser housing would help, but you still need to create a lively street space. First step is banning cars, but that space still need to be filled with amenities.

[@cubeofcheese5574]

I grew up in a neighborhood (in the US) with a high Latino population so there are often elote carts. Something I dearly miss whenever I'm not in a neighborhood with a significant Latino population.

[@moosepasshippie]

All the brick and mortar establishments would be at city hall complaining about the street vendors are not paying their fair share in taxes. A vendor could set up shop outside a brick and mortar selling the same service/items. Brick and mortar cannot compete and closes down. That is a loss of revenue for the city and building owner. Some cities have areas where food trucks cannot park.

[@Mike__B]

@@moosepasshippie There tends to be rules involving street vendors, forget the exact wording but it has something to do with type of food sold and distance from a brick and mortar place selling food of that same type. Which is why setting up a hotdog/pretzel cart is largely ok because no one has a hot dog/pretzel store, but that food truck selling burritos can't park outside of a brick and mortar taqueria

[@rishabhanand4973]

it'll be much easier to do that with cars off the street. So hopefully, going forward, we'll get that

[@questioner1596]

In Madison and many northern American cities, winter would prevent open-air shops 6 months of the year. Who wants their plumbing to freeze because the front of the shop is open to -25°C?

[@shaunhall960]

I recall my grandmother talking about how nice the cable car system was when she lived in Denver back in the day. Now light-rail is here and moving about the city is a lot easier. I do think that how a city is layed out plays a huge part in how efficient a city can move people around.

[@tomrogue13]

Interestingly, during the pandemic, in Birmingham, MI (iirc. Maybe throughout Metro Detroit too) there was a temporary lift on selling/serving alcohol outdoors and some streets were closed to allow people to eat outside while socially distanced. When the spring and vaccine came and numbers started to come down, the city talked about restoring the streets to normal, but people and restaurants fought against it. I haven't seen how that turned out

[@TPrimeTommy]

Here in Ferndale, a few miles south on Woodward from Birmingham, many of the restaurants still have their outdoor seating areas (with igloos or tents and heating), and the 'social districts' are still in full effect across many Metro Detroit communities, even now in the cold of winter!

[@alexandergilbert1023]

Interesting!

[@Electracion]

In downtown Bay City, MI they have closed some of the side streets for restaurants as well. It's quite nice, though the traffic in surrounding areas is pretty awful still.

[@user-ed7et3pb4o]

Wait, there’s another Birmingham in the US? As someone who grew up in Birmingham, UK, the idea that more than one city is named after mine is kinda funny. Birmingham is the butt of every British joke.

[@tomrogue13]

@@user-ed7et3pb4o yup it's in Metro Detroit. Pop about 20k. Just looked it up

[@rorychivers8769]

8:12 It's easy to get the illusion that Europeans have some smug sense of superiority about their urban planning, but the reality is simply that since all our city layouts go back hundreds or thousands of years, trying to retrofit them with the American model of modernity and freedom based around the automobile, that was idolised by everyone back in the 50's simply didn't work, because it necessarily requires constantly sacrificing something, somewhere, somehow, adding an additional burden of compromise. The Netherlands was really the first European country to outright reject the changes that were happening, and gradually and grudgingly other countries and individual cities started to realise that they might be on to something, that people generally prefer to be in spaces where they feel they actually belong, and started to edge toward returning cities to how they always were before they were carved up. It sounds dumb when you spell it out like that, doesn't it. Like really, so dumb.

[@insooleedat1asiandude]

Y is it dumb u not spittin non💀😂

[@MrAronymous]

Netherlands being the first is a useless baseless claim. I like my country being praised in urban planning and transportation circles, but only when it's backed up by actual facts.

[@sperzieb00n]

@@MrAronymous its not baseless, activism from the 50's against problems caused by the car centric planning model actually led to reforms in the coming decade, and organisations like "ENBW (de fietsersbond)" who are still representing cycling interests to this day. So if not first, the Netherlands was definitely early.

[@karenwang313]

The thing is, Europeans DO have a smug sense of superiority about literally everything. You see it in everything that's critical of America, from politics to healthcare to science, all these Europeans coming out of the woodwork going like "In my country, we....". I know it's all born from insecurity about being completely irrelevant in everything that matters, but its still annoying.

[@randoguy7488]

@@karenwang313 Anime pfp = invalid opinion

[@colinc4002]

Market St is definitely improved without cars, and I can’t wait for the raised bike lanes. I’m also hoping the redesign includes smart signals - it’s very frustrating to see buses and light rail waiting for cross traffic.

[@KristenM613]

Wait there's going to be a raised bike path? I use this path weekly and because of the buses they have destroyed the asphalt and made it difficult to ride your bicycle in certain parts it's extremely bumpy.

[@ColinCulligan]

@@KristenM613the plan got shelved

[@KristenM613]

@@ColinCulligan that's so lame. Especially when it's such an excellent plan

[@atroyz]

Super video. I wish we had more pedestrian zones in the US. While I love your argument, your footage of State street in Madison looked like A post apocalyptic Ghost-town. I realize it was probably cold the day your shot it (and during a pandemic) but at least show some photos of the “bustling” pedestrian zone to convince people. Seeing is believing. Hopefully SF’s downtown revives after the pandemic and Market Street will be an inspiration to urban developers.

[@dinahmyte3749]

A lot of college towns look like that during a cold day, lol. I lived in Iowa City, with their ped mall, and the downtown is deserted during the winter breaks. It's busier during the summer and at night when the bars are allowed to sell liquor again. Combine that with holidays or longer breaks, and the campus areas are dead zones unless you work there or live off campus... I tell people, "expect the population to double when school starts again."

[@danielcarroll3358]

An IKEA and a Whole Foods will soon open on Market St.

[@soundscape26]

Yes, those Madison shots were not the best for the cause... it looked like a ghost town.

[@angels1167]

My thoughts exactly! 🤔

[@happyyorkie5252]

Yeah it definitely has more trafic in the summer also Covid-19 hit Madison it usually looks so much better

[@andrea-lz9sy]

They're proposing something similar in my neighbourhood in a Canadian city. Except they're doing it on the wrong street. Instead of banning cars on the main street, with street-fronting businesses and no driveways, they're proposing it a block over, where there are essentially no businesses and tons of residential driveways. SMH.

[@FlightRecorder1]

What city is this?

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

Maybe it will become the new main street? :)

[@andrea-lz9sy]

@@FlightRecorder1 kitchener

[@andrea-lz9sy]

@@thewhitefalcon8539 oh God I hope not

[@jsfyxzuf117]

Have you considered the effect of banning cars on the main street?

[@cat5636]

They did this in Brussels with the area around the Anspachlaan (near the historic city center). The mayor received death treats, was banned in some restaurants in the area and "the city would be doomed". Almost 10 years later it is the liviest area of Brussels...

[@trainzguy2472]

I think banning cars on Market Street is one of the best decisions SF has made in a while. Before that, I'd be waiting for my streetcar or bus to arrive and hated watching it get stuck behind traffic jams in the distance. Now, since it's all transit vehicles, that doesn't happen as much anymore. One improvement I'd like to see is the streetcar platforms widened. Right now they're really narrow and are jammed between two lanes of traffic. I hate standing there on a tiny concrete island while buses zoom past on either side of me. I suppose this could either be done by slightly widening the road surface near streetcar stops or entirely relocating the tracks to be closer to the curb.

[@johnathin0061892]

A better decision would be getting rid of the poop and needles all over the streets.

[@supykun]

@@johnathin0061892 What is this whataboutism you're pulling? Are you really that staunch with cars or you just taking a piss?

[@jjbarajas5341]

@@johnathin0061892 A better decision would be to get rid of single family zoning.

[@Curtistopsidae]

@@johnathin0061892 So then we must be in agreement that exclusive single-family zoning needs to go and that housing social programs need expansion to eliminate homelessness. Not sure how that fine thought is relevant to the video though

[@johnathin0061892]

@@Curtistopsidae San Fran needs more dense housing, but good luck getting the elite who run the town to agree to it. They are worried about spoiling the view and other such nonsense. Cutting off the incentives (generous welfare, social tolerance) for out of state homeless to migrate to California would help too.

[@--Paws--]

In my experience, when Times Square in NYC removed much of the car traffic, it made going to and from certain stores and locations in the area more enjoyable instead of being delayed by cars. Although cars still pass by the area it is not obstructing as before.

[@a-fox]

People just stopped going downtown because 1 there was no traffic allowed and 2 San Fran is a crime ridden, drug ridden cesspool.

[@ruufusdeleon1264]

As a car lover, I still have to admit your street and car vision feel calming and very attractive.

[@tsu08761e]

these sorts of changes mean that theres less traffic on the roads, so it actually can benefit car lovers too :D

[@mitchellnagy6667]

really hoping that our new mayor and his administration look at pedestrianization initiatives in downtown Pittsburgh

[@saqvobase4301]

Write 'em a letter

[@9HighFlyer9]

Walking through downtown Pittsburgh in January sounds fun.

[@coolboss999]

For what city? I'm confused

[@linuxman7777]

Pittsburgh already is very pedestrian friendly by US standards, The problem is that because of the Rivers and Hills there are so many chokepoints, and places that aren't viable to walk to, that transit is necessary. We should pedestrianize more spaces, but to compensate we need to increase street connectivity, or Pittsburgh's traffic will be even more unbearable, unfortunately geography isn't on our side, and connecting places often requires a Bridge, Tunnel, or both.

[@mitchellnagy6667]

@@9HighFlyer9 one of my favorite times to go for a walk in the city is during a snowfall. it's beautiful, the bars and storefronts are warm and inviting, people are out milling around, traffic is nonexistent or slowed to a crawl. It's amazing.

[@Ottiz_Killgor]

You neglect to mention that this ban went into place during covid lockdown and over half the storefronts on market street are now out of business and shuttered.

[@sheepketchup9059]

If the storefronts require people to walk in, banning cars wouldn't make it worse for small businesses.

[@weirdfish1216]

just give it a couple years, businesses will be back. like he said, it’s the opposite of induced demand so it’ll take some time for people to recognize and adapt to the new market street

[@dopaminedreams1122]

@@sheepketchup9059 the customers still have to make their way to the business tho, without cars you would absolutely lose customers who usually drove in from out of town or whatever

[@unconventionalideas5683]

@@dopaminedreams1122 These customers are almost always in the minority even in historic rural downtowns. In a place like Market Street they would have been almost zero even before the ban went into effect.

[@chaos0987654321]

​@@weirdfish1216 two more weeks?

[@MilesKubicki]

Wish you’d have shown some footage further West on State Street! The areas near the capitol suffered as a result of the pandemic as is seen in the video, but nearer the University, State Street is filled almost all the time all hours of the day with loads of people. There’s at least 6 legendary bars within like a block on Western State and the surrounding blocks.

[@mikesallaberry3718]

The footage of State St shows it as a desolate street with boarded up frontages. The images are not selling the idea at all.

[@newagain9964]

We don’t need more bars, beer gardens, Starbucks and “dispensaries” in society.

[@wwesuperstar1100]

Where exactly ?

[@ecoKady]

I went to school in Madison. It always struck me as so odd that State Street had so few vehicles, but I loved it. Not mentioned in the video is the prime student real estate above State St and just outside State St because of its walkability and access. The benefits extend a bit beyond the walkable street. They don't do much for bicycles as school is in session during relatively poor weather conditions for bikes. Pretty much foot traffic only.

[@discocorco]

Big thumbs down. Untrue. State Street is a major biking route. The city of Madison has over 200 miles of dedicated bike paths. You must have went to MATC or went to college during the 80's or early 90's. The city plows the dedicated bike paths during the winter and the weather is actually perfect year-round for biking. Downtown access is faster and more reliable on bicycle in Madison. The city has more bikes than cars. As I am typing this, the city currently building six more miles of dedicated bike paths along Lake Monona near Olbrich Park. Madison does more for bicycles than any city in the Midwest. At UW, school is actually only out of session during the coldest parts of December and January. Sorry guy, you don't know what you are talking about.

[@carsonwilliams]

If you don't live in Madison WI it's terrible don't move here. Let me buy a house first before the prices keep skyrocketing. Maybe after that you can move here.

[@markgiuliano548]

The new design for Market Street looks good. One issue that I haven't heard discussed is its overall width. It is a wide street that may need to introduce elements that create a sense of reduced flank and make it more visually welcoming to pedestrians.

[@unconventionalideas5683]

Width is not impossible. The city has done well with that already with the trees.

[@markgiuliano548]

@@unconventionalideas5683 Yes, great idea. Trees are an excellent way to create a sense of reduced flank. Not to mention how vital a good tree canopy is for cooling streets and improving the pedestrian experience.

[@angeldude101]

Yes. Always trees. More cities (and suburbs) need more trees. Unfortunately the take so long to grow so returning an urbanized forest back into something resembling more how it used to be would take a while. I've also heard that the roots from trees can actually cause problems with water lines and fire hydrants.

[@ethakis]

4:30 that is a pretty cool crest not gonna lie. One problem that I have with streets that ban cars is that in my city, we've done this on one street, we call it the landing. The landing is pretty awesome, but it's an island in an ocean of non walkable urbanism. No one lives close enough to be able to walk/bike to it. So it's effectively an outdoor mall.

[@Kikiplur11]

This!! These things need to come with more AFFORDABLE residential buildings and parking adequate parking spaces.

[@kzt396]

Yeah, that's the biggest problem I see. You can't just create an island and expect it to work. People need to actually be able to get there without cars for it to even be effective.

[@summbiene123]

I believe sufficient public transport could solve a problem like this? As shown in the video, many inner cities in Europe banned cars but there are lots of trams etc.. of course things are not perfect in Europe, too, since public transport (at least in Germany) is often quite expensive

[@Beni_777]

That is actually a pretty accurate way to look at things. I'm living in rural area, with no public transport. It's not a suburb, more like a few main-roads with gravel driveways up to the plot. It makes it pretty difficult for me if I'd want use any kind of public transport. It's pretty cool to see that cities have a few streets with banned cars, that sure makes a city much more livable and comfortable for the residents. But just like this video most youtube channels never mention the rural areas and how bad it is to live there without a car.

[@brucenadeau2172]

@@Kikiplur11 the people pushing this carless street are against cars so they do not want free easy park near them. they are out to get rid of all private cars. if you listen to the guying making this video and see the other videos he bad talks about private cars in his videos I would like to talk about having more roads with sidewalks that make it safe for people to walk but he does not feel safe if one private car used a road that he walks next to

[@replevideo6096]

What I saw were streets congested with public service vehicles instead of cars, and in other places streets with no traffic but also virtually no pedestrians either. They looked like ghost towns.

[@r2dad282]

SF now IS a ghost town. Retail downtown has closed, especially after the DA refused to prosecute criminals. No big conferences are being scheduled at Moscone because the crime and homeless problem is so bad. Oh well. Karma.

[@AnymMusic]

ghost town syndrome as I call it is more like a combination of issues that won't resolve just by removing cars. And the other streets? can you imagine how much worse it would be WITH personal vehicles mixed in?

[@lrvogt1257]

Decades ago Chicago banned cars but allowed buses on State St and business plummeted. "...many people felt that removing car traffic and widening the sidewalks made the street feel deserted and unsafe. During the seventeen years the mall was open, seven major department stores closed, including Montgomery Ward, Baskin, Wieboldts, Bond’s and Goldblatt’s." There's more to it but there's no guarantee of success.

[@rgonzalo511]

Look at Europe. Nothing will happen if you ban cars. Just have to improve public transit and start incorporating more biking. Watch how populated the streets will become.

[@leespence6885]

@@rgonzalo511 keep dreaming

[@alface935]

@@leespence6885 We will

[@CaptainAlliance]

@@rgonzalo511 You can't expect people who have gotten used to the luxury of having a car to suddenly open up to the idea of having to share a space on a crowded bus with complete and total strangers, then have to walk half an hour in a crowded downtown area.

[@sybsygstgstsgysg5330]

@@rgonzalo511 they already banned cars

[@julianjenkins5553]

It is interesting that you use George St in Sydney as an example. This has only recently changed from a congested street full of private cars to only having the tram and very limited car access.

[@andrew7955]

I think Swanstom St and Bourke St would have been better examples (not just for Melbourne supremacy...)

[@HenryMidfields]

@@andrew7955 As a Sydneysider, I kinda have to agree. Bicycles are banned outright on George Street. The problem is that that's the only really main north-south route from the inner suburbs from the south so you now have to take substantial detours around. Never understood why they didn't allow bike lanes...

[@Whatevsbabes]

Rundle Mall in Adelaide works well as pedestrian exclusive street.

[@jacktattersall9457]

​@@HenryMidfields Banning bikes? Seriously?

[@michaelhusada]

Swanston St in Melbourne had been like that since 1992.

[@TexMexTraveler]

Great video...., however, as a wheelchair user, we are often overlooked, even when planners thing they have looked out for us. Example. Here in Houston, a city street once had traffic and parking, and thus, every block had at least one handicap parking spot. Once the road was closed to traffic, planners never increased handicap spots on nearby streets or nearby parking lots. Now the wheelchair users that were parking in those on-street handicap spots are now fighting for spots on the existing nearby street and parking lot spots. The end result is wheelchair users like myself stop going to those places because the distance we have to roll from the spot we can eventually find to the "upgraded" street is just too much. Making sure curbs have cutouts and things like that don't help use access these new traffic free streets if we can't even get close enough to them to park and then use them. It's indirect and unintentional handicap discrimination. As more and more streets are converted, we have less and less places we can go out to to enjoy with out friends. It pushes us to the suburb traffic congested areas.

[@gobblox38]

Good point, we’ll have to consider such instances when designating pedestrian streets in the future and push for such improvements on existing pedestrian streets.

[@ReDFootY]

Here in Denmark to allow people good access to these kind of walking streets / shopping streets there are usually multiple multistorey car parks close by. In the city i live there are 3 main walking streets which are connected and there are 4 different multistorey car parks. One connected to a museum, two in connection with malls on the street and one in the middel of the street build underground. Changing the city infrastructure to have more walkability require quite a bit of auxiliary infrastructure.

[@Anonymous-df8it]

Again, just move your wheelchair (like you do in your house) to get to places. You don't need to drive everywhere, period.

[@TexMexTraveler]

@@Anonymous-df8it First, why are you anonymous? are you afraid of owning your comments? Second, as a quadriplegic (you may need to loo up what that actually means as oppose to your bias opinion), I am unable to push/roll more than 3 blocks without suffering substantial problems. Third, when's the last time you tried to go shopping and balance everything on your legs as you roll up and down ramps, bumpy sidewalks and bumpy curb-cutouts? I know, you'll say just put things in bags or boxes or baskets. Well it's not that simple. Bags, boxes and baskets fall off laps very easy even on smooth rolling surfaces. Most people who are paralyzed from a spinal cord injury have spasms which limit how far they can push/roll and those spasms would also knock anything in our laps to the ground. If you put a bag on the back of the wheelchair, many of use lack the range of motion and strength to reach the bag ourselves and if the bag is too heavy, it will affect the center of gravity of how the wheelchair is balanced. Fourth, you didn't even take the time to educate yourself about my disability and what it might be, you didn't reach out and ask me questions to educate yourself, you just "knew" anyone can do you whatever it is you think they should be able to do... and you do that being anonymous. I think there's a reason you make these kinds of comments being anonymous.

[@Anonymous-df8it]

@@TexMexTraveler If you are actually quadriplegic, you wouldn't even be able to type your troll comments. I support walkable cities, and you can't change my mind on that. If you want to live in a car-infested he11h01e, you do you, but don't call me when you get run over by a car.

[@georgeh6856]

One thing that made the Spui (downtown) area in the Netherlands where I lived much better was that car traffic on cross streets was not allowed downtown either. In fact, there were gate arms which protected the downtown area from cars. You needed a transmitter in vehicles like buses, taxis, delivery vehicles, etc. to even drive onto the protected roads downtown. Also, bike lanes in the Netherlands are almost always separated from the traffic lanes with a separate bike path in between the street and the sidewalk (not just painted lines) and is colored red. Everyone knows what it is.

[@TAP7a]

Not only can retail survive without cars, but retail thrives and literally does better without cars - turns out you’re more likely to spend money in a business if you can freely make the impulse choice to go inside on a whim and without friction rather than worrying about parking (no matter how convenient) and making a connecting trip on foot

[@ZiliMidori]

Maybe in some cases, but for me it means I am limited to whatever I can carry by myself on foot or on my bicycle. If I didn't bring several enormous bags and make a dedicated trip where I don't have to carry anything else, then I can't buy much.

[@greentree211]

as a sf driver myself....drivers get confused, drive in the bus/bike lane and then the busses honk at them and then the drivers do even more illegal stuff to get out of there fast.... i see this happen every day lol

[@intergalactic_butterfly]

I think that speaks more to the lack of driver education than the design of the street… the United States has a huge problem with driver education.

[@greentree211]

oh i completely agree.... i hope for more car free street, they really do make things go more smoothly.... but people are dumb...

[@extrastuff9463]

@@greentree211 There's a fairly profitable way to educate people quickly, in a city near me here in the Netherlands they changed a street over to only be for bicycles, buses and emergency services. Initially they had a pole that could lower and then would be raised again once the allowed vehicle had passed, but uh it got broken a few times in the process of wrecking some vehicles that tried to sneakily get in behind a bus or miss a very obvious pole sticking out in the middle of the road. Expensive and forcing detour routes so they eventually just settled for the clear signage they already had and a camera, combine that with number plate recognition and a few unwelcome things coming in the mail. Drivers caught on quickly quickly to avoid that street. It was cheaper for the municipality than repairing the pole that would occasionally get damaged in the process of breaking a car. However I do realise it might be a bit harder over there with such streets being more of a rarity inside cities, here it's kinda to be expected to find a few here and there in cities and to have to pay close attention to the signs.

[@brucenadeau2172]

th thing is they do not widen roads to add these bus and bike only lanes so mak more congesstion by squeezing cars into fwwer lanes

[@r2dad282]

SF drivers are terrible and dangerous. But anyone in CA with a pulse can now get a drivers license/"state ID" so there should be no surprises there. I would love to rewrite the DMV test to reflect real driving questions instead of " Is the speed limit 20 or 25 in a hospital zone?".

[@tylerkochman1007]

Was patiently waiting for you to mention Madison’s State Street, and was not disappointed. Just moved to Madison.

[@chrismatthews2040]

And that's the thing, isn't it? Nobody EVER says: "I wish we had the cars back. I miss them."

[@dennisclouser3458]

I'll bet the businesses do.

[@rchot84]

What lol

[@alexsmith854]

Only just discovered your channel but watched so many videos of yours the last few days I've lost count. I'm from the UK and I'm finding all of your content fascinating and informative. Car free streets, or pedestrianised streets as we call them, are a common thing over here so I've never really thought of of myself having a favourite as it's something we expect to see in our cities and town centres. I guess we take it for granted.

[@thebobthebobanite6287]

The broad walk on Hollywood beach in Hollywood Florida was a great experience. Sure, it was a tourist spot mostly. But it was such a great experience. If every city had dedicated strips like that where no cars were allowed (one running north south, and another east west) it would change things so much. Being able to walk or bike in an extremely busy city and actually enjoy it is an experience everyone should have.

[@queenbee4350]

Interesting to see how this works out for San Francisco. Chicago tried this in the 80's and early 90's along State Street and it was a disaster. It ended up hurting stores.

[@XDXMusic]

It's actually hurting stores here as well, and in many places. People don't want to walk on average more than a mile, or bike more than 3.

[@puppiekit]

@@XDXMusic welp nobody to blame but ourselves for that. Cities spent years building infrastructure around cars, making us grow accustomed to car travel, and now that they've realized it really isn't the best idea in the long-term theyre struggling 😭😭 Personally I hate driving so I would love to live in a pedestrian friendly area. My legs are strong af

[@puppiekit]

@@brucenadeau2172 Cars have more pros than cons. They are fast and good for long distance, but they are also big, expensive, and to be quiet frank, not the most eco friendly. Walking is free. Biking is free. A car is thousands of dollars. And then you have insurance, and gas, and repairs, and if you get into a crash that's even more insurance and repairs. It is NOT a good idea to make an entire country rely on an incredibly expensive machine, when in reality, a lot of the people in it CANNOT AFFORD said machine. Do you understand how terrifying it is to not ve able to afford a car in a country where you NEED one? Do you understand the feeling that comes with wrecking or losing your car, and desperately needing to get to work and feed your kids, but not being able to because it's 30 minutes away and your city has NO pedestrian friendly streets? No sidewalks, no busses? Fixing the problem is as simply as... you know.... building stores and entertainment within a walking distance of where people live. You can't refuse to build stores within a mile or two of a neighborhood and then complain that people aren't willing to walk 2 hours to reach it. Personally, I don't want to drive, and I don't want to waste millions of my hard earned money on a clunky machine, and I don't want to watch my country turn into a mass of concrete and cluttered parking spaces. It's ugly and it's miserable and it's depressing. How are people supposed to be able to go outside and have a good time of cities don't build sidewalks? If stores are an hour away? If parks are near nonexistent? How do you think that impacts the children and elderly, who cant drive or walk long distances? Do you just expect them to stay inside and be depressed for years upon years? Because surprise we don't have public transport, either.

[@puppiekit]

@@brucenadeau2172 like tbfh if you posess the inability to walk 10 minutes to a store because of the weather you are weak af

[@brucenadeau2172]

@@puppiekit i agree that we need sidewalk but that is not what this video is about is about closing road to cars to make everyone live like the video producer h may like to walk but not ever one like to walk or use crowded uncomfortable busses yes car are expansive but would they so expansive if popl did not use goverment to tell car companies how many mile per gallon of gas car had to get

[@200degrees]

I really enjoy seeing this, I love cars, race tracks, high hp and I celebrate car culture, but I walk to get groceries, am building an e-bike to get to work and love alternative transportation when it comes to utility tasks. To me, cars are toys to be enjoyed on road trips, out of cities and in motorsports events, but they are awful to use for mass transportation and in cities just because of how space inefficient they are. So I am all for cities finding better combinations of less traffic-filled streets making driving nicer, and less car-filled interior streets making being out of a car more enjoyable as well! Either way, great video! I greatly enjoy watching!

[@trevorlongman3783]

As a lifelong motorsports fan I've really grappled with how it conflicts with my fresh passion for good urban design. Cool to see someone else in the same boat as me.

[@200degrees]

@@trevorlongman3783 Nice! I'm also happy to hear I'm not alone in that thought aha And the other benefit i see is the more I don't have to rely on my car for practical purposes or getting to work then more interesting my car could be, since I don't rely on my cars on a daily basis, the only thing I had insured last summer was a 1992 VW Cabriolet, and I never worried because getting around wasn't dependant on the car.

[@Telesam]

Hit the nail right on the head here.

[@2trdmustanggtfordf1hdsgsfa80]

So, where and how do you celebrate your car culture?

[@nlpnt]

There would be fewer dull cars if driving almost everywhere wasn't such a requirement and driving wasn't a chore to be endured over roads that make it so. The stroad and the silver automatic CUV were made for each other.

[@travisihs08]

The issue with banning cars in the United States is the commute for anything. The closest grocery store from my house is 2 miles away. Riding a bike or walking there in our 115 degree summer time heat wouldn't be logical for health reasons and for our perishable foods that we buy. There's literally no bus stops within 4 miles from me (thank the HOA's for that). My elderly parents live nearby to me, so banning cars would make things like going to work or taking my parents to the doctors would turn into an all day affair, unless they moved across the street from there doctors office and I moved into the neighborhood of where I work. I can't afford a multi-million dollar home and my parents don't want to leave there neighborhood.

[@yannikhellmuth7165]

One thing is that we build tech dependent situations. Simply removing the tech - like the car - doesnt work. There are livestyle changes in some way or another needed. Besides from this: The video is about cities, american suburbs are its own fucked up thing

[@Wichamp59]

Thanks for shouting out my undergrad! State Street was such a cool place especially since Madison has amazing bike infrastructure. There were deals that local businesses would give you if you got a sticker on your helmet.

[@CruelViper88]

Speaking about trams...suddenly I'm curious about their evolution. How they are made, different technologies that made it fast, efficient, saftey and how/where they were applied or removed.

[@chasemartin4450]

Still blows my mind that we haven't implemented fully autonomous trams and railways yet. There are so many fewer things the vehicle can do that training AI to stop if something is in the way should be quite easy compared to a self-driving car.

[@PeteS_1994]

@@chasemartin4450 old infrastructure. Apparently it’s really hard to make some old infrastructure for metros autonomous and would take decades. Trains are meant to last about 40 years anyways. It’s new systems that are usually about to just be built with autonomy in mind. Another thing, I’m not an expert but we don’t usually see computers or ai highly functionally operating in the real world environment with all the 6 senses that we have to use so massive computing tech still has a way to go until it’s autonomous.

[@chasemartin4450]

@@PeteS_1994 Blame the difficulty of that conversion on bureaucracy, not technology. Three things are needed to create an autonomous metro system - digital interface to control the trains' functions (motors, brakes, doors, etc.), sensors and AI to detect track obstructions and equipment failures, and signaling / control systems to maintain schedules, blocking, and switching. Many automated metros currently in existence operate without the AI in fully grade-separated rights-of-way, in my opinion this is negligent engineering but it has worked for decades without significant safety issues. The biggest obstacle to creating AI for these tasks would likely be resistance from railroad engineers afraid of losing their jobs, as systems like Openpilot and Tesla Autopilot have shown that simply observing enough human operation of a vehicle can train an AI to operate it *very* well (the situations in which these systems work poorly are very rare in rail applications). Digital interfaces to control the trains themselves could be built for any electric trains in history by a handful of engineering interns in a few months - there is just not that much to control and off-the-shelf parts can be used for much of it (e.g., electronic metering valves for operating air brakes). CBTC signaling and control systems exist but have historically had problems, especially with radio connectivity in tunnels. There are cheap-and-dirty solutions to this which trade reliability for simplicity (which is not *necessarily* a problem if the track blocks are large in a low-capacity system) but reliable, affordable means of allowing a central control computer to communicate with trains need more development work. It's certainly a challenge but shouldn't take anywhere near several decades, at least if it's done by a for-profit company rather than an array of consultants for a public transit agency. Don't get me wrong - bureaucracy is a major problem (at least in the United States) which would need to be overcome for autonomous metros to become the norm. That said, I think it does the potential of these systems a disservice to assume that their lack of adoption is the result of technological challenges alone.

[@TropicApocalypse]

San Francisco has the J, K, L, M, N, and T trams, along with the historic F streetcar (with century-old rolling stock from cities around the US and the world). I used to wonder what had happened to all the other letters of the alphabet. Apparently, they were removed around the middle of the 20th century. That, I think, was a shortsighted mistake.

[@ColourfulErika]

During the Salt Lake City Olympics, they banned cars for like a 10-mike radius around downtown, where most of the festivities/medals ceremonies were. Instead, you drove to designated parking lots all around the perimeter. It did wonders for traffic. We went from downtown Park City to downtown Salt Lake in less than 20 minutes. It was unreal. Plus, the had senior citizens direct parking lot traffic, help us get to the right bus, and then give directions on the other side. The entire downtown became one big pedestrian plaza. It was wonderful.

[@RyanJacobs496]

The new light rail on George St, Sydney opened about a year before the pandemic. It initially had more sections open to cars. However, when the pandemic hit more sections were closed. These sections are now being permanently made pedestrian only. For example the traffic lanes between Bathurst and Liverpool St have now been removed and the footpath extended to the light rail. It used to be a traffic sewer clogged with slow moving buses. The change has been amazing.

[@VikingBoi88]

I agree. The vibe of the street has totally changed. From a noisy, smelly, overcrowded street to a very beautiful strip with wide footpaths and a very chilled vibe. Love walking past seeing all the people using the street furniture, watching the street artists/musicians entertain the masses.

[@brucenadeau2172]

slow-moving busses clogged the road not cars

[@MrBashem]

So buses are the problem now lol. Glad it cleared up for you but where did all those people go or were the buses usually running empty?

[@Philtration]

Market Street is now dead. Empty store fronts, restaurants and even entire buildings is what is left and it has become a haven for homeless people and drug addicts.

[@mikecrane2093]

I am disabled after a major stroke. While I can walk, slowly, but not very far before needing to sit and rest. Granted, I don't live in a big city but what these car-free streets are saying to me is "we don't want you". Banning cars is a good way to tell any disabled person "Go away, we don't want to see you on our perfect street." Sorry, city busses are not a good (or even useful in some cases) solution to the problem.

[@teylife7943]

Think about how a disabled person who does not have cars moves on a street congested by them, how he tries to cross a two-way highway or even a simple street, without wanting to fight, but you are not seeing from the perspective that has a car, but it has been shown that for people with low mobility who do not have a car, a street with cars is worse than without them

[@AFNick]

San Francisco also badly needs a more widespread subway system than BART and MUNI metro, The whole north side of the city is not connected.

[@lik7953]

I honestly think a nice tram network, like the one in Toronto or Melbourne could work quite nicely. It would also be substantially cheaper. SF is quite compact in the core of the city so you don’t need the speed of complete grade separations

[@jimzecca3961]

I'm no expert on San Francisco, but don't they have a lot of cable cars in the north end of the peninsula?

[@AFNick]

@@jimzecca3961 No. There's two north-south cable car paths in the city, but they are more for tourist than practical transportation.

[@chris8535]

Dude, I walk here every day and Market street has completely and utterly collapsed. There is no anyone there anymore, no cars, not people, no stores. Its completely and utterly dead. There are no lessons you can take from this -- SF is on the verge of a commercial real estate collapse that completely and utterly overshadows any of these conclusions.

[@clivegregory8511]

As a long term SF resident, city employee, working in Civic Center, a car-free Market Street is 💄on a 🐷! The decline, squalor, depravation prevails PRE pandemic over decades. Priority must be for effective solutions and programs by the HIC of social issues on its sidewalks and doorways moreso than speeding along Muni and bike traffic along its street for there ever to be a Better Market Street

[@garrettthefrank1903]

As someone who lives in the madison area I can confirm that driving in downtown madison sucks, so a lot of people just park in a lot, and then walk where they need to go. Everything around the capitol as well gets a lot more foot traffic as well as a result.

[@TDrake-iq6cp]

Why are there so few pedestrians in your videos of car-free streets in the US? Doesn't this undercut your argument a little?

[@MrRedpaul84]

Now if only SF can fix its homeless/drug/crime problem…

[@DEAR7340]

I don't think it's a simple fix. These days, the mentally ill are regarded as having rights of self determination. When I was young, the Reagan administration ended federal funding of treatment facilities for the mentally ill. The rationale, was that it wasn't a legitimate function of the federal government. The problem is that the private institutions, state & local governments, didn't pick up that expensive ball. Instead, they 'redefined" it as a non-problem.

[@r2dad282]

@@DEAR7340 ...and now the city of SF has encouraged homelessness, which is criminal. Why? Because if left on the street at least 75% of all homeless develop mental illness. Gav owns that. Difi and Pelosi own that. The past 20 years have turned SF into a flaming dumpster fire that is no surprise to anyone. The homeless have taken over downtown and aren't leaving. Once the software companies and developers leave, the tide goes out leaving all the rubbish behind.

[@sidneyadnopoz3427]

​@@DEAR7340 It's a very difficult thing. There is no clear line for when someone is crazy enough to be institutionalized, it's all hazy. At what point is it acceptable to deprive someone who isn't a criminal of their freedom? The state looks bad in this situation whether they are heavy handed or inactive, and I think most govs here in NA- liberal or conservative- just don't want to deal with it. The homeless make for a good talking point during an election too. If you actually find a long term solution, how are you going to criticize the other party's policies?

[@pleappleappleap]

They tried this with Main St., in Poughkeepsie, NY. It was an unmitigated disaster. All the stores closed and were replaced with drug dealers and prostitutes. After they reopened for cars, it is slowly recovering.

[@outmywritemind1739]

The same thing happened here when they turned the community center into a church. Funny how that happens

[@charlesnewborn3760]

i can guarantee there is absolutely no correlation between removing cars, and businesses booming. Thats some vivid stretch of the imagination.

[@cannibalia]

If there are more people walking on the sidewalks and passing in front of the store windows, it seems logical to me that the stores have more customers

[@charlesnewborn3760]

@@cannibalia where did these people magically come from? MORE people because all of a sudden theyre not in a car? like really bro? the people that are walking around would be there anyways regardless of whether cars are removed or not. Weirdo

[@cannibalia]

@@charlesnewborn3760 But when you're in a car, you don't stop in the middle of the road to buy something in a store and you usually don't have time to look in the window. When you're on foot, it's not uncommon to stop and look at the items in a store, or even go in and buy some

[@starandfox601]

@@cannibalia most of those places closed down cause no one was walking there. also when in a car you normally pull over to buy something or you drive to that place to get a quick bite during lunch.

[@cannibalia]

@@starandfox601 Those places shut down because of covid, not because of cars banning

[@MrOiram46]

My biggest gripe with this no car thing is that you can’t bring as much groceries or items with you in general by walking/using public transportation/cycling. With a personal car, you can bring much more items with you as long as it fits inside, and you won’t have to go out for groceries as often. And there is also the luxury of personal ac, definitely beats having to be exposed to hot and cold temperatures, or having to share the ac of public transport with some random sweaty or sick passengers of whom you don’t know.

[@sunshineimperials1600]

On Internet forums people post things akin to “I rode with my groceries on the back of my bicycle” acting like the average person would do that every day. In non-urban areas, most Americans buy in bulk, which is why stores such as Walmart and Costco succeed in suburban and sometimes rural areas.

[@remo27]

Don't forget the public safety implications as well. These cities tend to be lawless hellholes because of 'woke' law enforcement. I live in Baltimore so I know, and I've been assaulted on more than one occasion either waiting for a bus or riding mass transit.

[@ProvenScroll]

@@remo27 So would cities like this be fine if they weren't liberal? Because conservative cities have walkable downtowns as well.

[@dudeman4184]

@@sunshineimperials1600 people buy in bulk because they're forced to. Everyone in suburban/rural areas are forced to drive.

[@plem7210]

@@dudeman4184 People buy in bulk because it is cheaper. Buy one bottle of soda or beer instead of a case. The one bottle will cost you more.

[@toddmoreno117]

For years I had an office in the Financial District. I used to drive into the City, where I would park, eat and shop. Since the local politicians bowed down to the bike lobby and declared war on cars, however, I don't both with any of it. And I am not alone. You commented that side streets did not get congested as a result of the car bans, without acknowledging that fewer people have been going into the City, and this is not just because of Covid and the work-from-home trend. Still, congratulations on reducing the number of people driving into the City by making it such a hassle. I am sure that all of the local businesses that have closed thank you for needlessly making their situation that much more difficult. Now we'll see how the City does with all the lost sales tax revenue (and real estate tax revenue, from commercial buildings that have plummeted in value because of vacancies).

[@RMTransit]

This video was awesome! George Street is Sydney is such and excellent example!

[@sfdatman8097]

I bet you this guy doesn't even live in San Francisco

[@chrisbrown-jw4ce]

You can have streets with no cars or reduced cars and why they cant remove a lane or two of traffic and replace with bus only on all major roads particularly in dense urban areas is beyond me.

[@epoc162]

Boston tried shifting to this but what it accomplished was more traffic on other roads, a total decline in commercial earning, and basically just making everyone in the area angry. Big difference in the size and layout of Boston is very unique. They settled on going from a 4 lane, 2 way road to a 2 lane car, 2 lane bus in some areas and the commercial industry in those areas is just dead.

[@happipandas]

im so sick of cars i almost got hit outside my school WHILE I WAS ON THE CROSSWALK

[@iovoslaviovchev7979]

The issue isn't that this is one great pedestrian car-free street, it's that all the rest aren't. Municipalities can ban cars in the busiest street and boast about it but this doesn't solve the public transport/walkability in the rest of the city, it's always just a publicity stunt

[@karlsussan8454]

I live in SF over by the ballpark and work in the Financial District "FIDI". Market Street, at least in the downtown, is full of closed stores due to shoplifting (CVS, 7-11s, and a lot of convenience stores except Amazon have closed down) and has been filled with homeless people who occasionally harass pedestrians or just go crazy on the street. I don't think Market will become a Champs-Elysees anytime soon until they fix those problems. Same with the Embarcadero. SF needs to fix its homeless issue before it can fix Market.

[@karlsussan8454]

@Nurpur Jatt easier said than done haha. you probably don't live anywhere near here so you don't know about the homeless industrial complex. Lots of people get a lot of money by keeping the homeless problem alive. Non-profits are really powerful in the city and get their funding and thus keep their relevance by keeping the situation this dire. SF has a really strong democratic party machine that makes it impossible to run for office unless you suck up to those interests that want to keep the homeless situation the way it is or are well integrated into the democratic party of SF. One doesn't just run for office or they get buried by the machine.

[@clivegregory8511]

@@karlsussan8454 As an SF resident I understand this all too well (Look at the careers, salaries, offices of the HIC). To us it's at best frustrating, at worst outright tragic yet incomprehensible to outsiders

[@peege9000]

University Ave in Madison is also an interesting case study. Cars are still allowed (westbound only) but there are separate lanes for bikes and buses.

[@Dark_Peace]

Wanna know what happens ? Death of small shops. Marginalisation of old people. - someone living in Brussels

[@HatsuneTku]

Seems like a good idea for San Francisco, unfortunately it's already San Francisco.

[@CityPlannerPlays]

That's State Street here in Madison! 😀

[@amarnathk9398]

i was looking for your comment on this one!

[@aresivrc1800]

It is pretty well established that removing cars from parts of the city center is beneficial. Most customers are willing to park somewhere else and walk the remaining distance. The one million dollar question is, if a car free areas grows in size, will it reach a size that makes it unattractive for outside shoppers to go there and if yes, can it survive from just the shoppers inside walking distance? To make matters more interesting, where people go to shop is also based on age. Many older people are so used to going shopping in the city center, that they will continue to do that even when parking fees and parking effort would make buying online a clearly superior choice. Younger demographics however may be so used to online shopping that they potentially could have a far lower tolerance for spending additional time and money going to the city center. It is going to be very interesting of how things will end up in a few decades. Personally I think that most local shops will not survive because online shopping is just plain superior in so many ways.

[@Yura135]

You should really be more careful about what you highlight as a "success". Market street is half abandoned, rapidly heading toward completely abandoned. It's basically a place to avoid in the downtown stretch, and only livens up once it heads into the Castro, where cars are allowed. Not sure what that proves other than that banning cars isn't a magic solution to every problem, and that SF downtown has many problems.

[@DS-lk3tx]

These types of people will let their ideology and hatred for others, guide them towards these hostile government enforced ideas. All from the safety of the Netherlands. 😂😂

[@user-hm5zb1qn6g]

They should be more worried getting rid of p--p on the streets of San Francisco and less about getting rid of cars.

[@MoolbniBrie]

3:30 Bulbasaur is an Urban Street and a Suburban Stroad is a Koffing or a weezing. Now you don't have to make cute bulbasaur a symbol of bad planning.

[@luvzfrance24]

I hate the ban on cars on Market St. It's an inconvenience getting to certain freeway entrances. No one has been driving to SF in droves since the pandemic. Another annoying thing is that SF has cameras in place on Market to give cars tickets if found driving there.

[@fastertrackcreative]

Due to pandemic the high street in the next town over from me was temporarily made car-free to better allow social distancing. Sadly this was later reverted but when it was car-free it felt so freeing to be able to safely walk back and forth on a wide area without having to wait to cross or be jammed onto the pavement (sidewalk).

[@MithrandilPlays]

this isn't car-free, but Davis, CA is a bike-first city, and its great

[@michaelcobbin]

Sydney has banned cars from its busiest and original high street, George Street. George Street is a 3-kilometre/1.9-mile road that runs right through the Sydney CBD. The new Sydney Light Rail allowed Sydney almost completely to remove vehicles from this street. During construction of the light rail works, Sydney pedestrianised a critical section of George Street. The southern end of the road remained open to vehicles, but there was no traffic. So in May 2020, the City of Sydney proposed to convert the southern end of George Street into a pedestrian-only boulevard. The result is that Sydney now has a world-class boulevard; it attracts tourists and shoppers and is a great place to relax. Sydney is now doing a similar scenario in its second CBD, Parramatta. The new Parramatta Light Rail is currently being constructed, and a major section will be car-free once construction is finished. Sydney's third CBD, North Sydney, is turning a key road into a car-free as part of a new Metro line rollout. Sydney is turning into a poly city with mini-CBDs scattered around its vast train/metro network. Most of these mini-CBDs want to turn a significant street into a car-free zone. The NSW State government encourages every local government authority in NSW to turn a road/street into a car-free zone and will help fund the project. Residents have been some pushback, but these car-free zones are getting approved.

[@Matthew_RN_]

Love love that you highlighted Madison... Growing up in the midwest (Michigan), I always enjoyed visiting Madison and the ease and beauty of the lay out of downtown, capital, and UW areas. Hope you enjoy a weekend summer evening with a beer at UW Union on the lake with live music someday, if you haven't already!

[@Sylpharts]

I sincerely think the solution to urban traffic is improving public transportation (trains, buses, etc.) and getting cars off the roads in busy areas. It would be nice if you could go from one end of a city to another without stopping every block to wait for the cars and smell the exhaust. It would also allow for more public spaces, and areas to walk.

[@TheTrueAdept]

That won't work because the cities aren't dense enough. Quite literally. I've read somewhere that, in order to maintain a modern standard of living _with_ viable mass transit, you'll need some 2,000 people _per square mile_ at the minimum. Good luck getting that outside of the megacities...

[@ashkaunadib7638]

3:29 The metaphor does work. Bulbasaurs are Urban Streets. Suburban Arterials are Team Rocket

[@Wuddleboo]

I love living in the Netherlands where car free zones are more than normal. It’s so lively and safe!

[@meikahidenori]

In Melbourne Australia we have the Burke Street mall. It's one of our cities most iconic shopping strips. That an Swanston street is also pedestrian only and a few more have been proposed to limit dangerous traffic and pedestrian related accidents.

[@Theyorkshirepirlo]

I live in a city without good public transport links, the local government has banned cars from the centre. I have dealt with it by not going to the city anymore.I just buy everything online instead, it’s cheaper and I have more choice. The city centre is full of closed shops nowadays but there aren’t any cars left to deal with.

[@Foofrarf23]

San fran has been in serious decline over the years and this was the final nail in the coffin. Went here back in 05 and the difference is night and day.

[@bluepearlgirl-emelie]

Market street was built to accommodate both cars, pedestrians, bikes and buses. The reason they made it car free was because MUNI can never get their act together and instead of fixing MUNI, they just decided to give them 1/4 of the city streets. And they STILL are not on time! And i beg to differ about it not hurting businesses on Market st. and it not putting more traffic in off streets. Now days all in all downtown is a nightmare to have to deal with no matter what mode of transportation you are trying to use due to the entire area being congested and generally a mess. The blocks on Market are extremely long as well which pretty much eliminates them to be used by the disabled or elderly due to the long long walk it takes just to get to Market St. from being dropped off in a car. No one ever talks about this issue. But the city is not being scored on how well the residents like these changes, only how efficient MUNI tries to be and how much tourist revenue they can make. This city used to be such a great little city. The last 20 years decisions have been made to the detriment of the town if you ask me. The city gets more and more expensive and less and less livable. It sucks!

[@richardscathouse]

Someone who knows

[@einzeller85]

man. who would have thought that a street gets less busy when you just ban the most prevalent mode of transportation on that steet xD

[@JohnHaroldjr]

I just read about all the empty buildings on Market St. now that there is no traffic. It. doesn't work. I don't care what you say.

[@alangeerts9124]

this guy has never been outside the US

[@Adrian-mq5ld]

@@alangeerts9124 you've never been outside US.

[@OzSkitzo]

it killed George St in Sydney alot of the busnesses had to close due to the lack of foot traffic

[@ARKGAMING]

"Why are you still thinking about Bulbasaur?" "HE'S THE CUTEST OF THEM ALL!"

[@fl2660]

There are many videos that show all the "benefits" of public transportation banning individual transport, the "benefits"s of packing people into multi-dwelling structures and berating the desire of people for personal home ownership. Then along comes a pandemic and they all suddenly shut up. Lesson of the story? Being able to get away from everyone is not a bad thing.

[@DivergentDroid]

Restricting cars in a small area such a few bocks that surround a Capitol building and such is one thing.. but banning individual transport altogether is Tyranny with a capitol T. That's restriction of an individuals freedom on Gods green Earth - you might as well simply tell the citizens you are all slaves and you have no rights and we are your masters. We shouldn't let them cram us into cities where they have more control over us. If you want to leave wherever you are, you should be free to do so.

[@JordanLedbetter]

Lol, which pandemic did you live through?

[@jocketf3083]

Yeah, we definitely need great bike infrastructure too!

[@legolas66106]

Those suburbs, with all that space, really stopped Covid in its track in the US, eh. But yeah, you guys can keep those suburb wastelands.

[@Rockport1911]

Do it like Amsterdam, seperate streets for walking, biking, driving and public transport. A layout like Barcelonas Superblocks could also be an option. But Banning cars if people need them will never be accepted. Smaller cities in my area often have the problem that town centers dont have alot of shops left because everybody buys online. So they want a nice quit street but also need those last customers that have to travel in by car and want to park near the shops. If the street " needs" cars its hard to ban them.

[@bengermin3104]

that's where public transport comes into place. I'm sure paying for transport is cheaper overall than maintaining a vehicle and refueling it for its whole lifetime

[@andygmiers]

Great video, thank you. I’m glad you mentioned George St, Sydney (where I live). It would be worth a whole episode (unless you do already?). The transformation of George St has been truly remarkable and it’s a genuinely enjoyable and beautiful street now.

[@8Trails50]

I lived in San Francisco for 5 years until the pandemic. I never recall the Market being overly busy unless it was early morning. At night, it was pretty empty. I do remember however, past 4th street it became a homeless filled, pee smelling mess. I tried to avoid walking past 4th as much as I could down market.

[@r2dad282]

You're not missing much. Now the tenderloin has enveloped market, south of market. This video claims that a less-dense market street is a good thing. All that's occurred is the hobos have taken over Market. People don't go downtown now as it's not safe.

[@aliquewilliams3080]

@@r2dad282 Bingo! The car ban led to a substantial decrease in economic activity on the street overall. There was less congestion in adjacent roads because there were simply less people traversing the area, other than the homeless.

[@skygge1006]

@@aliquewilliams3080 car bans can be good if done right and clearly whatever happened in San Francisco didn’t go right although it is California so I’m not surprised.

[@The-San-Francisco-Treat]

Why does everything Sf related always have to come back to the homeless issue? come on people theres more to the city than that issue💀

[@Sater109]

It sadly doesn't work out everywhere. I live in small town/village in Europe few years years ago they made major and sadly unfortunate changes in street designs around town center including banning private cars from several major streets leading straight to town center (as well as banning the cars from entering city center). One of the affected streets was old town "business hub" ware major shops and restaurants ware. There is bus lane going through that street but apparently it wasn't enough because the immediate effect of change was that all the businesses on that street pretty much imminently started to struggle financially.... but well big ass mall with huge parking space few streets down was happy they got like twice the amount of customers they had before. Though to be honest The mall was driving away the customers from those businesses before so i guess that traffic changes ware pretty much just the last nail in the coffin.... but i find it sad to be honest. It was a lovely street now its like a ghost town. Sadly that street is still closed and few businesses including my favorite cafe bar went under.....

[@univon4892]

This ^^

[@MrAbrahamleon]

I can't be sure but I think the guy in the video is being a little misleading about the consequences of banning cars on these streets too.

[@benkayvfalsifier3817]

That makes sense. Big corporations easily thrive when small businesses are made to suffer.

[@AmandaHugandKiss411]

We attempted this in a major city in Alberta, Canada. They hacked up our transit system trying to push for a walk through downtown and to get us to use tge LRT. Downtown is a ghost town. The elderly, disabled, students and single moms/young families use the transit system. But the made it next to impossible to access transit unless you HAD a car and did the park and ride thing. Also, what about large purchases, too small to deliver, to large to take on the transit and LRT. They put in fancy designated bike lanes on the parallel streets from the major routes. All fancy with dividers and other special infrastructure about around 2015 at the cost of millions. Now they are spending millions to remove 90% of the bike lanes. Why? do you ask... We Live In Northern Alberta!!! Freezing winters with unpredictable snow storms, freezing rain spring and fall, and hot summers with fast-moving thunderstorms with hail. In order to use out transit whether by bus, LRT or both, you need a car to get to the transit centers!!! As I said, downtown shops, malls, restaurants died out. Next the malls died out because if you don't own a car, then it is huge pain to coordinate the busses Plus, you can only carry so much at a time. Then there are ALL of the people who live in rural or small cities/towns. None have transit. Way back there where highway busses like Greyhound and Greygoose. But in time they started closing post offices in smaller towns and Greyhound/Greygoose stop going into the smaller towns. They also ripped out tonnes of railway track and except for vacation packages, passenger train travel doesn't exist in most areas anymore. Our economy sucks, we can't afford our car insurance or gas. We can't afford to go to the deep suburb big box stores for cheap groceries. I would loved to have seen a new model for traffic but it is built on a model that assumes everyone works in the areas the directly live. This isn't the case. Most people work in industrial parks on the edge of the city or in offices and businesses scattered throughout the city. Work is hard to find, but it is even harder to find ,if you literally have no way to get there. Many European cities developed much different than cities and towns in North America. I am all for change, positive change, but impractical change that just adds a whole new level of obstacles in a shitty economy in a country with shitty weather and a government that is going to put the cost burden on us for impractical infrastructure. No way. People are sick and tired of struggling , in survival mode and being asked to bicycle everywhere or walk. FYI I did do that into my mid 30s...I am 43 and my joints are shot from riding back and forth in freezing temperatures. It wreaks your health. And then how are you doing to get around?

[@noremfor]

I work in San Francisco, and using street level public transportation on Market Street feels swift and efficient. For some reason however my coworkers seem to be opposed to the idea. Theyre saying it could potentially spread to other areas and ruin traffic flow. I see what they mean but at the same time i think its a good change for the city

[@lewis7315]

when they ban cars lots of customers take their business elsewhere... main street businesses have also had a decline in business due to malls...

[@alexandr.stolpovskych]

I feel sad for Americans and they poorly designed cities that prioritize cars. Keep fighting and showing these good examples.

[@rchot84]

We love it though.

[@Iquey]

The overhead view at 8:00 is "chef kiss* ! Love the curbed bike lane at the very least. Treat bike riders as equals and more people will bike.

[@maxpowr90]

They're starting to do this in Boston now as well, with the North End as a test subject. Those straights are so narrow that they honestly shouldn't have cars on them.

[@enjoyslearningandtravel7957]

I completely agree about Boston. In the summer at least during this virus time they allowed some of the restaurants in the north end to have outdoor tables on the streets. The Italian Cafés even put flowers around the border and it looked like it was in Europe instead. It’s so nice to stroll by and see that.

[@PhilomathWizard]

This might be a bit controversial but I think that it’s good that we have places that cars aren’t endorsed and places where cars are. Life isn’t the same for everyone.

[@thecluckster3908]

I whole heartedly disagree, in most car centric places, it sucks going in anything that isn’t a car, and in places where they aren’t the main focus, it usually doesn’t suck, it’s actually sometimes better.

[@diederikgeertzen9469]

Coming from the netherlands, this still looks so absurd. We have tons of pedestrian streets, and those are really, really busy. We started the transition in the 70s, and it has really paid off.

[@KJSvitko]

Transportation planners need to see what is possible. Too many older planners were never taught about more than design for cars, trucks and delivery vehicles. Today walking, bicycles, escooters, outside dining and street parks all need to be included in new designs. People need to contact their local transportation planners and elected officials and let them know that streets need to have multiple mobility options.

[@HexAF8B9]

Never realized that having a walkable Street is something special. Even in my Mid-Sized Town that was the Norm, nothing unusual.

[@crissto8591]

they tried it in Montreal too. Filled downtown with bike lanes and closed important arteries during summer. It's amazing, now people just stay in their own area instead of bothering to drive downtown.

[@JacquesPPage]

Pedestrian street are all resounding successes. Store owners who opposed it in the beginning are now strongly supporting it, same with the 'Réseau Express Vélo' on St-Denis Street.

[@crissto8591]

@@JacquesPPage sure for anybody living next to a metro station, but they will nevef buy as much as people with a car

[@JacquesPPage]

I fail to grasp the relevance of your response, since you don't even begin to address the apparent contradiction between your perception and the facts. The fact that merchants increasingly support pedestrian streets is certainly a good indicator of the success, contrary to your perception.

[@crissto8591]

@@JacquesPPage look our metro has coverage of about 30% of the island, meaning that my original point, which you didn't even address stands. Now, nobody else can go because, even if parking was already terrible, now there's absolutely no way they'll find a place. Perhaps the, still existing, stores are benefiting more from the lack of competition from all the closed placed and not as much from increased traffic thanks to the pedestrian streets

[@JacquesPPage]

@@crissto8591 Point is you fail to recognize that the merchants actually support the kind of measures that are described in the video. You apparently try to attribute it to some other reasons than the increased attendance by people. I gather that you equate a livable city with available parking. That is just not sustainable in the modern world. Chronic trafic jams are the proof that solo car is not sustainable.