Car-free Day Brussels-style

A car-free Chaussée de Waterloo on 22 September 2024

Car-free Day, 2024. I'm in Brussels, and for the first time I'm witnessing what a real car-free day looks like in a major city. 

Brussels gets it right. From 9:30 am till 7 pm, Private cars are not allowed drive on city streets in the entire Brussels Region, including the City of Brussels. The equivalent in Dublin would be taking the full city council area between Ballymun and Booterstown, and saying cars aren't allowed drive there for one day a year. Unthinkable? It depends on the extent of our ambition, but in Brussels it happens, and it works. And that city is certainly no car-free paradise, though they have introduced a low-emission zone, and you can even get a free public transport bonus of up to €1,050 if you scrap an older polluting car.  However on car-free Sunday families, older people, skaters, cyclists, skateboarders and walkers make the streets their own. 

The weather today was overcast today , but by Irish standards it was a balmy 20°C and people were enjoying the late September warmth as they walked down the centre of what are normally busy arterial roads, or stopped to browse at food stalls and flea-markets set-up in streets that are normally packed full of cars.

For me the silence, the clean air and the sight of children taking over the road was a revelation. It showed me that even in the heart of a metropolitan region it is possible on one day a year to tackle the domination of car traffic and emissions. "But what about carers, what about emergencies?" I hear you say. Well, public transport continues to run, and is more dependable, and I suspect much faster when trams and buses aren't stuck behind rows of cars in traffic. And yes, taxis are allowed, as well as emergency service vehicles, and I did see the occasional car moving slowly along calm and quiet streets. The city's website says that "only urgent services, vehicles of public interest and persons with a pass can circulate in the zones where car traffic is forbidden" so it is clear that sensible exemptions are allowed.

Back in Dublin the two-hundred metre long stretch of Customs House Quay between Butt Bridge and Matt Talbot Bridge will be car-free. Two cheers I guess. Could we be more ambitious? Of course we could, but I suspect there just isn't the political will to deliver. It does make for a remarkable contrast. In Brussels an area measuring five kilometres square will be without cars, that's ambition made real. "But the public transport!" Sure, Brussels has a good offering for those who travel by bus, tram and train. Services continue to improve, and as it happens the new number 10 tram route was inaugurated yesterday by the King. 

A dog enjoying the car-free Chaussée de Waterloo on 22 September 2024

 

We can, and should raise our ambition and even consider taking cars out of the section between the North Circular and South Circular Roads in Dublin's inner city for ten hours on just on one day a year. Years ago I remember suggesting to the then City Manager Owen Keegan that we should do more, but his response was that we needed to be more ambitious for more car-free areas and better public transport 365 days a year, not just for one day, and he had a point. However, having experienced the transformative change that Brussels undergoes once a year it shows what could be done if the will was there. The kids that I saw on the streets today were experiencing a freedom that has been unimaginable for generations of Irish children. They even had a 'Kidical Mass' event; as they often do, a huge bike-ride specially for for children in the Bois de la Cambre, the equivalent of the Phoenix park in Dublin. Over the years children have lost much of their independent spatial mobility, and the car-free day allows them, albeit briefly to regain some of that lost freedom.

In Belgium they have strong Regional and Local Government that makes it easier for these type of happenings to be proposed and implemented. I can't imagine Transport Infrastructure Ireland or the National Transport Authority making such a proposal, and we have devolved transport and mobility issues to too many agencies over the years. We need to empower local government with the powers to more easily propose and implement these type of imaginative events. Putting in place a directly-elected mayor for Dublin would be a step towards achieving this. 

A Belgium supermarket celebrates car-free day

Here in Belgium the annual Car-Free Day has been normalised, and even my local Carrefour (The Tesco equivalent) offers you a free gift to mark the day. The event is supported by people in all walks of life, and even though I'm not a great fan of monarchs, it was interesting that the Belgian King Philippe and his 16-year-old daughter took to their bikes in Mechelen on the occasion of Car-Free Sunday, without a trace of high-viz in sight. If you search for the #JournéeSansVoiture hashtag you'll get a feel for how the car-free day has panned out across Belgium. 

 Election Posters on display in Ixelles, Belgium

 

I met a pal for a drink on the place Fernand Cocq in the centre of Ixelles. Local elections will be held on 13th October, and instead of posters taking over the streets there are selected squares where the municipality erects boards for political parties to paste up posters with their candidates' photos and a few words. It seems like a decent alternative to plastering posters on every lamp-post as we do in Ireland. Interestingly the large posters are protected with a layer of chicken wire to deter graffiti artists from leaving their mark.

Today marks exactly twenty years since I first took to blogging my journey in politics. Back then I was similarly upset that we weren't making the most of European Mobility Week in Dublin. I might say 'plus ça change' but actually there have been many positive changes in my home city. Even though cars have got larger, road deaths have halved, but perhaps this has been at the expense of a loss of our outdoor freedom. In Brussels 'Heroes for Zeroes' and other groups are doing good work to tackle the carnage on the roads. The European Transport Safety Council work lobbies hard for legislative change to make our roads safer. We certainly need to restrict the growth in supersized cars that we've witnessed in recent years. Perhaps in twenty years time we'll have a more ambitious car-free Day in Dublin, who knows? Ultimately it depends on political will. On va voir.

360 kg of CO2

Brussels, Tuesday morning.

I'm at an Inter Parliamentary Meeting on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency hosted by EUFORES, a non-profit organization aimed at promoting Renewable Energy Sources. I took the high-carbon route this time (offsetting via MyClimate.Org), as I was locked into our Parliamentary Party Meeting in the Royal Marine in Dún Laoghaire until 4 pm yesterday afternoon.

A delayed Aer Lingus flight got me into Brussels by 10pm, allowing us to catch a bit of grub thanks to Brian Crowley MEP at the Toucan. Eoin Ryan MEP and Liam Aylward MEP were there, along with a delegation of Deputies and Senators from the European Scrutiny Committee. Liam was voicing concerns about increased targets for biofuels, unless there are sufficient safeguards put in place, to make sure they don't increase fossil fuel use through fertiliser use. He was also lamenting the fact that someone nicked all the low energy lighbulbs from his house recently and replaced them with traditional bulbs. Well, I'd imagine that Joanna Tuffy is above suspicion.

The Conference concentrated on National Energy Efficiency Action Plans. I'm not sure if Ireland's has been formally published yet, but it's available on the Europa website here. Apparently only nine of the twenty seven member states had theirs published by the middle of last year.

Mechtild Rothe MEP opened up proceedings and pointed to problems arising from different regulatory environments in different countries. She stated that over €3Bn has been invested in renewables in Europe. She feels that 30% energy savings are possible without changes in living standards. She said it’s not about chunky pullovers, which went down well as we sweltered in an-over-heated conference hall.

Claude Turmes, a Green MEP from Luxembourg is a power-house of ideas and knowledge, but I would say that, wouldn't I? He talks about how six solar concentrated power plans are now being built in Spain with great interest in that sector, though not in Ireland, I'd imagine. He says grid software is improving, allowing for decentralized power grids. In the world of renewables, Californian venture capital is important, and he mentions the useful role of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's always helpful to apply political pressure to speed up the process. There's also good things happening in Japan, and in Dubai last week Arab countries initiated a €15 Bn renewable energy fund. Incredible!

Interestingly, Claude felt that the worsening of targets for new cars (up from 120g/km to 130g/km) will more or less cancel the 10% commitment to bio-fuels. He said efficiency is so much more important than renewables, but less sexy. Wind turbines always look good in the pix, but insulation?

He says there’s between 11-13 new energy packages coming out of Brussels, but suggests that the National Action Plans are very weak and that closer links between national and European plans are required.

Pirjo-Liisa Koskimaki, the impressive Head of Unit of the energy efficiency section (DG TREN D.4) of the European Commission says it quite simply, we have lots of plans, but now is the time to “Implement, Implement, Implement”. This theme is echoed by Mariangiola Fabbri of the World Wildlife Fund who says that the Commission is essential to initiate the process and ‘set the pace’ but the role of Member States is essential to achieve results. She argues that the EU is the most progressive political actor to combat climate change, and that implementation needs to be complemented by enforcement and compliance.

Before lunch Jan Geiss of Ecofys gave an overview of the Energy Efficiency Action Plans submitted to date. Thankfully the Irish Plan, along with that of UK, compare well to those of other Member States.

At lunch I met Philippe Dumas of the European Geothermal Energy Council, John Schonenberger of the European Copper Institute, and Bruno Carrel-Billiard of Glass for Europe. We agreed that copper roofed homes with lots of south-facing high-performance glazing and geo-thermal heat pumps would solve all our energy needs.

In the afternoon Hans van Steen the Deputy Head of Unit of the European Commission DG Transport and Energy presents the new Framework Directive on Renewable Energy Sources. In his presentation he says that biofuels will need to show a 35% saving in Greenhouse gases; that no raw material be used from undisturbed forests, biodiverse grassland, nature protected areas (unless taken harmlessly);and that there be no conversion of wetlands. Hopefully that will meet some of Liam's concerns.

In response Clause Turmes cautioned us against relying totally on market based responses, and expressed concern at the suggesting doing the rounds that European Trading Scheme would solve everything. Market support for renewables is essential he concluded.

Arthouros Zervos of the European Renewable Energy Council introduced a slightly divisive note by pointing out that the unlikely grouping of Belgium, Sweden Austria and Latvia had opposed the Directive. However the mood of the delegates was upbeat as we headed off to a reception at the 'Renewable Energy House' at the conclusion of the day's proceedings.

Was it worth dropping over a third of a tonne of CO2 for this, and a thousand miles of travel? Sure it was, but now the work begins to convince others in Leinster House and elsewhere, of the enormity and the urgency of the challenge.