Car-free streets should expand

A car-free day means that one day in the year a big area in a given town doesn’t allow cars at all (except for emergency vehicles).

An example from the Official website of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Paris: “On Sunday 16th September 2018, Paris’s third carfree day will empty the entire city of cars! The city will be closed to car traffic and turned over to pedestrians. For once, Parisians and visitors alike can get around and enjoy free events in peace and quiet. Make it an outing with family or friends: put on your roller skates, hop on your bicycle or get on your walking shoes, and set off to take in the sights of Paris. You’ll find the capital has never been this quiet!”

In Paris — as in several thousand towns big and small around the world — there are streets in each district closed to cars all year. In Bordeaux, pedestrian streets and squares date back to 1976.

In Japan, many pedestrian streets have a roof. In Osaka, Tenjimbashi-Suji is the longest of these pedestrian shopping streets in the country, covering 2.6 kilometres and spanning seven city blocks.

Is Vancouver ready to join the world yet? Jean-Louis Brussac, Coquitlam