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Should Australian cities adopt car-free days? - ABC listen
(www.abc.net.au)
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this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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This, 100% this.
I'm able bodied, but I was a full time carer for my mother who was wheelchair/electric scooter bound for years before she passed away from complications. Cities with pedestrian only areas were, in practice, a nightmare whenever we visited them... which we rarely did because life was so hard there.
And it's especially bad when it's a temporary setup. If you want to have a pedestrian only area then make it pedestrian only 24/7/365. That way whatever issues there are (stairs/etc) will actually be removed instead of just "oh I'll do that when the market is closed".
I took the alternate route and put myself in the middle of the city. Can't fuck with me as much when there are fewer metres involved.
Agreed. The pedestrianisation of George St was successful because there were alternate parallel routes to use, public transport was built in, and additional permanent public accommodations built.
The idea of especially King St Newtown shutting down temporarily is horrifying. If for no other reason than emergency services getting stuck in endless one way lanes. That's before we get to the overcrowded public transport and totally fucked paths.
Which city though?
For example, in some European cities I've visited (and struggled with a wheelchair) the "ground" floor is commonly about waist high off the ground, with a basement beneath that floor, and properties might be too small (e.g. homes that are about the same width as a typical Australian bedroom with no front yard and no side yard either - shared walls with the houses next door). There's literally not enough space for a ramp up to the ground floor or down to the basement, and you can't add an elevator because the building was built 200 years ago and you're not allowed to ruin the history of the area by making structural changes.
It's, obviously, easy enough to find a home for yourself in those cities that is wheelchair friendly... but all your friends and family won't do that and 90% of the businesses won't be wheelchair compatible either. Shopping, in those cities, means the person in a wheelchair waits out on the footpath while someone else goes into the business to buy stuff for them.