Fewer cars in cities = better economy

in Barcelona they have started limiting the traffic in certain neighborhoods with some interesting effects - economical improvements. and less interesting but also good effects - less pollution and noise pollution.
could this work in taipei?

They did this in California, maybe LA. They took away car lanes and converted them into bike and pedestrian lanes. They called it a road diet.

It just pissed everyone off, caused huge traffic jams, and people determined it caused more pollution since cars idling in traffic jams causes more pollution.

But LA doesn’t have good public transport. So it was really stupid to do this since there not really any options but to drive as most people make long commutes to work due to housing prices be so high in many places.

Taipei has a better shot though.

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Yes it think it could work very well in Taipei as public transportation is very good and it’s also a densely populated city.
Areas like ximen already have limited traffic and ximen is super popular. They should limit traffic in other areas, maybe Taipei train station, xinyi, zhongxiao dunhua, songshan gongguan…

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They kind of do this in Singapore. I haven’t been back in awhile, but I remember the city center you need to actually pay, so they technically don’t block you off from entering, but make you pay a toll.

I hear there’s plans to not allow scooters in Xinyi shopping district in the far future?

I like the idea, but I think you would have two issues in Taipei.

First, I’m not sure how much of Taipei you could actually consider to be a “grid” as the way the video defines it. Some areas work, like a lot of Xinyi, but a lot of areas have too many small alleys and lanes. People might complain about not being able to drive their scooters to their homes if they lived in one of they alleys.

Second, taking Ximen as an example, I think you would have a really tough time convincing some (not all) people not to break the rules and continue to drive their scooters down into such areas. I could be wrong, but Taiwan does generally have a somewhat lax way of looking at traffic rules for scooters.

Maybe these issues could be overcome, I’m just not sure. Taipei’s quality public transit definitely helps.

maybe you could just let the people who live in those areas drive there? surely that would make a huge difference.

as for the traffic rules, yea this is just a fantasy unless a real shift in attitudes towards driving happens. they could even make this rule and we all know it wouldn’t change anything currently.

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Taipei is very much based on a grid, unlike some other cities in Taiwan designed by the Japanese, which are more like spokes and wheels.

I see no reason why this couldn’t be effected personally there are tonnes of roads to choose from for diverting traffic.

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the whole dong qu area would be great for this

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That’s a decent option. There would need to be thought put into how to actually “regulate” it, but it’s worth considering.

You’re right, it is a grid, but not really like the video defines it. The main roads form grids, but the small alleys and lanes within them make it a much more complex grid. I think it would work well in some larger areas, like dunhua or neihu, but I’m just not sure about some of the older neighborhoods

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You have to pay in Singapore since the 90’s or even before, restricted people from actually buying cars.

Well you wouldn’t copy it exactly the same as Barcelona. But Taipei does have quite defined neighbourhoods bordered by main roads and expressways so I think it’s very feasible to do something similar at least.
I’d rather they just ban private cars from certain districts, also motor scooters, but so far the Taipei mayor is pretty useless

He gets a lot of support but I don’t think he’s done a whole lot with what he has including massive budgets and amazing public transport systems already operating !

Still way too much vehicle pollution, too much traffic, still parking on pavements, driving scooters on placements in many areas and still burning stuff on pavements… Poor job. And I’m talking about Taipei not even New Taipei city !

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So many cities around the world are doing this for so many years, but here scooter everywhere with 0 rules.

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Haha, scooters even zip through traditional wet markets! Hard to get hold off.

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I completely agree with banning private cars from certain districts (maybe not entire districts, but certainly large parts of them). I think motor scooters is a tougher sell in Taiwan. Just setting up a system where cars have to deliberately avoid areas when getting off of elevated roads would be a good way to start.

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I guess I’m in the minority here, but I’d definitely be in the pissed off category. I don’t have a problem with a few pedestrian areas like Ximen, but stopping too much private traffic would suck. I hate taking public transportation.

It’s all about the planning. It has to be planned in a way that diverts traffic without greatly increasing congestion. I’m not smart enough to have answers for how to do that, but elevated roads, one way streets, maybe more lanes on streets that surround blocked of areas, are all things that could be part of the solution.

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It’s not stopping it’s rerouting.
You might have to walk a bit farther to your final destination .

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Taiwan is VERY behind on this. Probably the most disappointing thing about living here apart from crap salaries.

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I’d rather see them put all the CCT cameras to use and have AI ideallycontrol all the traffic lights on demand.

In the home country they discussed this already in the 80’s. Should we make our city center car free? Yes and no was the answer, depending on who you asked. Merchants wanted parking in front of their store, people are too lazy to walk. Than they found a middle ground, narrowing the street and widening the pedestrian zone, loading and unloading spaces, a few parking spaces and central located parking lots. Fridays and Saturdays block traffic totally to the commercial area.

Now, the commercial areas are just going empty. Shopping areas outside the city bloom.