28 per cent of the cars are gone from the center of Oslo – City Council has started work on removing more

More than one in four cars have disappeared from the center of Oslo from 2016 to 2019, a new report shows.

A traffic count and report from Sweco, commissioned by the City Environment Agency (Bymiljøetaten) in Oslo, shows that the number of cars has reduced by 28 per cent from the center of Oslo during this period, VG writes.

At the same time, the Oslo City Council has removed parking spaces, closed streets for driving and increased road toll and parking tariffs.

“It is impossible to quantify how much of the decrease in car traffic is due to individual measures. But there is a high likelihood that the measures of ‘Bilfritt byliv’ (Car-free city life) have contributed to this reduction,” says Sweco civil engineer Mattias Stridh.

Stridh, who is responsible for the report, specifically points to the removal of parking spaces as a measure that is most likely to have an effect.

Transport Councilor Arild Hermstad (Miljøpartiet De Grønne) says the measures for a car-free city life overall have led to less car traffic in the center of Oslo, but also points to more collective measures, such as building bike lanes and higher road tolls as, other methods that have helped to reduce car traffic.

City Development Councilor Hanna Marcussen (MDG) tells the newspaper that they are far from reaching the target, and that they will now start work on reducing car traffic further.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today