No car day!

Yesterday was “no car day” in Montreal and elsewhere. Part of downtown and the Plateau Mont Royal were designated “car-free” for a good chunk of the day. I work downtown, so I went for a stroll during my lunch break. Here are a few pictures and comments . . .

horse poo
I suppose “car-free” doesn’t mean “horse-free.”

map
The island city of Montreal is 50 km long and 16 km wide at it’s widest point. Here’s how much of downtown was “car-free.” (I think the car-free zone on the Plateau was a bit bigger.)

yellow Nemo
It wasn’t completely car-free. There were a number of displays of alternative fuel cars — mostly electric, including this adorable yellow NemO. Unfortunately, its top speed is only 40 km/h. (Pop up some specs . . .)

Nemo truck
There’s also a cute little NemO truck, which would be just fine for 90% of urban deliveries.

Segway
What’s a “no car day” without a Segway?

electric Citroen
Under the hood of an odd little Citroen. Is it electric? Hyrogen? I don’t know . . .

think convertable
I really, really, want one of these! It’s a Nordic Th!ink — an electric car that used to be made by Ford in Norway. (Not to be confused with the Th!nk Neighbor, which is basically a golf cart.) Ford dropped the line and sold the factory because it wants to concentrate on fuel cell technology instead. For a while, Ford wanted to recall and destroy all the U.S. Th!nk cars. There were about 350 of them — all leased under a special provision because they didn’t meet normal crash test standards.

Apparently, Ford sold the works, and the cars are still made in the Norway factory, under the “Nordic” name instead of Ford. This is one of the new ones.

electric cops
Look, even the cops are going electric!

bus tour
This gives a whole new meaning to the term “bus tour.”

street hockey
What’s a car-free day without a game of street hockey?

walk
And when all else fails, you can always walk!

6 thoughts on “No car day!

  1. Yesterday was “Car Free Day”

    in Montreal and hundreds of other cities. Blork has some great pics of the scene downtown during the day. Unfortunately, for me to participate in “Car Free Day” it would have had to have been subtitled “Home Office Day” as my office is pretty much inac…

  2. One of my colleagues used to refer to electric cars as a wonderful way to export polution. No emisions at point of use but loads at the point where the electricity is produced. So the electric cars are only of benefit if the electricity is produced in a sustainable fashion.

  3. That’s why Quebec and the Maritimes will be the Saudi Arabia of the post-oil era. Lots of wind (offshore and on) and loads of hydro. :)

    I think the Citroen is an example of their new C3 with Stop and Start drive, designed for city driving to reduce emissions – the engine actually stops completely when not moving, no idling.

  4. Excellent Reportage BLork!

    It’s sad but the best part (for me) of this no car day report was the new cars…. He! Hard to get the motor out of the man!

    I never had the chance to live this day (even I had the chance to walk to work). Seems very cool, quieter and more friendly.

    I heard a number yesterday: I think it was for the island of Montreal, but on Radio-canada, they said 40% of the surface was devoted to cars and transport in general (means streets, parking lots, highways, etc.0. That’s a lot!!! Most people give 1 hour of their time each day in transportations. That’s less than 10% of your daily life.

    Another interesting story: the Highway that goes from iles des soeurs (nuns isl.)/Champlain bridge to city center. I do not remember its name. The one that goes along the St-Lawrence river and arrive by the old port and then to the railway station. They think of replacing it with an urban boulevard and give access to this huge chunk of the river., probably developping new habitations too. This highway is great for Nun’s islanders and for people escaping the true dow-town at rush hours. So that might be a mess. But on the other hand, but true public transports (tramway/surface train or reserved lines for buses, that might work). As it did in Portland, in a similar situation (was even a bigger highway).

  5. Nice pics. I avoided the downtown area, here in QC, as there was enough fuss going on as a Queen (QM II) was already in town, causing chaos, so to speak.

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