Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis
Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis
The same thing has happened in my smallish English city. The merchants bleated, so did the conservatives, but the council went ahead with pedestrianisation and now we're all better off. And all the concern-trolling about people with mobility problems losing access has been conclusively proven to have been bullshit. Buses, taxis and mobility services can still drop them off right in front of the shops. The only difference now is that they can cross the road with almost no risk of being hit by a car.
all the concern-trolling about people with mobility problems losing access has been conclusively proven to have been bullshit
You say the word "bike" and suddenly everybody's mom is deathly ill and needs daily hospital visits. It's amazing.
Surprise, surprise...
so closing streets limits sales by amazon.com and the like? would not be surprised if the push for the opposite
It didn't say, but I would guess they would still allow delivery vehicles, unless other options are available. Maybe restricted hours?
Twenty million anonymized transactions ... led to a 9.5% increase in retail
I wish they put a number to that stat. Because even if we're talking about an extra dollar of spending, we're talking millions of dollars (euros), which is significant.
Retail stores everywhere should really force their local government to make street closures to car traffic a reality if they want to boost sales and keep online shopping from destroying their revenue.
It's a great idea, but it can get complicated quickly.
For it to work elsewhere, you need parking spaces away from the main streets, free shuttles, or pretty decent public transit. They also need to keep the streets open during certain hours so supply trucks can drop things off. Also, what if there are highrise apartments with underground parking lots facing the main street? How would they come and go?
In San Diego, the Gaslamp District is a prime example of an area that should be pedestrian-only. Yet when they did try it, the city yanked it back with the lame excuse that the road blocking bollard mechanisms cost too much (https://thesandiegosun.com/gaslamp-quarter-car-free-zone-ended/).
But it's a worthwhile experiment. Downtown retail in a lot of cities is empty and boarded up. Making those streets pedestrian-only is a good way to revive them and bring life back.
what if there are highrise apartments with underground parking lots facing the main street? How would they come and go?
Its pretty common in Europe to allow shared use for access / deliveries using pedestrianised streets where needed.
They'd put a 10kph or 5kph speed limit and pedestrians have priority, delivery vehicles may have restricted hours too - outside of peak shopping hours if the street is mostly retail.
With only resident vehicles and deliveries the traffic volumes are low and it's fine. Cutting out through traffic and non-resident traffic makes a huge improvement.
Also lots of the people in CBD high rises will choose to walk a lot of their trips - many won't have a car at all - that's partly why they live there.
San Diego has always had a bad problem with infestation by Republicans. That's why they fucked everything up that might benefit local people and businesses.
There are roads around the pedestrian district so deliveries can be made to the outside perimeter. Ithaca NY did this and it’s great.
Literally every full-CBD infrastructure project is complicated. And compared to things like highways, subway stations, anti-terror infrastructure, etc... Pedestrianization really is the low-hanging complicated fruit. Large cities have small armies of infrastructure professionals ready to tackle the complications if we only just let them. The hardest part of pedestrianization is protecting the political will to let them at it long enough to actually get it done.
Walkable cities are good for local businesses, now who would've thunk