Why Cities Should Shift Away from Cars
For decades, cars have dictated urban design and mobility. But private vehicles are choking our streets, causing millions of injuries and deaths, polluting our air, contributing to climate change, and taking up public space.
Transitioning to sustainable mobility is not just an environmental necessity; it’s a question of social justice, accessibility, health, economic growth, and liveability. When done to ensure inclusivity and equity, shifting away from cars clearly brings a range of benefits for cities and residents. But this is an extremely politically charged change and can be challenging to implement.
Change That Delivers
Cars are celebrated as symbols of independence and social status, but the reality is they’re stifling our cities. Many people agree that we need more and better public transport infrastructure and services, together with neighbourhoods designed for active mobility.
However, when this means giving up parking spots or reducing space for cars, the support often fades, keeping cities trapped in the status quo. The average car sits idle over 90% of the time, occupying public space that could be allocated to public seating, green spaces, and safe paths for people.
This tension plays out in cities everywhere. In Bangkok, Thailand’s proposed congestion fee has simultaneously drawn praise for tackling gridlock and concern over costs for lower-income drivers. In Medellín, political hesitation to impose unpopular restrictions, such as vehicle limits, led to weak public and business support, with many seeing the changes as disruptive, rather than transformative.
In New York, political disputes over congestion pricing went on for years before the policy was finally enacted. There was a 7.5% decrease in traffic in the first week the congestion charge was rolled out, in January 2025, versus the same week in 2024. And now residents are reaping the benefits—cleaner air, safer streets, and better public transit.
Why Leadership Matters
Strong leadership is the backbone of any successful mobility transition. Benefits take time to materialise, whereas disruption due to construction works is immediate.
Politicians may be pressured to backpedal on reforms in the face of public or media backlash. Stakeholder engagement from the beginning, concise, honest communication, and a compelling narrative outlining the benefits are crucial to combat initial resistance.
Paris’s transformation is a case study in political courage. Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s administration transformed the streets, allocating space for pedestrians, cycling lanes, and greenery at the expense of traffic lanes and parking. While opposition was initially fierce, the results are undeniable: safer streets, cleaner air, less noise pollution, and a more liveable city.
Despite the noise of opposition, global public opinion is more supportive of sustainable mobility than many realise. Worldwide, 80% of people want their countries to take stronger action against climate change. And people consistently say they want cleaner air, more green space, and safer streets for their children. These are all incompatible with car-dominated urban planning.
The 2019 coronavirus pandemic resulted in low traffic levels in cities. This, in turn, provided the opportunity for strategic, cost-effective investments in sustainable mobility, allocating safer spaces for public transport and active mobility, establishing dedicated bus lanes to improve bus service reliability, fighting air pollution through car restrictions, and other measures to protect residents.
Cities require bold politicians with long-term visions focused on integrated land use and transport planning and lasting mobility solutions. They must also ensure people can see and feel the benefits in their daily lives as quickly as possible.
A Just and Economically Beneficial Strategy
The opposition often argues that measures like congestion pricing or low-emission zones (LEZs) disproportionately hurt lower-income residents. In France, several local governments recently voted against LEZs, citing concerns about restricting mobility for those who cannot afford to upgrade their vehicles. But this framing ignores a harsher reality: the cost of inaction falls heaviest on the poor.
Lower-income communities are more likely to live in areas with high air pollution, suffer from related health problems, and have limited access to safe, green public spaces. In Santiago, Chile, low-income districts experience up to 21% more days with unhealthy air quality than wealthier areas. Commuters from lower socioeconomic quintiles in Bogotá, Colombia and Mexico City are exposed to substantially higher—and in Mexico City, disproportionately increasing—PM2.5 levels than their wealthier counterparts.
Well-designed LEZs, combined with integrated public transport systems, congestion-free bus networks, active travel infrastructure, and targeted social support, can address these inequities, ensuring cleaner air and better mobility for those who need it most.
Good public transport systems also generate substantial economic benefits, including improved accessibility to jobs, green growth, and investment attractiveness. Every euro invested in public transport generates 5–7 euros for the society.
Some people think we can solve urban transport problems by electrifying private vehicles. But an electric car is still a car, sitting idle 90% of the time, taking up road space, and contributing to accidents and congestion. The focus should be on stable frameworks for investment in expanding public transport infrastructures and services, rather than electrifying private vehicles.
The Way Forward
The long-term solution to urban mobility issues lies in integrated active, mass, and shared transport. These systems, with public transport as the backbone, are cleaner, quicker, more inclusive, and more space-efficient than private cars.
Public transport is accessible and affordable, promotes an active lifestyle, helps connect people, and is the safest way to travel. The provision of integrated multimodal transport systems will reduce car dependency and, coupled with net-zero urban policies and urban vehicle access regulations (UVARs), can enable the transition to sustainable mobility.
Moving away from private cars is one of the toughest but most necessary changes our cities must make. It requires political courage, clear and honest dialogue, and a focus on making the transition fair for everyone.
The journey will be messy, and the benefits won’t be apparent overnight. But sticking to the status quo will cost society far more. Real transformational change happens when leaders stay the course despite pushback and when everyone is part of a shared vision for streets and spaces designed for people, not cars.
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