Prague mayor backs ‘motivation, not force’ to reduce car use

Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib said cities need to entice commuters out of their cars by offering sustainable transport that's both faster and cheaper than the car.

Speaking to Cities Today on the sidelines of a two-day EU conference in Prague, the mayor said the Czech capital is boosting its transport infrastructure to meet emissions reduction goals.

“Basically, this is about how to motivate people to abandon their cars – we don’t want to force them at this moment, but we need to motivate them somehow and that means more comfortable, cheap and fast public transport."

The city is allocating more lanes for buses, expanding park and ride zones on the outskirts of the city and boosting tram ...