Zurich car ban sees 17,310 drivers fined in one month

A trial that aims to discourage car use on one of Zurich’s busiest streets has raked in CHF1.3 million (US$1.44 million) in fines in just one month.

Sixty metres of the busy Langstrasse street have been closed to cars during the day since the end of September with the goal of creating more space for cyclists.

In January, the city’s police installed cameras that automatically record the licence plates of offenders – with 17,310 drivers fined CHF100 within a month.

Speaking to Cities Today, Zurich’s Director of Urban Development Anna Schindler said that the plans may need some adjustment.

“The pilot is for a year, so now we are looking if we want to adjust something, maybe it’s not the best system.

“It’s a means of earning some money [for the city], but it shouldn’t be such a high figure, because this means something in the system isn’t working.”

Safety concerns

The city wants to boost its modal share of cycling, which currently accounts for between 10-12 percent of all trips.

Public transport is the most popular mobility mode, with surveys showing a high level of satisfaction with services.

“We do surveys every two years and what we’ve found is people are very happy with public transport, but not happy driving a car and even less happy when cycling,” added Schindler.

“Zurich is very much a public transport city – we’re very good at that, but we need to integrate other solutions, like cycling.

“The modal share of cycling is around 10-12 percent – it’s not big, and Zurich is a difficult city to bike in because it’s narrow, there’s not much space in the street, people don’t like it. It’s also quite dangerous, so we have a lot to do [to boost cycling].”

Along with the closure of Langstrasse street the city has implemented a number of other measures aimed at reducing car use, such as closing lanes and pedestrianising inner-city roads.

“After public transport users, pedestrians are the second happiest cohort here.

“We are a very polycentric city, and we want to become even more so we’ll have lots of small centres where people can find their basic needs within short distances, so I think we’re doing a lot for pedestrians.”

Image: tomek-baginski-unsplash