Last Tuesday, the new circulation plan was introduced in the Vijfhoek. Finally, Brussels is stepping into the 21st century.
It was a great spectacle again last week. The City of Brussels, governed by a progressive political majority, introduces a circulation plan and immediately the liberal opposition is on the barricades. My car, my freedom, right? Predictable, the reaction of the French-speaking Liberals, but not really credible. Opposition party Les Engagés, for example, was much more moderate in its criticism. Also noteworthy: the traditional loudmouths railing against restricting car traffic were conspicuous by their absence.
This is certainly due to the holiday period, but also to the clever communication of Groen alderman Bart Dhondt. On the one hand, the City of Brussels is sticking to the plan, but on the other hand, it does not rule out adjustments. This immediately stifles any criticism.
More fundamentally, some of the MR’s arguments fail to make sense. The Pentagon (Vijfhoek) remains one hundred percent accessible by car, with the thousands of underground parking spaces that the city centre has had for a long time. They are within walking distance of just about every busy spot in the city.
Today, the inner ring road is the most accessible place in the country, with the largest train stations, the busiest metro lines, and trams and buses that run deep into Brussels’ neighbourhoods.
And then there is good practice. Numerous cities, such as Ghent, but also French cities, have preceded Brussels. And there are no known examples of cities that were worse off after the introduction of a circulation plan. On the contrary.
Brussels itself can also serve as an example: the pedestrian zone in the city centre proves that fewer cars means more quality of life. Conversely, as every traffic expert knows, more car means less mobility.
One last thing to unlearn? Yes, some drivers will have to take a different route to reach their destination or make a detour. With a GPS or apps like Waze, this is no longer a problem. So what are we squawking about? With the circulation plan, in this or any other form, Brussels is finally taking a real step into the 21st century, and doing what it should have done when it introduced the pedestrian zone.
**Crucial months**
Does that mean all mobility problems are over? Certainly not. Car traffic itself will not disappear. The car remains an important means of transport in the region and there is nothing wrong with that.
Monitoring will therefore be necessary. And that is what is happening. Mobiris, the Brussels Region’s traffic centre, is on top of things. What has it observed today? One, the chaos of the first day of the introduction has disappeared pretty quickly. And two, the Dansaert neighbourhood is getting quite a lot of traffic. In the long run, this could cause a problem at the Vlaamsepoort, where the car traffic is directed out of the city. At the same time, the busy car traffic seems to be blocked mainly by … the busy pedestrian traffic. This will not be easy to solve. So we have to wait and see.
Nevertheless, September and October will be the crucial months for further monitoring traffic flows. Traffic to and from school will start up again, the holidays are over for most people. Telecommuting makes commuting more flexible. There are the expensive fuel prices, and since two years the corona cycle paths. In any case, traffic behaviour is difficult to predict.
Traffic experts do believe that the introduction of the circulation plan will eventually lead to a new balance on the major axes – read: the traffic will run more or less smoothly again – with the caveat that some of the car traffic will inevitably evaporate.
For that will ultimately be one of the major side-effects of the Good Move plans throughout the region. They are there to keep cut-through traffic out of residential areas, but the larger axes around those areas may not be able to swallow it all. Drivers will turn to alternatives.
But what then? Good Move, like the previous mobility plans, aims to reduce car traffic in and to the city, and thus to have a city with fewer traffic jams and a better quality of life. That is exactly what any city should do to become more attractive.
True, the most enjoyable cities I have visited were those were cars were reduced to “only necessary”. Cars have no place in a city or even village center.
Sometimes (oh so rarely!) I do feel that society slowly (oh so slowly!) evolves in the right direction. This is one of those times.
8 years ago, a ridiculous political compromise was needed for the introduction of the piétonnier, with a mini ring road in the hyper center and the promise of 5 additional parkings. Now only MR and Els Ampe still seem to believe in their car-centered utopia.
[deleted]
No matter how much you polish a turd, it’s still gonna be a piece of shit at the end of the day…
Brussels needs massive infrastructural changes, a little pedestrian zone and a circulation plan does not make a successful city, but then again we are the champions of congratulating ourselves on a job 10% done
Is this satire?
Most cities and towns could use a good circulation plan
Time does indeed keep on slipping into the future.
From what i pick up from my clients: most are looking into relocating their offices away from Brussels into the periphery….
9 comments
Last Tuesday, the new circulation plan was introduced in the Vijfhoek. Finally, Brussels is stepping into the 21st century.
It was a great spectacle again last week. The City of Brussels, governed by a progressive political majority, introduces a circulation plan and immediately the liberal opposition is on the barricades. My car, my freedom, right? Predictable, the reaction of the French-speaking Liberals, but not really credible. Opposition party Les Engagés, for example, was much more moderate in its criticism. Also noteworthy: the traditional loudmouths railing against restricting car traffic were conspicuous by their absence.
This is certainly due to the holiday period, but also to the clever communication of Groen alderman Bart Dhondt. On the one hand, the City of Brussels is sticking to the plan, but on the other hand, it does not rule out adjustments. This immediately stifles any criticism.
More fundamentally, some of the MR’s arguments fail to make sense. The Pentagon (Vijfhoek) remains one hundred percent accessible by car, with the thousands of underground parking spaces that the city centre has had for a long time. They are within walking distance of just about every busy spot in the city.
Today, the inner ring road is the most accessible place in the country, with the largest train stations, the busiest metro lines, and trams and buses that run deep into Brussels’ neighbourhoods.
And then there is good practice. Numerous cities, such as Ghent, but also French cities, have preceded Brussels. And there are no known examples of cities that were worse off after the introduction of a circulation plan. On the contrary.
Brussels itself can also serve as an example: the pedestrian zone in the city centre proves that fewer cars means more quality of life. Conversely, as every traffic expert knows, more car means less mobility.
One last thing to unlearn? Yes, some drivers will have to take a different route to reach their destination or make a detour. With a GPS or apps like Waze, this is no longer a problem. So what are we squawking about? With the circulation plan, in this or any other form, Brussels is finally taking a real step into the 21st century, and doing what it should have done when it introduced the pedestrian zone.
**Crucial months**
Does that mean all mobility problems are over? Certainly not. Car traffic itself will not disappear. The car remains an important means of transport in the region and there is nothing wrong with that.
Monitoring will therefore be necessary. And that is what is happening. Mobiris, the Brussels Region’s traffic centre, is on top of things. What has it observed today? One, the chaos of the first day of the introduction has disappeared pretty quickly. And two, the Dansaert neighbourhood is getting quite a lot of traffic. In the long run, this could cause a problem at the Vlaamsepoort, where the car traffic is directed out of the city. At the same time, the busy car traffic seems to be blocked mainly by … the busy pedestrian traffic. This will not be easy to solve. So we have to wait and see.
Nevertheless, September and October will be the crucial months for further monitoring traffic flows. Traffic to and from school will start up again, the holidays are over for most people. Telecommuting makes commuting more flexible. There are the expensive fuel prices, and since two years the corona cycle paths. In any case, traffic behaviour is difficult to predict.
Traffic experts do believe that the introduction of the circulation plan will eventually lead to a new balance on the major axes – read: the traffic will run more or less smoothly again – with the caveat that some of the car traffic will inevitably evaporate.
For that will ultimately be one of the major side-effects of the Good Move plans throughout the region. They are there to keep cut-through traffic out of residential areas, but the larger axes around those areas may not be able to swallow it all. Drivers will turn to alternatives.
But what then? Good Move, like the previous mobility plans, aims to reduce car traffic in and to the city, and thus to have a city with fewer traffic jams and a better quality of life. That is exactly what any city should do to become more attractive.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
True, the most enjoyable cities I have visited were those were cars were reduced to “only necessary”. Cars have no place in a city or even village center.
Sometimes (oh so rarely!) I do feel that society slowly (oh so slowly!) evolves in the right direction. This is one of those times.
8 years ago, a ridiculous political compromise was needed for the introduction of the piétonnier, with a mini ring road in the hyper center and the promise of 5 additional parkings. Now only MR and Els Ampe still seem to believe in their car-centered utopia.
[deleted]
No matter how much you polish a turd, it’s still gonna be a piece of shit at the end of the day…
Brussels needs massive infrastructural changes, a little pedestrian zone and a circulation plan does not make a successful city, but then again we are the champions of congratulating ourselves on a job 10% done
Is this satire?
Most cities and towns could use a good circulation plan
Time does indeed keep on slipping into the future.
From what i pick up from my clients: most are looking into relocating their offices away from Brussels into the periphery….
I guess thats the desired outcome of this policy?