In an interview, the German chancellor said he believes the ban is 'wrong,' as Germany's auto giants struggle to stay competitive against Chinese electric carmakers.
If you ever visitied a country lacking an own car lobby - no, getting rid of your domestic car lobby does not make cities livable. You need politics actually centered on the common good.
German cities already have pretty good public transport and density. That is the actually expensive bit. You pretty much have to just have to get rid of cars in some areas, remove parking lots and lanes and add some bike lanes. Even that is slowly happening in most cities. If you weaken the car lobby, then you could get some very quick massive improvements. Just look at what Paris is doing as an example, but maybe not quite as quick and radical.
As a German I welcome that. It finally kills the pro car lobby in Germany and we get the cities we actually should have in the first place.
Munich is making good progress on cycle lanes! ☺
Most German cities do, but it would be much easier and faster with a weaker opposition.
If you ever visitied a country lacking an own car lobby - no, getting rid of your domestic car lobby does not make cities livable. You need politics actually centered on the common good.
German cities already have pretty good public transport and density. That is the actually expensive bit. You pretty much have to just have to get rid of cars in some areas, remove parking lots and lanes and add some bike lanes. Even that is slowly happening in most cities. If you weaken the car lobby, then you could get some very quick massive improvements. Just look at what Paris is doing as an example, but maybe not quite as quick and radical.