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Future Campaigns

Car Free Sunday

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The Lane Cove Sustainability Action Group is delighted that Lane Cove Council has voted to investigate the options of holding a Car Free Day in 2023. - Hear Sjirk Bangma, the Groups' President, talking about the Council Motion here.

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History of Car Free Sundays

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The Car Free Sunday concept originated from necessity during the 1973 Oil Crisis. Since then many groups have formed worldwide around the idea of creating spaces in towns and cities with fewer cars. September 22nd (or thereabouts) is the official international car free day and there is now a huge list of countries cities worldwide that have joined in for this (see links below). Bogota – Columbia, with 1.2m private vehicles, was the first successful host of A Car Free Day in 2000 when it managed to take 35,0000 cars off the road.

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There was an attempt to run some CFS events in Australian, but to date there has only been some limited success in Perth/Fremantle and Melbourne.


http://www.ciclavia.org
http://www.worldcarfree.net/listservs/

http://www.streetfilms.org/tag/ciclovia/

http://openstreetsproject.org/

 

The aim of a Car Free Sunday is to promote the move away from a car dominated town and city centres. Now that we are entering an era with emphasis on energy efficiency and reducing carbon footprints a Car Free Sunday may well be encouraging this.

Some ideas for the day


•    Invite as many bike groups as possible to introduce them to the idea.
•    The Bike to Breakfast Idea – Cycle groups ride to Lane Cove for an outdoor breakfast.
•    Invite electric bike business to display and demonstrate their goods.
•    Optional – Invite suppliers of Hybrid or by that time perhaps Electric car suppliers  
•    Ask local churches to participate
•    Street fair – Live music 
•    Provide a free bicycle rickshaw service / tandem bikes / horsedrawn vehicles / carriages.

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Why in Lane Cove

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Lane Cove is geographically well placed to host a Car Free Sunday. The village area can be detoured easily via Central Av, Little Lane and Little St as has been done during previous events. I.e. the infrastructure for an event of this type is already in place. Lane Cove could become the first official suburb in Sydney to host a car free Sunday event. We would ask Clover Moore to endorse the event. Car Free Cities – (Part of Sydney / George Street) is in line with her vision for Sydney 2030 plan.

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Will it “annoy” & how will business be affected?

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A “car less” day will undoubtedly annoy some people and it is up to the organisers to minimize the annoyance as much as possible. The emphasis needs to be on the positive aspects and outcomes of a car free event. A car free Sunday will give people a chance to think about their dependence on a car. As with most Environmental campaigns it will always annoy some people. The inconvenience level of a Pilot-Car Free Sunday will be minimal for those who choose to drive to Lane Cove as the car parks would remain open.

Local businesses should not be adversely affected in any way. In fact access to the shops in Longueville will be easier with no cars present.

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How to promote a Car Free Sunday

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It will take a lot of organizing and will involve a number of authorities whose cooperation will be required. 

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  • Social Networking – Face book – Works well for younger generation

  • Media 

  • Find other innovative ways to promote the campaign and get people to sign up / make a pledge for the day

  • Find other innovative ways to promote the campaign and get people to sign up / make a pledge for the day

  • Involve all community groups

  • Send the message via schools

  • Get Council on board

  • Endorsement City Council – Clover Moore

  • Bus Company to sponsor the day and provide free rides Lane Cove Area

  • Local businesses to promote the idea.

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