Oslo Gradually Removing Parking From Central City as It Phases Out Cars

Another European city is setting its sights on ridding the urban core of cars.

The City Council in Oslo, Norway, has approved a plan to remove cars from the central city by 2019. As part of that plan, parking spaces will be replaced by bike infrastructure.

Liv Jorun Andenes, who works on bike projects with Oslo's agency for the environment, told Streetsblog via email that the city is planning to remove 1,300 spots over the next three years. In their place, eight bicycle routes will be added. In addition, 500 spaces will be eliminated to make room for pedestrians and transit. 

The parking phase-out began this spring. "It’s going well," Jorun Andenes says, "but of course we are receiving a few complaints from residents who are losing their free parking spot."

The city expects to hear more complaints when 100 parking spaces are removed from a wealthy part of town later this year. That accounts for about 2 percent of Oslo's parking supply, according to local news sources.

Ridding the central city of cars is part of a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent, according to the Guardian. The city hopes to reduce auto traffic by 20 percent by 2019 and 30 percent by 2030.

Madrid and a number of other places in Europe are considering similar plans aimed at returning central cities to people.