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http://www.fastcoexist.com/3040634/7-cities-that-are-starting-to-go-car-free?partner=rss

Well, that’s a switch. One quarter of the highway trust fund is for mass transportation, building bike lanes included. Only 5.9 percent of low-income commuters take mass transit.

Here in California they tax manufacturing in the form of a Cap and Trade scheme and then they give one quarter of that money to mass transit.

They are building a high speed rail line that stops only in a few cities. Those cities will have trains and busses on their proprietary roads. Along those routes, one half mile on either side, they are building high density housing they call mixed use housing. They will have retail on the bottom floor and either be limited or have no parking. Tenants are expected to walk or bike that half mile to the mass transportation.

From the above link, Madrid has banned most traffic from certain city streets as part of a plan to completely pedestrianize central Madrid in the next five years.

In Paris, in the city center, people that don’t live in local neighborhoods won’t be able to drive in on weekends. By 2020, the mayor plans to double the number of bike lanes in the city, ban diesel cars, and limit certain high-traffic streets to electric cars and other ultra-low-emission vehicles.

Hamburg, A new “green network,” which will be completed in the next 15 to 20 years, will connect parks across the city, making it possible to bike or walk anywhere. The network will cover 40% of the city’s space.

Helsinki, In a new plan, the city lays out a design that will transform car-dependent suburbs into dense, walkable communities linked to the city center by fast-moving public transit. The city is also building new mobility-on-demand services to streamline life without a car. A new app in testing now lets citizens instantly call up a shared bike, car, or taxi, or find the nearest bus or train. In a decade, the city hopes to make it completely unnecessary to own a car.

Milan, If commuters leave their vehicles at home, they’ll get free public transit vouchers.

Copenhagen, over half the population bikes to work.