Attracting in the upwards of 50,000 people, In Town, Without My Car! turns downtown Montreal into one of the largest car-free zones in North America ... for a day. A sustainable mobility initiative that debuted in downtown Montreal in 2003, En ville, sans ma voiture! changes the downtown landscape dramatically for a few hours. Noise typically goes down by eight decibels (a 34% decline in perceived noise by the human ear) and nitric oxide -- a common car exhaust pollutant and lung irritant -- levels drop by as much as 70%.
Car-Free Day Montreal: September 22, 2011: What Part of Downtown is Blocked Off?
The main 2011 car-free perimeter is arguably smaller than those of previous years. Here's a map of the 2010 perimeter. And here's a map of the 2011 perimeter (information in French only). Note that the 2011 link also includes information on a handful of minor street closures planned in different municipalities across Montreal from September 17 to September 24, 2011.
Why Should Motorists Care About Reducing Car Reliance?
According to the AMT, single-occupant car use impacts everyone's quality of life in the city. Here are just a couple of reasons to beat the habit:
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions (transportation is responsible for 47% of Montreal's greenhouse gas emissions and 10% of respiratory diseases are linked, even caused by smog in Montreal)
- reduce noise (road vehicles create about 75% of downtown Montreal's ambient noise, recorded at over 80 decibels in higher traffic zones, which, according to the World Health Organization, is a high enough noise level to make people aggressive as well as cause sleeping, hearing and cardiovascular disorders)
Organized by the Agence Métropolitaine de Montréal (AMT) along with the city of Montreal, the Société de Transport de Montréal and the Quebec government, In Town Without My Car! is an international event that first started in France in 1998. The initiative caught on, with In Town Without My Car! events spreading across Europe and by 2002, the one-day-a-year sustainable mobility event was super sized by the European Commission to last a full week. Christened the European Mobility Week, 2000 cities and towns around the world participate in the week long event. In 2003, Montreal became the first Canadian city -- and was still the only Canadian and North American city in 2008 -- to participate in the En Ville, Sans Ma Voiture! climate change awareness campaign by imposing traffic blocks. Other cities, including Toronto, a city claiming to be the first in Canada to participate in the car-free day festivities in 2001, do encourage residents to leave vehicles at home, promoting car-free days on the same date as In Town Without My Car! but without actually closing streets. However, Toronto changed that by closing off Yonge Street in 2009, from Dundas to Shuter, a car-free first for the city.
For more information on In Town, Without My Car!, consult the Agence Métropolitaine de Montréal website.
