This Saturday motorists in Majorca are being invited to leave their cars at home as Palma celebrates the day without cars yet again. The local government have picked a good day, most people in Palma don't work on Saturday and children aren't at school and therefore there is less traffic. If the local government was really serious then they would call for no cars on a weekday. Also, unlike previous anti-car drives motorists are only invited to join-in and streets will not be closed off. Perhaps an invitation is being extended because of the complete failure of previous attempts when motorists were actually asked to leave their cars at home. As far as I am concerned days without cars are a complete waste of time, it is just a PR stunt from a local government and a city council who seem incapable of resolving the traffic problems in the city centre and in other areas of the island. Now, is not the time for PR stunts, the number of cars on the road continues to grow. Traffic congestion has become a real problem and our local government and city council are just treating it as some form of day-out for motorists who are probably glad to leave their car at home because they are not working and do not have to do any school driving.
Other cities have tackled the problem. Giant car parks on the city outskirts and public transport to the centre. I would be happy if the local authorities set an example and the council and local government pool of official vehicles was scrapped. It wouldn't hurt the Mayor of Palma or even the leader or the local government to use the public transport they claim is so good. Or would that be too much to ask?