Cologne's main roads transformed into an open path for thousands of cyclists, skaters and pedestrians, as cars were prevented from driving on it between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday. This 2.5-kilometer (1.6-mile) stretch of road along the banks of the Rhine River has been Cologne's biggest street closure so far in the Car-Free Day's 10-year history.

The event, organized by the City of Cologne and the Cologne Transport Services (KVB), was one of many similar Car Free Days that took place across Europe as part of the annual European Mobility Week, which ends Tuesday and aims to promote sustainable mobility in cities.

Apart from the road closure, the Cologne event featured musical entertainment, raffle competitions, podium discussions with representatives of local transport services and various information stalls related to transport and environmental issues.

"The aim is to encourage people to think about their transport options more in the future - to identify when it makes sense to go on foot, by bike or by bus and train," said Klaus Harzendorf, Cologne's chief officer for streets and traffic engineering. "The number of people who theoretically don’t need to use cars is still between 5 percent and 20 percent across the city."

Room for improvement

Statistics indicate that 42 percent of Cologne's residents own a car and use it regularly, but car owners are not equally distributed throughout the city. In the city center, only 23 percent of the residents use cars, which is why the outer suburbs are the main target areas for promoting alternative modes of transport.

It is not just the promotion of alternative transport options that makes a difference, but also improving the standard of local public transport, according to Walter Reinarz, a member of KVB's executive board.

"If environmental protection is considered to be truly important, then local transport needs to be developed further," said Reinarz. "There are still things to be done in this area."

Wolfgang Luechtrath is a long-time Cologne resident who rides a bicycle regularly but also relies heavily on local public transport. He agreed that there is room for improvement.

Additional public transportation powered by green energy sources as well as buses and trams running on hybrid technology are two ways the KVB is looking to become more environmentally friendly, Reinarz added.

"Compared to other public transport in Germany, Cologne is not very good," said Luechtrath. "It's a bit dirty and quite often late."

Despite this, Luechtrath said he was impressed by the Car-Free Day itself, saying that it was "good for walking and having a good time."

Positive results

Harzendorf said he is encouraged by the fact that awareness campaigns of this kind do have a visible long-term effect in Cologne.

"We have observed that this works," said Harzendorf. "What we've done over the years has led to, for example, the small percentage of car traffic in Cologne's inner city. For this reason, I think the Cologne city center is a good example for Europe and it shows that our actions have had an effect."

Eva Wutke

Editor: Sean Sinico