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Car-free Sundays add vibrancy to city centre, say experts

SINGAPORE – Introducing “car-free” Sundays to certain parts of the Civic and Central Business Districts will add colour and vibrancy to the city centre as pedestrians reclaim the roads for themselves, said experts today (Dec 29).

The car-free zone at Ann Siang Hill. Photo: URA

The car-free zone at Ann Siang Hill. Photo: URA

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SINGAPORE – Introducing “car-free” Sundays to certain parts of the Civic and Central Business Districts will add colour and vibrancy to the city centre as pedestrians reclaim the roads for themselves, said experts today (Dec 29).

Dr Walter Edgar Theseira, senior lecturer at SIM University, noted that the move is “a strategy that has been used successfully in many cities throughout the world”.

Dr Park Byung Joon, head of the Urban Transport Management Programme at SIM University, compared the URA initiative to a similar one in Insa-dong in Seoul.

“It has not just brought more people to the district (Insa-dong), but more cultural events too since it is easier to organise street performances if there are no cars,” Dr Park said.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Dec 18 called for a tender to appoint an event management company to plan a six-month “Car Free Sunday” pilot from Feb 28. During the pilot period, certain roads will be closed off on the last Sunday of each month from 7am to 9am.

A URA spokesperson said today the pilot is “a step towards a car-lite city, and aims to promote active lifestyles and enhance liveability in the city”.

Affected roads, such as Fullerton Road, Shenton Way and Robinson Road, will form a 4.7km-long cycling and walking road.

Converting these roads into pedestrian walkways would “stitch together spaces around the Padang, and better link up the Asian Civilisations Museum, Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, National Gallery Singapore, Empress Place and Esplanade Park as an integrated arts, culture and lifestyle precinct”, the URA spokesperson said.

Shopowners around the vicinity who will be affected by the “Car Free Sunday” initiative said it would not affect their businesses, since most of them rely on regular customers.

Mr Daniel Tan, 54, who runs a music store in Excelsior Shopping Centre, said the initiative would be successful in attracting more visitors to the area only if programmes were organised on the closed streets.

“Otherwise, there’s really no purpose,” he said.

Driver Daniel Gofar, 20, said he is looking forward to the “Car Free Sundays” since he hardly drives on weekends.

“We can walk freely all over the roads without waiting for the traffic lights,” he added.

Mr Benjamin Tan, 26, however, felt that closing roads to traffic would be inconvenient for shoppers with large or bulky items.

The URA will review the six-month, car-free pilot to see if roads in some areas can be closed on a regular basis on weekends to allow for sports and community activities.

 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article reported that during the pilot period of "Car-Free Sundays", certain roads will be closed off on the last Sunday of each month from 7am to 9pm. This is wrong. Roads will be closed from 7am to 9am. We are sorry for the error. 

 

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