Oslo to ban all private vehicles from city centre by 2019

Oslo's new city council won't be sworn in until tomorrow but it has already announced its first order of business: ban all private vehicles from the city centre. The move will be phased in over the next four years.

Lan Marie Nguyen Berg tells As It Happens host Carol Off the change is essential. 

"What we see in Oslo and a lot of cities is that cars get way too much space in the city. We would like to give the space back to the people in the city," Berg explains. She adds that the ban will create more bicycle lanes and better public transit. It will also create more more public space in Oslo.

"We can use the city for people instead of cars."

Berg adds that the city centre is a small geographic area in Oslo's downtown core.

"You could walk across it in 15 minutes," she says. 

Berg says she's already met with business owners in the city centre to discuss their concerns, which have more to do with supply chains than their customer base.

 "Only seven per cent of the customers who are shopping in the city centre come by car. What we want to do is find good solutions for [business owners] so they can have their goods delivered at certain times."

Oslo's new leftist city council is made up of the Labour Party, the Socialist Left and the Greens.