City centers eh? I'd have to say ban them. Some would argue that not everyone can take public transport. But you all could just walk right? It is only the city center.

Bear in mind I'm from a rural...err...bush community in the NWT. I have little idea what the tolerance for walking is in big cities, but if it's only a couple of kilometers it won't kill ya :P

Of course for disabled folk, I suppose public transit and/or special vehicles (with signs or such) would be a good solution.

Please, let me not be the only one discussing this :P

-Omni

Not practical at all.

London England has limited cars a lot but they have a transit system that is amazing.

canada doesn't have that type of system in any urban area.

In Toronto you can barely get onto the subway at times. I have stood on a platform at rush hour and let an hours worth of trains go by. Too crowded to push on.

and where exactly would all the cars go ?

Would you convert huge areas just outside the urban core to massive parking lots . People drive into the city from all over, not just those of us living in Toronto.

For me, I can drive downtown in 10 minutes.

or

I can walk to the subway for 15 minutes, wait for a train, take the train to yong for 20 mintues ( hopefully) , transfer to the next train , take that train downtown for 10 minutes.

10 minutes or close to an hour.

But in downtown Toronto and other big cities it's also commuters form towns an hour away that drive in.

Not at all practical.

Yes, I agree with this line.

North Americans are still under the conquesting European expansionist fantasy and we set up our elected Governments' to reflect this attitude when they will not force through adequate public transportation .

Per capita this is killing our environment quickly. Now, developing countries want to be like blind-to-it and above-it-all European descendent North Americans and run up the fantasy party bill on the back of the environmental credit card. progressive.

Taxes will do nothing to create healthy lifestyle choices. rather, they will inhibit people from being able to spend the money necessary to upgrade to environmentally friendly technology and locally produced food.

Cities have developed the way they have because land was cheap and plentiful, cheap oil, lots of cars and we just spread.

Cars have to be banned. Yes, difficult, but unless WE start doing something, then we may be the generation watching the whole thing melting, literally, down.

Russ

At present, we in Canada have our own electrically powered vehicle but we are not allowed to buy them or drive them, mainly due i believe to thier slowness on highways. Wht not put these cars and only these cars along with the adorable Smart on city or residential streets. The gas guzzlers could go crazy out of town and the town drivers would be able to cut pollution to practically nil. Of course, this system would disallow large trucks from using city streets.

I actually had this question as my science project for grade 8. I was asked to pick a role (my was DownTown Store owner)and say your opinion about banning cars in Down Town Toronto. You can see my project here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CAZyly9G5c&feature=plcp&context=C3b8d137UDOEgsToPDskIqtI5oauRX69j0m2TYN3ah. My opinion is no.