The NFFT will present a domestic initiative that helps contribute to sustainability on its website each month.

In September, it will be the nationally and internationally equally popular event, the European Car-Free Day and Mobility Week.

The massive growth of urban motor traffic in Europe by the end of the last century created more inconveniences for the people in their everyday lives instead of contributing to their comfort.

The Car-Free Day started as a civil initiative in the French town of La Rochelle in 1997. The following year, the event was organised in many towns and cities across France and Italy, on September 22, arranged in most part by the local governments. The goal was simple: to raise public awareness to support the protection of the environment and encourage people to try alternative modes of transport to reduce the pressures of increasing motor traffic.

The European Car-Free Day was launched in 2000 by Margot Wallström, the EU’s commissioner for environment at the time and it soon developed into a one-week-long event. It was an instant success when it was first announced in 2002 when 320 local governments from 21 countries participated in it while the second European Mobility Week mobilised 723 cities and towns in 21 countries in Europe.

This year, 1964 European communities applied including 280 from Hungary.

The event over the years:

In Hungary, Szeged, Hatvan, Veszprém and Pécs were the first cities to organise an official Car-Free Day in 2000 while in Budapest, there was only a demonstration participating the Clean Air Action Group and Friends of Urban Cycling in Ferenciek square calling for the creation of separate bus lanes. In the meantime, a banner with the caption “Europe is celebrating a Car-Free Day today” was hung from the overfly at the junction of the motorways M7 and M1.  As Budapest has been a dedicated participant since 2002, Andrássy road is closed for motor traffic for one or more days. Recently, the programme was expanded with many theatres moving to the street and offering programmes.

What is the mobility week?

It is a series of events where a certain area of the town is closed for passenger cars and is used for offering programmes for passers-by. These actions wish to promote that streets are community spaces. They are designed to encourage more and more people to think about what kind of cities and towns they would prefer to live in. One of the long term objectives of the event is to convince people using cars to switch to alternative and sustainable modes of travel.