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Madrid’s ban on cars cut traffic on its busiest street by a third — and other cities are cracking down

Madrid joins a long list of cities that are restricting cars in an effort to reduce traffic and air pollution.

A car-free day in Madrid, where only buses, taxis, motorcycles, and official vehicles were permitted to drive.
  • advanced registration.
  • 2020, older diesel and petrol cars won't be allowed to enter the city center at all.

Recent years have ushered in a "war on cars" in cities.

As urban areas become more crowded and roads become more congested, city governments have taken up arms against excess traffic and parked vehicles.

Cars are also frequent contributors to air pollution, one of the main causes of worldwide deaths, behind

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Madrid joins a host of cities that are cracking down on older vehicles, which produce substantially more emissions than new cars. Already, the city of Paris has instated car-free Sundays in the urban core, as well as an annual car-free day throughout the entire city. Cities like London and Athens have proposed similar bans on or vehicles.

Many citizens and politicians have criticized these bans as unfairly targeting low-income residents, who are more likely to drive older cars. Others see it as a necessary measure to prevent tens of thousands of premature deaths.

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