Well, I don’t see them as subsidies. Unless you consider all infrastructure as being subsidies. For example the autoroutes into Zurich being subsidies for commuters, delivery companies, shippers and consumers.
But these subsidies, if that’s what they are, are the grease that allows our economy to flourish.
We all need the Post, plumbers, delivery services, food, medicine. But there is no clear positive externality of cars parked in the streets of a city. People don’t drive from suburbs to dense areas of a city for takeaway food, get a haircut, buy pizza or ingredients for today’s dinner. So, the health of small business does not depend on cars being able to park in front of them.
OBI, Landi and the like do need a car to transport the stuff they sell, but they’re not in city center.
Anyway, as geriatric millenial who loves driving, I’m a just the messenger. I can only tell that Gen Z will be the ones having a greater impact in future votes on the matter.
And I can see positive signs on the horizon. Fewer youngsters (sorry) are getting their drivers licenses, vehicles for hire (uber, etc) are changing the collusive Taxi systems, public transport is improving.
My generation won’t be changing anything but the next generations …?
I would actually disagree.
I shop fairly regularly at two smaller Asian stores in Zurich, which I live in AG. I also drive to a Balkan store… and get my haircuts in Zurich (the barber I trust from when I lived there)…
You’d be a winner then. The proposal is that inhabitants of the specific zip code 80** which can rent a parking space at the place they live cannot buy anymore a yearly pass for blue zones. So, they have to the use blue disc as anyone, then more places for visitors.
The point of the proposal is that local inhabitants cannot use the streets anymore as their private property just for paying 200-300 francs per year.
If customers from AG going for shops in ZH city that can be found anywhere around CH is a major source of revenue for them…that’s another story.
The photo in the first post on this thread is Künstlergasse which is a narrow steep road which links the University and ETH campuses with downtown Zurich.
It was actually used for an earlier Tagi story and was reused for the one about reducing parking.
The original story was about the right-wing ex-Mayor of Zurich, Thomas Wagner, in the 1980s and his campaign to keep the road open to motor traffic.
The plan is to close it it to vehicles and only allow pedestrians and bicycles to access the University this way (there are also plenty of public transport options along other routes.
Basically, the Mayor had been using this route as his ‘secret’ shortcut from his home on Zurichberg down into the city and was upset that he was losing it.
We definitely need less officials who think planning decisions should be based on their own private needs.
Too much of that going on here.
12th most densly populated country in Europe (6th if you ignore micro states), almost twice the population density of France actually.
I listened to a podcast last night about climate change etc.
More science-entertainment in it’s scope but they do cite lots of real research.
Anyway, apart from giving some positive news - such as 60% of Australia’s energy now comes from solar, the link to this thread was they asked the show’s guests to name on thing that people could do themselves which would make a difference.
They seemed to agree that whilst, recycling plastic was, although noble enough, this could only be done a small amount of times before the material was unusable.
One person said the biggest thing people could do was walk and cycle more rather than use a car.
(most car journeys are under 5km)
Many cities are in the process of making infrastructure safer and more inviting to encourage more people to do this.
The plan is too remove all cars and trams in front of Zurich main station
From Le News
01/11/2024 BY LE NEWS
This week, the leaders of the municipality of Zurich voted in favour of charging large car owners more for resident parking permits, reported SRF.
The prices of resident parking permits are set to be calculated based on vehicle weight. A similar charging model has already been introduced in the city of Biel/Bienne. In Zurich, owners of emission-free vehicles will soon be charged between 30 and 40 cents per kilogram of vehicle weight. Those with fossil fuel powered vehicles will pay between 35 and 45 cents per kilogram. The price of an annual permit is expected to rise from CHF 300 to as high as CHF 540. According to the Socialist Party the new price will still be around a quarter of the cost of a private park.
The vote passed with the support of members from the Socialist, Green and Liberal Green parties. The other main parties were against it. The Swiss Peoples Party (SVP/UDC) argued that the changes would penalise families that rely on larger vehicles.
A majority of municipal leaders hope that the change will reduce the size of vehicles on the streets of the city.
Another change included in the plan prevents residents with their own private residential parks from applying for a permit to park on the street. It is hoped this will push vehicles off the streets and into private parking spaces. It is hoped this and the increased price will cut the number of permits issued by 10%.
The plan will now go to the legislative drafting committee before being presented for a final vote to municipal leaders once the the legal wording has been finalised.
The Swiss People’s Party (SVP/UDC) said that it is already discussing the possibility of a referendum against the new rules.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
Wow! It passed 
The expectation was that it will not get enough supporting votes. But, it is true that a 2’000+ kg vehicle to move people around in the city make not so much sense. Even a VW Transporter/Multivan that seats 7-8 people is around 1’800 kg.
Also, less cars on the streets, more parking spaces for people actually driving.
Not necessarily. 
There’s an area here on the outskirts of Bern where the city initially widened the road and improved the pavements, and re-painted the parking spots and installed new meters. A few months later, they ditched all of the newly-painted parking spaces and meters to make bicycle lanes and lowered the speed from 50 to 30. The businesses in the area weren’t notified of the change, so they’ve been dealing with some rather unhappy customers.
That’s called progress.
That’s called poor communication and poor fiscal management.
And the battle in Zurich continues, update via Tages Anzeiger.
The supporters are adding unlimited parking for commercial vehicles (delivery, trades, technicians, etc). This puts political parties that are allegedly “pro-business” in a very uncomfortable position.
And, some trolling from TA: show that it’s cheaper to park a 911 compared to generic SUVs.
In the UK, 40% of cars are SUVs.
In Japan, due to tax/parking incentives/reductions etc, 40% of cars are Kei type cars.
This means they have a limited power and a maximum of 660cc.
If you have a small, light car, (and you’re not a fatty), you can still get adequate performance with a smaller engine.
You can still have fun too. This Caterham has been granted K approval in Japan:
I know in Tokyo you can’t register a car if you don’t have an off-street parking spot first.
What qualifies as having parking? Where we live there is an underground car park but does not have enough spots for everyone (also because they rent to people that do not live there). Would one then still be able to get the blue zone parking permit?
Important details. Draft versions of specific regulations should be public somewhere in ZH city website. No time today to look them 
Zurich is greedy for money.
