Today, September 22th, is the World Car-Free Day that celebrates the healthy and active lifestyle. We are reminded for one day to leave our cars behind and walk/cycle around our towns, cities and neighborhoods. Car ownership in CEE countries is 409 passenger cars per thousand inhabitants in 2015, still considerably below EU average (482) and people appreciate more active modes of transportation. Nevertheless, the amount of private cars has been constantly increasing for the last 30 years. The biggest share of passenger cars you can find in Poland, Austria and Slovenia. The least share of passenger cars are in FYR of Macedonia, Romania and Hungary. Economic development seem to play a role in our habits of transportation but so do the regulations and the environment. We encourage our city-planners and architects to develop the living environment that is more accessible for the pedestrians and cyclists but also for people with baby transport, mobility trolleys and wheelchairs.
* 2015 a data for Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal is interpolated from previous years.