Car-free Sundays could be the answer to London’s congestion problems

London could soon see a drastic decrease in road traffic for at least one day a week, if Boris Johnson gets his way.

The Mayor of London since 2008, Mr Johnson has made public his backing for a ‘car-free’ Sunday scheme to ease congestion and pollution in the capital.

It is thought the idea was sparked by an effective scheme in Jakarta, with the city closing a number of roads to cars from 6am. Speaking on a public visit to the Indonesian capital, Mr Johnson is quoted as saying; “I was blown away by the popularity of the car-free Sunday here [and] I will certainly be asking Transport for London to dust down [their] old ideas and have a look.”

A similar scheme was introduced to the streets of Bristol in 2013, with two roads being closed each weekend as part of the city’s Make Sunday Special campaign. Such a restriction would likely be harder to implement in central London, although the large public transport network would hopefully be able to shoulder the extra burden.

Mr Johnson, famous throughout his tenure for his focus on busses and public-use bikes, made the comments whilst the government unveiled its flagship, £15bn, plan to rejuvenate the nation’s road networks.

The cash injection comes as the RAC Foundation issued a report warning that the number of British road users is set to soar from 36 million to 43 million over the next two decades.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said the report illustrated the “massive challenges” the UK faced in “unclogging our urban areas”.

“Traffic forecasting is not an exact science but the direction of travel is clear – towards increasing jams,” he said.

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