TOO MANY CARS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 863, 6 January 1930, Page 9

TOO MANY CARS

PARIS TRAFFIC EXPERTS PERPLEXED BIG GARAGES SUGGESTED Every Parisian who is not a motorcar owner appears to be convinced that there are already far too many cars on the streets —except on rainy days, when all the taxicabs disappear as though by magic. But it appears that we have only one car for every twenty-four inhabitants, while New York has one for every nine, says the Paris correspondent of the “Sunday Times,” London. But the proportion may undergo a change in the near future, for during last year France turned out 223,000 new cars, and her production is rapidly being increased. The great problem now is where to put all these vehicles. Even though they go four abreast in either direction they jam the boulevards, and now can only crawl at a snail’s pace. Thirty years ago one could travel in a horse carriage from the Madeleine to the Place de la Republique in fifteen minutes. No matter how powerful the modern car may be, it will certainly take almost half an hour to cover the same distance, owing to the necessity for stopping every two hundred yards or so in obedience to the traffic policeman’s signals. And now the motorcar invasion threatens some of the beauty spots of Paris. There are suggestions that great garages should be provided in the Place de la Concorde, the Place Vendome, and other large spaces. At present these are freely used as parking places, and the most ardent motorist cannot claim that the long lines of closely packed cars have added to their beauty. Yet the game goes on. Nine years ago Paris had only 31,000 motor-cars. Now she has 300,000. The traffic experts, in despair, have suggested that there should be underground roads and garages, but they are always faced with the problem of who shall find the money. Everyone is agreed that something must be done, but that is as far as we have got up to the pres-