Cities cannot expect to solve the traffic problem by building more roads and car parks, the deputy director of Zurich's transport authority, Mr Ernst Joos, said in Dublin last night.
He said Switzerland's largest city was "living proof of the fact that a transport policy which promotes public transport at the expense of the private motor car results in considerable economic development".
Addressing a public meeting in Trinity College organised by the Dublin Transportation Office, Mr Joos said the economic strength of Zurich had been unaffected by its citizens' espousal of "the good old tram".
Over the past 20 years, in a series of referendums, they had defeated plans for an underground metro system in favour of reallocating road space for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists.
"The instrument of the referendum is very clearly responsible for the fact that Zurich's transport policy differs from that in towns where elected representatives determine what happens," Mr Joos said.
All public construction projects in Zurich which cost more than 10 million Swiss francs (£30 million) must be voted on by its citizens, he explained. And on transport, the citizens were way ahead of the politicians.
"If you ask the inhabitants of a town which transport policy should be followed, they will not choose the car. They are much more intelligent than politicians believe and have higher values than merely standing still in a traffic jam."
Such traffic congestion was self-defeating. "Every housewife knows that a washing machine must not be completely filled if a good result is to be achieved. The same applies to the urban road network," he said.
Thus, in Zurich, the overflow of private motor traffic was answered not by increasing road space and building more car parks, "but by redistributing the existing road space in favour of public transport and pedestrians".
Zurich's transport policy aims to promote a switch from the car to public transport; to channel motor traffic to create better conditions in residential areas; to limit parking places for commuters and to reduce the overall level of traffic.
"An essential requirement for this is the provision of an attractive public transport system and good conditions for pedestrians," Mr Joos said, adding that Zurich's system is so good that it attracts twice as many journeys as comparable German cities.
