Berlin: Transport senator against car-free city centre

Specifically, Tauentzienstrasse between Ku'damm and Wittenbergplatz and Hackescher Markt are to become car-free. Play streets, car-free neighbourhoods and measures to calm traffic within the S-Bahn ring ("dog's head") are also to be promoted and expanded. This is an area the size of Paris within the first Périphérique ring road. Speaking of Paris: What such a shift to the outer districts can look like can be observed very well in the French capital. The dirty cars that were banned from the city centre now drive around the outside. The ones who suffer are all those who live right there. Since the population density is much higher outside the expensive city centre, the driving ban means that twice as many Parisians are now suffering from exhaust fumes than before.

However, Jarasch has now distanced herself from the Berlin petition for a car-free city centre. Although she agrees with the goals of the initiative, it would be politically and practically difficult to implement. This is because the conditions outside the S-Bahn ring are not yet in place for cars to no longer be allowed to drive within it. Such conditions include adequate parking facilities for all vehicles and an increase in public transport from the ring to the city centre and back. In addition, she is counting on the city centre being closed to combustion cars by 2030 anyway. Although this was not agreed in the coalition agreement with the SPD and the Left Party, she hoped that the federal government and Europe would help to achieve these goals. Jarasch is sure that the end for combustion cars will come anyway and that therefore no vehicle will pollute the air in Berlin's current environmental zone after 2030. As a reminder: Within Berlin's S-Bahn ring, you are only allowed to drive with a green environmental sticker. The transport senator does not have to take any responsibility and can sit back and let other authorities decide on such far-reaching changes.