Since 14 June 1996 daytime traffic has been restricted in the old town of Lübeck in Germany.
Photo: Matthias Erz
The city of Lübeck has e.g. encouraged bicycling to facilitate the reform.
Photo: Matthias Erz
The plans and experiments to reduce traffic in the old town area began in the 1980´s. Finally, from 14 June 1996 onwards the new traffic concept has been in force every day of the week. This means that the historic city is free of traffic daily from 11.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Buses, parking places, bicycles
The restriction of traffic has been facilitated by a number of measures enabling people to get in and out of the old town. The city has provided 5500 parking places in the vicinity of the historic city and built new parking houses. Visitors and locals can also leave their cars at special "park and ride" parking places and use the frequent and quick bus-services to enter the old town area. Furthermore, new bus-lines have been established and bicycling is encouraged and made easier.
Certain vehicles are still allowed to enter the old town
Naturally there are also exceptions to the concept of a traffic-free old town (e.g. public buses, taxis, delivery vans, inhabitants of the historic city, etc.). At first some shops located in the center of the city feared a reduction of sales and therefore were initially against the reform. Today, the situation has changed and many shops offer their customers a repayment of the parking fee and free tickets for public transportation, thereby contributing to the new concept.
For further information, please have a look at the traffic section of Lübeck´s homepages .
