Reykjavík city waging war on car owners
Hildur Björnsdóttir.
City authorities are openly pursuing a policy aimed at making car ownership and use as difficult as possible, effectively forcing people to choose alternative modes of transportation, says Hildur Björnsdóttir, leader of the Independence Party in Reykjavík’s city council. She was speaking about a draft transportation plan for a new neighborhood in Keldnaland.
The plan currently allocates only 2,230 parking spaces for 12,000 residents and 6,000 workers expected to commute to the area. Based on current car ownership rates in Iceland, approximately 7,500 parking spaces would be needed for residents alone.
Björnsdóttir argues that this confirms what many have suspected—that the city council’s Social Democratic majority has a clear bias against car owners.
The Borgarlína rapid transit line is planned to run straight through the middle of the neighborhood. Photo/Alta
“Their goal is obvious, even though they’ve tried to hide it,” says Björnsdóttir. “They are deliberately making it difficult for people to travel by car.”
She adds that this policy is now completely transparent:
“It’s written out clearly in their plans. They are making it as hard as possible for people to own and use cars, while trying to push them toward other options. This isn’t about free choice or people voluntarily adopting a certain lifestyle. It’s about creating so many obstacles that people are forced to change how they travel.”
