With Vooruit.brussels, we advocate for an end to the current electoral bidding war of symbolic politics, which only results in polarisation and stagnation.
The next legislative term needs solutions, not endless squabbling. We want a #ResetGoodMove with a primary focus on the objectives that really matter: clean air, road safety, the revitalisation of public spaces, and more liveable neighbourhoods. People are fighting back because they have been given concrete blocks instead of what they need: safely designed streets, attractive squares and parks. They have received less under the current Good Move, whereas it should have been more.
“We need to emphasise what people stand to gain, because currently the focus is too much on what they stand to lose. As soon as a square/street really changes, as soon as there is more play space, benches, and trees, resistance quickly subsides. We will also have to convince people who don't live in Brussels. We need to ensure that there are enough alternatives for people from the outskirts who are willing to leave their cars behind, so they can easily enter the city using our public transport. Let's not leave the city to the loudest voices, but rather to people who genuinely want to come up with solutions, says Ans Persoons.
Dogmas will have to be abandoned on both sides:
- We will have to achieve smoother traffic on the transit routes, primarily on the ring road around Brussels by separating local and through traffic.
- Public transport needs to become more competitive in terms of time savings: more segregated bus lanes, trams in their own right-of-way, and more efficient metro operations.
- The construction of park-and-ride car parks has completely ground to a halt this legislative period, a deliberate choice by the responsible Minister. That needs to change. Furthermore, a comprehensive parking strategy needs to be developed for off-street parking, meaning underground or in separate parking garages.
- #GoodLiving is the main ally of #ResetGoodMove: rethinking public space, not against the car, but for the residents. Cars will still need a place in the city, but following the Barcelona model, parking will take place underground as much as possible, rather than on the road.
- Vooruit.brussels wants to complete the network of safe cycle paths in the short term by building wide, separated cycle paths on major traffic routes. And we're not just promising this. We've already done it!
- Those who cycle also want to be able to park their bikes safely. Bike boxes and bike stands are often full. Vooruit.brussels is committed to providing bicycle parking at least every 150m.
- Vooruit.brussels wants to design our residential areas to suit the residents, and especially our youngest residents. We will achieve this by making a large proportion of the residential roads one-way. We can keep unnecessary cut-through traffic out of residential areas by cleverly redirecting cars to main roads.
- The standstill around Metro 3 is unacceptable, both in the interest of local residents, commuters, and the economic development of our region. It is time to change tack and focus on a new financing model for Noord-Bordet.
- Interconnectivity with Flanders must be strengthened as a priority: the connection of the A12 tram to the Brussels network and the airport tram must be carried out as a priority next legislative term. These new projects can be game changers. The lack of ambition is the greatest enemy of the people of Brussels: dare to study the extension of the metro to Groot-Bijgaarden, together with Flanders, so that the Kaiser-Karel-laan can be reconstructed into a city boulevard without resistance, … and without compromises.
- Smartmove will have to be implemented, but preferably in collaboration with the other regions, so that the toll can be applied throughout the Brussels metropolitan area. The Flemish people have also had enough of all the through traffic: we must manage the traffic on the transit routes and guide it as effectively as possible towards public transport hubs and park-and-ride facilities.
GoodMove is the brainchild of Vooruit.brussels. We unequivocally stand behind this plan, but we advocate for a Reset: in its implementation, the plan has been too narrowly focused on being a mobility plan, when it needs to be a quality of life plan that can thus provide a more unifying answer to the people of Brussels: for cyclists, pedestrians, cars, and public transport.
If we want to rebuild public support and improve our quality of life, this #ResetGoodMove is essential.
Would you like to find out more about our approach to sustainable transport? See also https://vooruit.brussels/speerpunten/zachtemobiliteit/