Cars have been around for a little less than one-hundred years and are still very common today. But recently people have started to refrane from using cars as a major source of transportation. Many people are begining to rely on public transportation or even just walking to get where they need to be. It seems these options have their advantages over the normal everyday car.

For one, it's cheaper to use public transportation and walking cost basiclly nothing. In Vauban, Germany, cars have vurtually been eliminated from use. The residents in Vauban have given up their cars to live in this one square-mile town. Everyone in town walks to where they need to be and they all seem fine with not owning a car. For the few that do own a car, they had to purchase a spot in a parking garage at the edge of the development for 40,000 dollars. This town is an example of the effort to drastically reduce greenhouse emissions from automobiles. It turns out that cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe and 50 percent in the United States. This would be a huge cut in greenhouse emissions if cars were eliminated from everyday life and alternative forms of tranportation was used.

In Paris, France all cars were banned from driving because of the near record pollution in the city. The smog rivaled Beijing, China which is one of the most polluted cities in the world. This was largly due to the amount of diesel cars in Paris, with nearly 67 percent of the vehicles in France being diesel vehicles. Citizens were ordered to leave their cars at home, and public transportation would be free that day. Those who violated would be fined 22-euro or about 31 dollars. Almost 4,000 drivers were fined with 27 people having their car impounded for refusing to pay the fine. Because of this traffic congestion was down 60 percent. Although many delivery companies complained of lost revenue the city ran much smoother than usual. Not only did France conduct this, Bogota, Colombia conducts a car-free day regularly. Making milions of Colombians walked, biked, or skated to work that day. With a total population of around 7 million people, this is quite a feat to pull of. Even with occasional rain showers the people were still willing to participate. Their goal is to promote public transportation and to reduce smog. Since then two more Colombian cities, Cali and Valledupar, have joined the event. This event has sparked the need for new smooth sidewalks, including a traffic cut, with new restaurants and shopping districts have popped up.

Cars have been a major source of transportation for the last one-hundred years, but it seems as if the world is begining to move away from the car and finding alternative means of transport. And with the reduction of greenhouse gases it would bring, it might not be a bad idea afterall.