As a Downtown Pittsburgh resident with a @TheWarOnCars sticker on his laptop, I’ve thought a lot about this.

I think the answer is: if we’re strategic, I think we can kick cars out a lot of Downtown streets.

Put on you Montell Jordan, because this is how we do it: (1/x) https://twitter.com/bethanyhallam/status/1281931248869478400

The goal here is to make Downtown Pittsburgh a better place for the majority of people who use it. Those being:

- Transit commuters, who out-number drivers.

- People walking to businesses. If you’ve been around Market Square at lunchtime, you’ve seen the crunch of pedestrians.

But they also aren’t everyone! Two groups need to be kept in mind:

- People with mobility issues who need to access Downtown services by car

- Workers making deliveries to businesses. They will need space to do so, at least part of the day. (3/x)

(Of course I made a you/your typo in the first tweet. OH WELL, NO GOING BACK NOW!)

We’re lucky, in many respects. Downtown Pittsburgh is far more out-of-your-car friendly than most American Downtowns.

A lot of that can be attributed to the blessed lack of surface parking lots, at least in the main core of Downtown. (5/x) https://twitter.com/tomhorsman/status/1092619509150687234?s=21 https://twitter.com/tomhorsman/status/1092619509150687234

Now here’s where it gets tricky: parking garages. We’ve got a bunch of them.

The following map is a few years out of date, but it’s the closest approximation of how many parking spots exist in Downtown Pittsburgh garages. (6/x)

About 40% of Downtown Pittsburgh commuters drive to get to work. Or at least they did before, well, y’know...

We’re still going to get thousands of people who will drive Downtown, looking for a place to park.

And many of the garages are underground, with no real re-use. (7/x)

But let’s look at that map of garages (and big outer lots) again.

The biggest ones are not right in the middle of Downtown — they’re on the edge of it. The highways and bridges lead right to them.

Pittsburgh’s planners have given us space to work with: in the core. (8/x)

This should be the expectation:

If you want to drive your car to work, to a hotel, to see a show or a ballgame, or go to a restaurant, that’s fine! There’ll be a spot for you on the edge of town, a short walk from your destination. (9/x)

As for everyone else...

These are the streets that should be the focus of improvement:

Pedestrianization , transit malls , outdoor dining space , linear parks ... let’s open up new possibilities.

Forgive me, I’m just using the highlighter on my iPhone. (10/x)

Again, the majority of people on Downtown streets/sidewalks at any given time are:

- Using transit (on a bus, walking to one, or waiting for one)

- Walking. To shops or restaurants or a meeting or event.

It just makes sense to provide more space for them than for cars. (11/x)

I’m reminded of this slide from Don Carter’s TedxPittsburgh talk.

These regions have similar population to our region. They are our comparables (albeit more expensive to live, for the most part).

And for the most part, they have wonderful street life we should emulate! (12/x)

These places sure ain’t tropical paradises. But Copenhagen and Zurich make a lot of room for biking and transit.

And tourists from around the world travel to Dublin and Vienna, just to see these amazing places and soak in the history and the city life. (13/x)

That’s an hour of tweeting to say:

Can we ban cars from Downtown Pittsburgh?

Kinda!

Should it be our goal to make Downtown a better place for people outside of their cars?

You bet! (14/14)