Clean mobility
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Clean mobility
Here's how Ghent ensures the easy accessibility of the city without compromising the health of its local residents and visitors.
Clean mobility
Here's how Ghent ensures the easy accessibility of the city without compromising the health of its local residents and visitors.
Ghent is a vibrant city bustling with local residents, students, commuters and tourists. Every day, countless people are on the move and this results in a great deal of traffic. This is producing an increase in all traffic flows, putting greater pressure on public space and increasing harmful CO2 emissions. To ensure Ghent’s accessibility and livability in the future, the city’s heavily investing in sustainable mobility to reduce the impact of air pollution and enhance road safety.
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The Ghent mobility plan
We have opted for a long-term approach ensuring sustainable mobility as well as quality of life. By means of the Mobility Plan, Ghent aims to become an easily accessible city where people live comfortably, safely and healthily. To this end, we have set the following targets:
- a shift from car travel to more sustainable alternatives
- a greater focus on electric mobility, car sharing and sustainable logistics
- making the city’s fleet of cars more sustainable
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Ghent's sustainable mobility projects
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Park-and-rides
Car parks on the edge of the city reduce the amount of traffic in the centre.
Ghent has created several park-and-ride (P&R) sites to reduce congestion in the inner city. In September 2021, there were more than 15 such sites totalling over 2000 parking spaces. Most P+Rs are free of charge.
You can quickly and easily get to the city centre by making use of public transport, a free shuttlebus or shared bicycles.
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Car-free area
Since 2017, five sectors of Ghent’s city centre have constituted the largest car-free area in Belgium.
The inner city of Ghent is divided into five car-free sectors where pedestrians can make use of the entire road and motorised vehicles may only circulate with a permit. Transport for loading and unloading is only allowed at specific times.
This way, Ghent wants to enhance the liveability in the inner city, increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists and improve the flow of public transport.
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Ghent’s low-emission zone
To improve the air quality, the city center of Ghent is a low emission zone.
The Ghent city centre has been a low-emission zone since 2020. The most polluting vehicles are no longer allowed to enter the inner city, which helps improve the air quality. In 2021, the local authorities also announced the creation of an air-quality fund to support initiatives in this respect.
One year after the introduction of the low-emission zone, measurements made as part of a study by Transport & Mobility Leuven and the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) showed that soot particles had already decreased by 52% in the city centre.
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Extensive cycling infrastructure
To accommodate the bicycle as an everyday mode of transportation, Ghent’s building infrastructure and expanding facilities.
The aim is for transport by bicycle to account for 35% of all forms of transport by 2030. To this end, we have drawn up a bicycle plan focusing on four objectives: more space for cyclists, a city-regional route network, more bicycle sheds and an integral cycling policy with De Fietsambassade.
Over the past few years, several methods have been used to achieve these objectives:
- bicycle streets where cars are not allowed to overtake cyclists and may not go faster than 30 km/h
- bicycle bridges and underpasses where cyclists can safely cross busy roads
- more bicycle sheds and parking spaces for bikes
- De Fietsambassade, an organisation which provides bicycle services and promotes bicycle use in Ghent.
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Circulation Plan
Ghent’s Circulation Plan is aimed at banning through traffic from the city centre.
Since the Circulation Plan’s introduction in 2017, Gent has been divided in various sectors. People who want to travel from one sector to another by car can no longer traverse the inner city but need to take the ring road.
This way, Ghent wants to reduce the through traffic in its centre and enhance liveability without compromising accessibility. Several local circulation plans are developed for the neighbourhoods surrounding the inner city.
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Fifteen sensor boxes measure air quality in real time
Thanks to the new sensors, more data can also be collected on the impact of the future district mobility plan.
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In and around Ghent, air quality is measured with ten automatic measuring stations, such as in Baudelohof and Lange Violettestraat, but also in Wondelgem and Mariakerke. In addition, there are 45 measuring tubes at various locations inside and outside the R40. Those measuring tubes are taken to the lab every two weeks to examine the results, which means that the data can only be used over longer periods.
In January 2024, fifteen brand new sensor boxes were added to the Dampoort district. They will be there for two years and transmit the data in real time. The Flemish Environment Agency (VMM) monitors the quality of the sensors and shares the results live via the portal of CityTRAQ. Thanks to the new sensors, it is possible to find out much more about the amount of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) caused by traffic, and that at any time of the day.
The sensor boxes also allow even more data to be collected on the impact of the future district mobility plan in Dampoort and Oud Gentbrugge. Air quality will be measured both before and after implementation, but the final results are not expected until at least a year after the implementation in order to be able to study the evolution in depth.
Future projects
Dampoort is not the end point: in the course of 2025, the sensor boxes will move to Muide and Dok Noord to map the impact of the future Verapaz bridge. Next school year, a project will also be launched before and after the introduction of a school street. The data will be visible live at the school gate. Which school district is eligible is currently being investigated.
The project is co-financed by the European LIFE project CityTRAQ and is a collaboration between six partners: the Flemish Environment Agency (VMM) and the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service (DHMZ).
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Public charging stations
To promote the use of electric vehicles, Ghent requires an extensive network of charging stations.
Since 2016, Ghent has developed a network of electric car charging stations so that every local resident has a public charging station within a 500m radius. The total number of charging stations was 188 in September 2021.
Companies wishing to make a charging station on their premises accessible to the public are eligible for subsidies. This way, Ghent aims to promote the use of electric vehicles.
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Subsidies for environmentally friendly mobility
People who commit themselves to protecting the environment and climate can receive (financial) support from the City of Ghent.
To encourage sustainable mobility among local residents and businesses, the City of Ghent provides various subsidies and grants:
- for local residents who dispose of their car and hand in their number plate
- for local residents who share their electric car through a car sharing organisation
- for companies that install a public charging station
- for companies that purchase an electric taxi
- for market vendors who purchase a more environmentally friendly vehicle
- and so on.
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Car and bicycle sharing
Together with its inhabitants, Ghent aims for fewer cars and more car sharing.
Ghent wishes to encourage local residents to share cars, as one shared car can replace up to 12 privately owned cars. Moreover, car sharing reduces the need for parking spaces, and the space that is freed up can be used for greenery, a bicycle shed, etc.
Over 14,000 people in Ghent shared a car in September 2021. A shared car is either owned by a special organisation or by a private individual who uses it together with others.
Bicycle sharing organisations rent out bikes to local residents and visitors at several locations in Ghent.
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30 km/h zone
Slower traffic makes a city safer, more pleasant and cleaner.
Since 2015, the speed limit in Ghent’s centre has been 30 km/h. Around the inner city, there are also numerous areas where drivers have to limit their speed. These zones are constantly expanding, particularly around residential areas and in village centres.
30 km/h zones improve not just the liveability and road safety, they also reduce the emissions of CO2 and particulate matter. This benefits the environment and the health of local residents.
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The inhabitants of Ghent make about 600,000 trips a day. In addition, approximately 185,000 people commute to Ghent every day. A large part of these trips are made to and from work (32%), and more than half of these are made by car. This results in traffic congestion, accidents, air pollution, etc. The good news is that an increasing number of alternatives can be easily used at the appropriate moment. This makes Ghent a more pleasant place to live, work, study and relax in!