Free of Cars?

I can envision a time when ICE's are charged a special fee.....but not personal transportation, that will probably never happen....EV's will at some point in time become more practical I think...Although the collector car market will only continue, at some point they might require special license...Who would give up their vintage muscle car...

Hmm.... I think I know the idea soundtrack to accompany the story you seem to be setting up.

More like this I think.....70's raw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb5EfvVkcfA

classic but I actually prefer Chickenfoots version

Not even close...cheap copy

Nice.

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I wonder how many good 70's songs about racing cars in defiance of confiscation there are? There have to be more than two, of course only one popped into my head immediately.

to your point I can easily image the idiocy of state and local agencies banning the engine running of classic cars in parades and other events in the name of curbing pollution. lets hope you never need a special permit to fire up that BIG block!

If I think about it I can

That's called imagination.

do you envision a day when major cities will be car-free zones?

Yes, but not for quite some time as many things would need to change to make this viable (moving sidewalks, super advanced mass transit systems, city redesigns, major shifts in the way society works and thinks, etc).

I don't expect to see it in any of our lifetimes.

I read an article today that Hamburg Germany envisions just this

No, not in my lifetime.

Emergency responders will be driving ground vehicles for some time into the future.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/auto-ban-how-hamburg-is-taking-cars-off-the-road-9062461.htmlthey want em done by 2034

Good on them! Won't work for all/many cities but good case studies of cities actually implementing this is very forward thinking and necessary for driving social change.

I can think of far worse ways to use public funds.

Like Mackinac Island?

Venice might be a better example .

Mackinac Island has motorized vehicles. They are called fire trucks. I used to live there. I had a gas go cart from a lawn mower engine one summer and rode it all over the island. Yup got in trouble for it.

You mean Magnetic Island?

Some cities already do this, just not for the entire city, just large sections.

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Some car free areas are the size of bus only roads (I guess side walks would technically qualify as well). Other car free or car limited zones seek to relief from other typical aspects of a city as well. Central Park would be a good example, though at best it would be car limited and not car-free.

Will there be the pedestrian equivalent of "road rage', when they try to hail cabs, and none ever show up?

I had a great couple of days in NYC while staying with a friend of my brother's. No car needed. Had a blast.

Will there be the pedestrian equivalent of "road rage', when they try to hail cabs, and none ever show up?
Cab rage?

Major cities, yes...all cities no.

No, I think it much more likely there will be autonomous cars, probably not privately owned but leased by the hour as Smart Cars are today.