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Starting in 2019, Oslo Will Restrict the Use of Vehicles in its City Center (nytimes.com)
If you drive a car into the city center of Oslo next month, you shouldn't plan on staying long: There won't be any parking spots. The Norwegian capital is in the process of eliminating the remaining 700 street parking spots in its city center by the end of 2018 as part of its plan to turn the area into a car-free zone. From a report: "We're doing this to give the streets back to the people," Hanna Elise Marcussen, Oslo's vice mayor for urban development, said during a recent phone interview. "And of course, it's environmentally friendly." (The Scandinavian country, recently recognized as one of the world's most ecologically progressive nations, has plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and halt the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2025.)
[...] In Oslo, the plan to remove cars from the city began in 2015 when a coalition of progressive political parties called for a city center free from vehicles. Similar plans have been met with resistance in places like Dublin, where local officials have proposed expanding that city's pedestrian zone, and Barcelona. Even in ecologically minded Oslo, it wasn't easy. "There's been quite a bit of public date, and there's been quite a lot of controversy, and it's been quite difficult to do this in a way that businesses and citizens can accept," Ms. Marcussen said.
[...] In Oslo, the plan to remove cars from the city began in 2015 when a coalition of progressive political parties called for a city center free from vehicles. Similar plans have been met with resistance in places like Dublin, where local officials have proposed expanding that city's pedestrian zone, and Barcelona. Even in ecologically minded Oslo, it wasn't easy. "There's been quite a bit of public date, and there's been quite a lot of controversy, and it's been quite difficult to do this in a way that businesses and citizens can accept," Ms. Marcussen said.
Hopefully Oslo is different. In the US, a city doing this will wind up just like Austin, SF, and NYC. The Maybach drivers will have parking somewhere. The workers who don't make the 6-7 digits a year will have to deal with a shitty commute, crappy public transportation, and delays, while the city leaders can thump their chests about how "eco" they are.
Take Austin. The city council is doing their damndest to force cars out of the city core, by allowing businesses to build high density residential towers with zero parking on residential roads that never were meant for thousands of vehicles an hour. However, the council is proud of the fact that they have not made a single improvement to the highways in the city since 1995, other than the state of Texas adding tollways. If you are wealthy enough to take Uber everywhere, and pay $10-$30 so you can take the HOV lane downtown and back, it is great. If you don't... well, you deal with $45/day garage fees, or try to use Capital Metro, which also functions as a bedroom (and bathroom) for the local crusties.
Having environmental laws apply evenly is one thing. Trying to appear environmentally conscious by screwing the working class is another, and this is why we are seeing the French "Yellow Vest" protesters. The ironic thing is that in California, gas and diesel costs more there than it does in France, even comparing gallon per gallon and dollar for Euro.
Most European cities have a street or a whole district which is already like this. Severely limited to cars, but delivery trucks can visit when needed (generally very early in the morning). These are usually the most popular and touristy streets in the cities, with lots of restaurants and shopping and bars on the ground floor, and apartments in the 3-6 stories above the shops. Not many delivery trucks are needed for a store, and if they drive carefully at 5mph down the street they are not much of a danger when they do arrive.
Not everyone goes to work at *exactly* the same time. If the average autonomous car drives just two people to work each day, one at 7am and one at 8am, then you've eliminated half the cars that a city needs for commuting. Naturally, autonomous cars outside the peak hour (like an hour before or after the peak) would be much cheaper (since the marginal cost of another ride is low) which would provide a strong incentive for workers to spread out their commuting times a bit.
Err sorry but no. All the major cities in the Netherlands have parking in the inner city district. One of your "newest" cities was built from the ground up with car transportation in mind.
Don't get me wrong The Netherlands has other great initiatives to dissuade people from driving a car. The fact that it driving to my city centre takes me 19 minutes, catching a metro takes 23minutes, and cycling takes 22minutes, and the parking in the city centre would quickly bankrupt me is a good start. But driving right into the middle of most cities is still very much an option.