New polls show that the people of Oslo are not as happy with the red-green car policy.
Ever since the Labor Party’s Raymond Johansen formed City Council together with MDG and SV, Oslo city center has experienced major changes in car policy.
As many as 5,000 parking spaces have been closed and the capital is characterized by more and more cycle paths.
Recent polls now show that only 26 percent support the red-greens in this policy. This is despite the fact that the City Council has repeatedly stated that decisions have been made with broad support from the citizens of Oslo.
– We are not surprised. When we listen to the grassroots, we think the opposition is actually even greater, says party leader and city council representative in FNB Cecilie Lyngby to Nettavisen.
Lyngby believes that several of the City Council’s surveys consist of leading questions and therefore considers it both cheating and deception.
– The questions that are asked are manipulated so that the city council gets the answers they want, Lyngby says to Nettavisen.
The public action no to tolls commissioned a separate survey from Sentio Research Norway, where Lyngby believes the sample is more representative of the entire population in Oslo. The answers are weighted on both age and gender, and are performed with a random sample.
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The majority against the City Council
The answers from the survey show something completely different than broad support for the City Council’s decisions. As much as 61 percent are against the City Council’s removal of parking spaces.
“Oslo’s 300,000 motorists are facing a dark future when fewer and fewer people find a parking space for the cars they are so dependent on,” Lyngby told Nettavisen.
Several of those who oppose MDG’s parking policy are older, where 70% of those who want to keep the parking spaces were 50 years and up.
The younger ones want a bike path
When asked whether Oslo should spend NOK 13.5 billion on building cycle paths, 44 per cent answered yes. The City Council has previously stated that 9 out of 10 in Oslo are positive about developing more cycle paths, which is considerably more than what the new survey shows.
– The City Council will spend at least 13 billion on building bicycle lanes across Oslo. We believe it is very serious that the city council neither wants nor is able to present figures for how many thousands of parking spaces will disappear in the city when the 560 km of bicycle lanes have been completed, Lyngby tells Nettavisen.
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The survey shows that there are more young people who want a better cycling network in the city. Much of the reason for this may be related to the fact that fewer people under the age of 30 own their own car in Oslo City Center. As a result, fewer people need parking spaces, and rather prefer options such as bicycle.
In addition, recent times have shown that climate and environmental policy will be an important issue for several younger voters, especially first-time voters.
Development of better cycle paths
The purpose of removing the parking spaces in Oslo has, among other things, been to facilitate more cycle paths.
When the City Council has stated that 9 out of 10 from the population of Oslo are positive to the development of the cycle path network in Oslo, they refer to an Attitude Survey on cycling in Oslo conducted in 2020.
The survey was conducted by Opinion AS for the Urban Environment Agreement, and asked the question “Do you think it is good that the municipality is working to get more people to cycle?”.
– It is not true that the number is used to say anything about how many people support the removal of parking spaces directly, adds City Councilor for Environment and Transport Sirin Stav.
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Specifically to the opinion poll commissioned by FNB, the city council answers:
– The measurement referred to has been commissioned by the toll party and asks for the use of a specific sum of money for cycle paths, but it is not specified that the sum referred to will be used over several years to realize a plan for a cycle path network with 530 km of cycle path.
She adds that road traffic accounts for almost half of the emissions in Oslo and she therefore considers it important to develop services that make it easier to choose environmentally friendly ways to travel.
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