Good morning!
I like pedestrian friendly streets. Especially when they were previously car sewers. I think about them, i draw them, and with the power of AI, generate street transformation images for fun. But I miss the joy of walking down a road like it’s my grandfather’s.
Singapore used to have car free days on Sundays, but the last one was held in 2019, 2 years before I (got interested in urban design) and started my YouTube channel. There are people who call for this event to return to the city, but it hasn’t. Thankfully, there are other southeast asian cities that host car free events, allowing people to experience what car free roads feel like.
One city that does this is KL!
A brief background of KL Car Free Morning
KL Car Free Morning is a weekly event organised by DBKL (the local city hall), where people get the opportunity to walk and cycle on roads in the city, free from the hazards of motor traffic.
The first event was held as an ad-hoc celebration on World Car Free Day, 22 September 2013, and started as a 4km loop in the city. It gained traction among cycling groups in the region, and the mayor himself took part in it.
Growing in popularity, it became a monthly event in 2014, that took place on the first Sunday of each month, titled “Go Green Car-Free Morning“. The goal was to “promote a greener city and reduce global warming“, and there was an expanded car-free 6km loop from Jalan Raja Laut to Jalan Imbi.
It increased its frequency to become a bimonthly event, with an expanded 7km loop around KLCC. Resuming in 2021 after the pandemic, it became a weekly event in 2022, now known as “OCBC KL Car-Free Morning”.
I travelled to KL to enjoy taking trains. But the highlight of my trip was the opportunity to wander around a car-free 7km loop in the heart of KL.
The event started at 7am with a flag off, accompanied with live music provided by the DBKL Brass Band. Despite the early start time, it attracted quite a lot of people!
It definitely felt strange walking on roads that would usually be dangerous, but with the crowd moving along, it soon felt normal.
I got to walk on roads that are one-way arterials, usually loud and polluted when filled with cars.
Some roads were fully opened to pedestrians. Others were partially opened, with 1 or 2 lanes left for cars.
Walking and cycling had separate lanes with staff to help guide everyone.
Signboards along the way displayed details of the event, and a board that’s used for government announcements was set to play live CCTV footage. A nice touch!
I climbed up this overhead bridge to capture a good vantage point of pedestrians and cyclists enjoying the road.
And I got to see other ways of getting around – E scooters, rollerskates, and horses!
It’s also nice to see how cycling infrastructure isn’t needed when the road itself is safe with the absence of cars.
The northern end of Jalan P Ramlee is a nice spot to take a break and grab some photos with the iconic twin towers!
Here are some images of roads in KL, before and during Car Free Morning. Look at how much space is freed up!
It’s nice to see that Car Free Morning attracted visitors of all ages. There were people participating for sports, and there were people cycling in everyday clothing.
Car-Heavy Cities can lead the way
This event might make KL appear as a Car-Lite city, but unfortunately, it isn’t. The modal share of motorised private transport stands 69%, almost the opposite of where I’m from. But KL shows that even in a city where most of its residents use private transport, it is possible to set aside time for walking, cycling, and community.
It would be great to have some mini food carts for people to grab a bite while walking, because many stores were closed in the early morning. But having not experienced Car Free Sundays in a long time, KL’s Car Free Morning had been nothing short of spectacular.
If you have the opportunity to experience a car free day in your city, go participate in it. Or if your city doesn’t have one, write in to local politicians and tell them that you wish to enjoy the sights and sounds of car free roads.
Because what’s better than viewing photoshopped images, playing with AI, and reading this blog post, is experiencing the joy and freedom that car free roads can bring (in person!), even if it’s just for a few hours a week.
Support
Thank you for reading, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post.
If you wish to watch a video of this event, head over to my YouTube channel.
And if you wish to support what I do, head over to my Patreon Page.
Thank you very much and have a good morning!
I love teh kurang manis! Yum!
tehsiewdai 
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