Reykjavík Grapevine - jan 2019, Qupperneq 12

Road tolls and radical urban planning
are among this years challenges for the
city of Reykjavík.
Reykjavík and the surrounding
municipalities are a sprawling post-
war region. Though Iceland was a poor,
agrarian society well into the 20th
century, the flood of money from the
Second World War, the Marshall Plan,
and the Cold War US base brought
expansive suburban environs and,
to navigate them, cars. Aside from a
small and walkable pre-war down-
town core, the city grew with the car in
mind, bypassing dense urbanism of the
industrial revolution.
According to Björn Teitsson, an
M.Sc. student of urban studies at the
Bauhaus University, half of the city’s
built land is paved for cars, and Iceland-
ers are second only to Cyprus in car
ownership and use. After the shock-
ing election of Jón Gnarr in 2010, the
city developed a modern and compre-
hensive plan that focuses on increas-
ing density and diversifying transport
options. Compared to cities around the
world, these plans are modest. But they
have sparked loud controversy.
Business groups feared that pedes-
trianized streets and minimally
reduced parking availability would hurt
sales. It has been characterized as a war
on the car by the hyperbolic. The latest
battle in the war erupted as the govern-
ment presented a new transportation
plan at the end of the fall parliamentary
term. The plan included funding for a
popular new bus rapid transit system
for the capital region called Borgar-
línan, and the decidedly unpopular
introduction of road tolls around the
country.
Taxing Tolls
Iceland’s roads have been underfunded
since the financial crisis of 2008. The
main purpose of the proposed tolls is
increase state revenue for maintenance
and expansions. As the car fleet tran-
sitions to electric vehicles, road tolls
may replace fuel and carbon taxes.
Björn noted that the government’s plan
“doesn’t really tackle the bigger issue,
which is the problem of Iceland having
too many private cars. And note, elec-
tric vehicles are also cars, and they need
very expensive road and infrastructure.
Furthermore, if an electric car will hit
you, a pedestrian, you are just as dead
as if it were a carbon fuelled vehicle.”
The state is effectively subsidizing elec-
tric vehicles, but the overabundance of
used former rental vehicles has satu-
rated the market, making car owner-
ship easier and much cheaper.
Björn believes “Icelandic car owners
have been pampered for decades
compared to other countries and
cities”. The toll provision sparked
immediate outrage.
Road tolls are rare
in Iceland. The most
well-known toll, for
use of the Hvalfjörður
Tunnel, was revoked
in the fall once the
project was paid off.
It is important to
put these proposed
new tolls in wider
context. Fuel taxes
and tolls are highly
regressive forms of
taxation that put a heavier burden on
lower income people. The tax burden
has been shifting from the rich to
the poor since 2013. The conservative
dominated governments of the past five
years eliminated a wealth tax, luxury
VAT, lowered fishing fees on a favoured
industry, and raised taxes on food. After
some push-back from the general popu-
lation, the ruling coalition postponed
debate on the road tolls later in 2019.
Urban Planning 101
The city was without a strong,
coherent plan for the second half of
the last century, therefore it should
not be too surprising that its current
development plan is seen as radical by
some. Relatively minor efforts to make
the city more pedestrian friendly have
been met with resistance. In 2011 the
city began closing parts of Laugavegur
to cars. The downtown merchants’
association claimed the loss of less
than 20 parking spaces would devastate
their businesses. According to RÚV,
In autumn 2018, the city council
unanimously approved a proposal to
close the street year-round with much
less commotion. Anyone that visits
the street will see it has plenty of foot
traffic, as does much of the 101 district.
Björn also pointed out that “this
toll proposal only applies to traffic
going out of Reykjavík, whereas we
should be trying to get people out of
their cars within Reykjavík—including
the western part of the city, Hlíðar,
Miðbær and Vesturbær, where we have
a dense, walkable city which does not
need all this car traffic. Everything is
easily reachable by foot, bike, or public
transport in this area”.
Reykjavík has done little to discour-
age driving. Little parking has been
eliminated. Surface lots are disap-
pearing downtown, but underground
garages often replace them. Björn
believes the city should go further.
“Public transit (Borgarlína), pedes-
trian and biking infrastructure, and
the densification of urban space are
useful but more needs to be done. We
need less parking, more pedestrian
spaces, more streets reserved for only
pedestrians. In Iceland people some-
how think these measures are radical,
but all they need to do is look around.
Every city is doing it. All we have to do,
for a much more liveable city, is to want
the change, and execute that change.
Simple as that”.
Bigger Impact
Björn emphasized the wider and more
obscure benefits of less driving. There
are the obvious environmental solu-
tions, and not so obvious ones, too.
Using other forms of transport leads to
less consumption of useless things and
food waste. Between 20 and 50 pedes-
trians are killed every year, a stagger-
ing number given the city’s size. Fewer
drivers and more walkable streets
would save many lives. Icelanders are
the unhealthiest of the Nordics, which
can in part be attributed to our car-
enabled sedentary lifestyle.
Iceland has a reputation for envi-
ronmentalism. This is understand-
able given clean electricity, sprawling
majestic landscapes, and good PR.
But it is unwarranted in many ways.
Icelanders drive so much that there
are regularly health
warnings for those
with breathing issues
to stay indoors. Björn
e m p h a s i s e s t h a t
individual need to
take the initiative.
“People stuck in traf-
fic are very keen on
complaining that the
traffic needs to be
fixed. Well, they are
the traffic. It won’t
be fixed unless you
stop being the problem,” says Björn.
“It’s exactly like someone in a crowded
room is smoking, and then he or she
would complain about the smoke.
Well… the solution is pretty obvious.”
The war rages on.
Words:
Kolbeinn Arnaldur
Dalrymple
Photos:
Art Bicnick
& Timothée
Lambrecq
Road Tolls Are Coming
The next battle in Iceland's war on the private car
Imagine the freedom of the open road, combined with the freedom-like beauty of paying for things, free-market style
Björn Teitsson
12 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 01— 2019
“Icelandic car
owners have
been pampered
for decades
compared to
other countries
and cities”.