Sunday, September 22, is European Car Free Day. In Warsaw, on this day, passengers will be able to use public transport for free.
“Using public transport (buses, trams, metro, SKM), Park and Ride car parks, Koleje Mazowieckie trains and buses as well as Warsaw Commuter Railway trains is free of charge” – informed the Public Transport Authority.
There are more cars than citizens
Car Free Day is the culmination of European Mobility Week. Over the years, the number of vehicles registered in Poland has been growing steadily, and those that were not used or even no longer existed were still listed in the register.
“This situation meant that in 2023 there were more vehicles registered in the country than citizens, which placed Poland in the top group of European Union countries in terms of the number of vehicles per capita,” informed the Union of Polish Metropolises.
They removed ghost cars from the register
In June 2024 – in order to ensure that the registration data reflects the actual state – vehicles registered before March 2005 and not insured for at least 10 years and not having valid technical inspections were removed from the Central Register of Vehicles and Drivers. As a result, 7.15 million vehicles disappeared from the register nationwide (17% of all vehicles registered in the country).
In the cities of the Union of Polish Metropolises, a total of 1.2 million vehicles (18%) were removed.
In Warsaw in 2024 there were 943 vehicles per thousand inhabitants, which is a decrease of 18% compared to 2023. 373.7 thousand cars were removed from the capital's registers.
Main image source: ZTM