PARIS, Sept 22: Europeans breathed a bit easier as they cycled, walked or used mass transit to get to work on annual “car-free” day on Monday, but the global push to curb pollution was undermined by limited participation on the continent and failed to take off in Asia.

Some 1,000 cities, towns and communities in more than 20 countries across Europe urged commuters to forego their vehicles for more environmentally friendly modes of transport in a bid to raise awareness about pollution. From Amsterdam to Athens, cyclists, rollerbladers and pedestrians replaced exhaust-spewing cars on main thoroughfares, with only taxis, emergency vehicles and those powered by “clean” liquid propane gas or electricity allowed access.

But the road closures did not prevent typical rush-hour traffic jams from cropping up, casting a shadow over the pollution-busting initiative launched in France in 1998.

“If it’s to spark bottlenecks like this one, car-free day is a really stupid idea,” said Parisian Beatrice Knoch, who was trying to navigate a massive traffic build-up in the French capital on her bicycle.

Austrian schoolchildren learned a unique lesson about the benefits of a car-free environment, taking their classes in parks, city squares and even roads closed to traffic.

Car devotees in Britain were offered a light-hearted phrasebook — as part of a Car User’s Survival Kit — on bus etiquette, with helpful suggested questions like “Is that seat free?” and “Is this the correct bus stop for...?”

But the country’s junior transport minister Alan Whitehead insisted: “This initiative is not an anti-car one and should not be portrayed as such. We recognize the valuable role the car plays in an integrated transport system.”

“Car-free” day came as a promising respite to Europeans gagging for clean air after an unusually hot and dry summer, during which pollution levels in congested cities repeatedly reached all-time highs. Ozone levels in France this summer — where a blistering heat wave left at least 11,400 people dead, according to the latest government estimates — were the most dangerous on record since 1991, officials said.

Pollution levels were down sharply in certain parts of the French capital on Monday, but the impact was marginal on the whole, officials said.

Greek environment ministry spokesman Angelos Niotakis said proudly: “The atmosphere is good.”

But strikes by Athens taxi drivers and petrol station workers seemed to help reduce traffic more than the observation of “car-free” day, with Niotakis admitting that Greek drivers were “not yet mature enough to give up the wheel.”

Not all of Europe latched on to the idea, with the Czech capital Prague and Portugal’s two largest cities — the capital Lisbon and the northern city of Oporto refusing to shut their bustling downtown areas to car traffic.

“I’m not going to turn people’s lives into hell,” Oporto’s centre-right mayor Rui Rio said to justify his decision. Only a few streets were to be closed in a symbolic show of support for the Europe-wide event.

In Rome, officials organized informational seminars, but cars continued to flow through the Italian capital. Eleven cities across Italy including Padua, Palermo and Siena elected to reclaim the streets from cars.

In Asia, the initiative failed to drum up widespread support, with only Taiwan showing any enthusiasm as thousands of people cycled, walked or skated in clean air rallies.

Despite the fanfare, traffic in Taipei — as through much of the region — seemed as heavy as usual. In Tokyo, where “car-free” events have been held since 2000, officials said a lack of funding was to blame for this year’s hiatus. Some European cities held their “car-free” days on Sunday including Budapest and Brussels, where balmy late-summer temperatures and free public transport saw thousands head to street parties and concerts.

Several cities in Canada including Toronto and Ottawa hosted “car-free” events at the weekend, with Montreal due to shut down its main roads on Monday. The Argentine capital Buenos Aires was due to take part, as were a dozen cities in Brazil — but not Rio de Janeiro or Brasilia. The initiative went virtually unnoticed in the United States and the Middle East.—AFP