Sunday 21st June 1998

Mobile without a car (MoA or MOa), a Germany-wide Car Free Mobility Day was held. The aim of the annual event is the demonstration and promotion of a traffic change, in particular environmentally and socially acceptable as well as democratic mobility in the environmental alliance.

In 1981, Christians in the former GDR left the car in a joint action for the first time. Employees of the Church Research Institute in Wittenberg and the East German Church Environmental Education Center, headed by Hans-Peter Gensichen , launched the “Mobil ohne Auto” campaign . In the middle of the 1980s, the action was also linked to the tradition of the West German Autofrechten Sundays , which spread across Bavaria over Germany over the Iron Curtain . Since then, committed citizens, churches, environmental, home and sports associations as well as parts of the public administration have been supporting the annual action day.

Even before the turn of the revolution , the action day enjoyed increasing popularity in the old Federal Republic. The action was extended by a car-free high-school day on the following Tuesday. On the occasion of the activities of this day national and federal roads are closed for cars. Favorable day tickets or ” zero tariffs ” for bus and train make the autofreie offer tempting in many regions. Pedestrian, cycling and inliner events, street actions, demonstrations, street and train station festivals, as well as train and tram special offers contribute to the attractiveness of the action day. Regional focus was on the UN World Environment Day in the south and north as well as in Berlin .