After three days of meetings, the Ministry of Movement announced a reform as swift
as its new avenues: starting Monday, pedestrians will be required to walk at the official speed of 6 km/h.
The first moving walkways will be installed around public buildings, then extended to residential neighborhoods “if the ground accepts the change.” Benches, deemed too conducive to breaks, will be replaced by swivel seats that gently return passersby toward the roadway.
The measure has already caused a bit of a stir. A walkers’ association is demanding the right to stroll, while shopkeepers fear a clientele that will pass their shop windows without slowing down. The ministry, for its part, assures that emergency stop buttons will be provided “in areas where people have something to hide.”
“We are not eliminating walks; we are making them more productive,” declared the minister, before being carried away by a moving walkway set to maximum speed. Her spokesperson added that she would resume the press conference as soon as someone managed to catch up with her.
A commission is already studying the next step: replacing queues with escalators, so that citizens can wait while moving upward.
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