Even the car-free parts of cities are noisy. Go to any bar or restaurant district in a pedestrian-only zone with a sound meter and tell me it’s quiet and I’ll tell you that your hearing aids and meter’s batteries need to be replaced.
Cars are noisy. People are noisy, whether inside or outside of cars.
weird. Walkable cities are much more quiet than the car ones. Sure, a busy area is noisy from revelers. Cars are just loud technology, compared to bikes or walking.
I think that the fact that this is a city state is a bit of a red herring here. It's like living in Manhattan/Brooklyn and cost of owning a car in such locations will naturally include cost of parking space.
So this is really a conscious decision to use taxes to limit cars for the majority of people while letting the rich have one but I suppose it'll always be that way.
Another post today made this point: city’s are not noisy, but cars are.