NY Times: Dublin "Constant, smoggy traffic jam"

blucey

Today in the New York Times (circulation 1.2m ) . Apologies for the long quote - to read the article requires registration.

Its fekin embarrasing, really. Hardly the way to entice visitors or investors to dublin. Are you listening, Minister Cullen? Can you hear this through the smoked glass of the Merc?

Car Boom Puts Europe on Road to a Smoggy Future

DUBLIN — Rebecca and Emmet O’Connell swear that they are not car people and that they worry about global warming. Indeed, they looked miserable one recent evening as they drove home to suburban Lucan from central Dublin, a crawling 8.5-mile journey that took an hour.
But in this booming city, where the number of cars has doubled in the last 15 years, there is little choice, they said. “Believe me — if there was an alternative we would use it,” said Ms. O’Connell, 40, a textile designer. “We care about the environment. It’s just hard to follow through here.”

No trains run to the new suburbs where hundreds of thousands of Dubliners now live, and the few buses going there overflow with people. So nearly everyone drives — to work, to shop, to take their children to school — in what seems like a constant smoggy, traffic jam. Since 1990, emissions from transportation in Ireland have risen about 140 percent, the most in Europe. But Ireland is not alone.

Vehicular emissions are rising in nearly every European country, and across the globe. Because of increasing car and truck use, greenhouse-gas emissions are increasing even where pollution from industry is waning.

The 23 percent growth in vehicular emissions in Europe since 1990 has “offset” the effect of cleaner factories, according to a recent report by the European Environment Agency. The growth has occurred despite the invention of far more environmentally friendly fuels and cars.

“What we gain by hybrid cars and ethanol buses, we more than lose because of sheer numbers of vehicles,” said Ronan Uhel, a senior scientist with the European Environment Agency, which is based in Copenhagen. Vehicles, mostly cars, create more than one-fifth of the greenhouse-gas emissions in Europe, where the problem has been extensively studied.

The few places that have aggressively sought to fight the trend have taken sometimes draconian measures. Denmark, for example, treats cars the way it treats yachts — as luxury items — imposing purchase taxes that are sometimes 200 percent of the cost of the vehicle. A simple Czech-made Skoda car that costs $18,400 in Italy or Sweden costs more than $34,000 in Denmark.

The number of bicycles on Danish streets has increased in recent years, and few people under the age of 30 own cars. Many families have turned to elaborate three-wheeled contraptions. (Beijing, meanwhile, has restricted the use of traditional three-wheeled bikes.)

On a recent morning in Copenhagen — which is flat, and has bike lanes — Cristian Eskelund, 35, a government lobbyist, hopped on a clunky bicycle with a big wooden cart attached to the front. The day before, he had used the vehicle, a local contraption called a Christiania bike, to carry a Christmas tree he had bought. This day, he was taking his two children to school, then heading to the hospital, where his wife was in labor.

“How many children do I have?” Mr. Eskelund said. “Two, perhaps three.”

There are high-end options, too. At $2,800, a three-wheeled Nihola bike costs as much as a used car, but many people insist it is far more practical. Sleek, lightweight, with a streamlined enclosed bubble in front, it is good for transporting groceries and children.

High taxes on cars or gasoline of the type levied in Copenhagen are effective in curbing traffic, experts say, but they scare voters, making even environmentalist politicians unlikely to propose them. When Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, revealed his “green” budget proposal, it included an increase in gas taxes of less than two and a half cents per quart.

Other cities have tried variations that require fewer absolute sacrifices from motorists. Rome allows only cars with low emissions ratings into its historic center. In London and Stockholm, drivers must pay a congestion charge to enter the city center. Such programs do reduce traffic and pollution at a city’s core, but evidence suggests that car use simply moves to the suburbs.

But Dublin is more typical of cities around the world, from Asia to Latin America, where road transport volumes are increasing in tandem with economic growth. Since 1997, Beijing has built a new ring road every two years, each new concentric superhighway giving rise to a host of malls and housing compounds.

In Ireland, car ownership has more than doubled since 1990 and car engines have grown steadily larger. Meanwhile, new environmental laws have meant that emissions from electrical plants, a major polluter, have been decreasing since 2001.

Urban sprawl and cars are the chicken and egg of the environmental debate. Cars make it easier for people to live and shop outside the center city. As traffic increases, governments build more roads, encouraging people to buy more cars and move yet farther away. In Europe alone, 6,200 miles of motorways were built from 1990 to 2003 and, with the European Union’s enlargement, 7,500 more are planned. Government enthusiasm for spending on public transportation, which is costly and takes years to build, generally lags far behind.

For instance, Dublin and Beijing are building trams and subways, but they will not reach out to the new commuter communities where so many people now live.

The trend is strongest in newly rich societies, where cars are “caught up in the aspirations of the 21st century,” said Peder Jensen, lead author of the European Environmental Agency report on traffic.

Peter Daley, a Dublin retiree who has five children, said: “We used to be a poor country and all the kids used to leave to find work. Now they stay and they need a car when they’re 17. So families that would have had one car 15 years ago, now have three or four.”

As a result, traffic limps around Dublin’s glorious St. Stephen’s Green. Just as skiers can check out the snow at St. Moritz on the Internet, drivers can monitor Dublin’s traffic through the City Council home page.

In the past two years, the city has completed two light-rail lines. During the holidays, the police provide extra officers to direct traffic at all major junctions. But nothing helps much.

When the O’Connells returned from London four years ago, and could not afford the prices of Dublin’s city center, they bought a wood and brick semi-detached house in one of hundreds of new developments. Today, it seems that every home has two or three cars out front.

“No one thought, ‘How will all these people get home from work?’ ” said Mr. O’Connell, an architectural technician, who said the commute took just 20 minutes at first. Ms. O’Connell’s job at the National College of Art and Design in downtown Dublin comes with a parking space. So their gray Toyota Yaris is their lifeline.

One day a week, Mr. O’Connell does take the bus. But if he does not leave home by 7:30 a.m., the buses are all full and simply speed by his stop. On a recent evening, their 18-year-old daughter, Imogen, missed her art class in town because the bus ride took two hours; when she tried to get home, all the buses were full, leaving her stranded.

So they drive. “I complain and I moan, but we continue,” Ms. O’Connell said. “I suppose if petrol got really expensive or I lost my free parking, we’d face up to the fact that we shouldn’t be driving so much, and try to figure something else out.”

John MacClain, a cabdriver in Dublin for 20 years, said that on a recent trip to Prague, he liked the architecture just fine. But what really impressed him, he said, was “the tram system.”

“Now that was beautiful,” he said. “I could get everywhere with ease.”

godtabh

I've lived and worked in NY and they have problems too!

Sarsfield

But Dublin is more typical of cities around the world...

Traffic may be crap. Something must be done. But I don't think the article really accused Dublin of anything other than suffering the problems of success.

Raskolnikov

Commuting from Lucan on bus is certainly viable and not nearly as awful as the author makes it out to be.

bazzer

Raskolnikov wrote:

Commuting from Lucan on bus is certainly viable.....

... if you have several hours a day to spare.

Raskolnikov wrote:

....not nearly as awful as the author makes it out to be.

... Have you ever tried it, or ever asked anyone from certain parts of Lucan who are virtual prisoners in their own estates at peak times?

godtabh

Raskolnikov wrote:

Commuting from Lucan on bus is certainly viable and not nearly as awful as the author makes it out to be.

I've done it every day for the last 6 years. 4 into the town and two from Lucan to Clonskeagh via town. Its grand. It does have its ups and downs but I can live with that

monument

kearnsr wrote:

I've lived and worked in NY and they have problems too!

Not as near as many transport problems as Dublin.

Mr. Presentable

I'd be curious to know who wrote the piece. They certainly seem to have an axe to grind! For example, a tourist in Prague eulogises their tram system, but does he know whether or not it goes to where people live and work? I haven't seen traffic congestion of note on St Stephen's Green for years, maybe I'm just lucky?

Also, as kearnsr observes, with a little patience and planning the trip from Lucan is perfectly doable by bus. but there'll always be a bad day, as with anything that involves people.

I wonder how many people had to be interviewed to get the quotes required to support the writer's wishes for the piece.

Public transport is pretty rubbish in much of Dublin, no question. And emissions from cars etc are a big problem, but what sre the USA donig about emissions? Nothing as I recall, it would have a negative impact on their lifestyle (according to their President)!

1huge1

yup they really can't say anything because of the kyoto agreement
great being able to throw that into their face

nipplenuts you make a good point about prague I very much doubt that the average tourist would know if the tram is going into the suburbs etc

godtabh

nipplenuts wrote:

I wonder how many people had to be interviewed to get the quotes required to support the writer's wishes for the piece.

Quotes can be easily made up!

If you have an agrument to make its easy to find people to support your argument as well as its easy to find people who dont support your argument

monument

nipplenuts wrote:

I'd be curious to know who wrote the piece. They certainly seem to have an axe to grind! For example, a tourist in Prague eulogises their tram system, but does he know whether or not it goes to where people live and work? I haven't seen traffic congestion of note on St Stephen's Green for years, maybe I'm just lucky?

Also, as kearnsr observes, with a little patience and planning the trip from Lucan is perfectly doable by bus. but there'll always be a bad day, as with anything that involves people.

I wonder how many people had to be interviewed to get the quotes required to support the writer's wishes for the piece.

Public transport is pretty rubbish in much of Dublin, no question. And emissions from cars etc are a big problem, but what sre the USA donig about emissions? Nothing as I recall, it would have a negative impact on their lifestyle (according to their President)!

"axe to grind" - In journalism it often appears that way when it’s not, colourful and humanising quotes that shouldn’t really be in an article can sometimes improve its chances of being published.

Contrary to popular opinion, in the US the President isn’t all powerful. And anyway, City/County/State authorities are largely in charge when in come to public transport.

kearnsr wrote:

Quotes can be easily made up!

It would be a NY Times first.

Bards

Personally I blame the Dublin Planning Office for not building up and stopping the spread of urban blight

Seth Brundle

The Dublin Planning Office are constrained by the whims of the politicians.
I have it on excellent advice that a senior planning staff member was told by the previous Minister for the Environment's office of how his position was effectively surplus to requirements!

godtabh

How can a centriues old city be planned? In the city centre you are constrained to whats there at the moment.

Urban sprawl has messed up the cuntry because of the many bribes that were passed to get these developments off the ground.

fly_agaric

It's funny. I'd take the opposite view to those who seem to be worried about those nasty Yanks running down Dublin which everyone all over Ireland has such a special place in their heart for...(HAR HAR).

It's great to see Dublin's shambolic transport system and sprawl problem mentioned by an important US paper!

cyclopath2001

Sarsfield wrote:

Traffic may be crap. Something must be done. But I don't think the article really accused Dublin of anything other than suffering the problems of success.

Umm, back in 1998, the government changed the law and opened up cycle tracks for motorist use, that must have helped a bit?

Bateman

fly_agaric wrote:

It's great to see Dublin's shambolic transport system and sprawl problem mentioned by an important US paper!

That's all fine and well, but making things out to be worse than they are isn't on.

I read something about not having a chance if you leave after 7.30. So leave at 7.15. Boo ****ing hoo.

Red Alert

Owen Keegan and Martin Cullen are nothing to be proud of. It is disappointing that their misdeameanours took the NY Times to point out.

spacetweek

bazzer wrote:

... if you have several hours a day to spare.
... Have you ever tried it, or ever asked anyone from certain parts of Lucan who are virtual prisoners in their own estates at peak times?

Nah it's only certain ones that are like that. Lived there my whole life, moved out 18 months ago. In fact Lucan with the N4 and all that, actually has a reasonably good bus service, if you live near the old town or the N4 that is.

I've been in NY and I don't think its transport problems are as bad as Dublin's.

As for road building becoming so prevalent throughout Europe, it's just that there's been a lag over this side of the Atlantic. The USA shifted away from transit very early and was car dependent by the 1960's. In Europe train upgrades absorbed all the new transport needs until recently. Now since the 90s road is taking up the slack. Hence most European countries are undergoing huge road building programs.

Prague is still a developing city, with low car ownership. I hope it remains the same and its pedestrian friendly status isn't eroded over the years as the country gets richer.

johnnyrotten

Its not that bad , is it?
* tongue in cheek

Bards

kearnsr wrote:

Urban sprawl has messed up the cuntry because of the many bribes that were passed to get these developments off the ground.

so lets blamne the transport Minister instead of the Environment Minister...

this is what really anoys me about Irish Politics.. People listen to all the cr*p in the media and don't make informed decision themselves.

Cullen is in Transport 2 years.. so for the last 20 years of bad planning must be his fault..

The permanent govt (Civil Servants) are to blame...

Victor

blucey wrote:

DUBLIN — Rebecca and Emmet O’Connell swear that they are

John MacClain, a cabdriver in Dublin for 20 years

Lies, all lies, I saw him in the Die Hard movies.

There appears to be no John MacClain in Dublin (any MacClains in fact) and Emmet O’Connell shares his phone book entry with Rachel, not Rebecca.

I suspect fib telling.

Link to original piece http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/world/europe/07cars.html?pagewanted=all

HelterSkelter

cyclopath2001 wrote:

Umm, back in 1998, the government changed the law and opened up cycle tracks for motorist use, that must have helped a bit?

I took a photo today of a clamping van parked in a cycle lane on Harold's Cross road while the driver went into the centra. Do you want to add it to your signature?!!

Raskolnikov

bazzer wrote:

... if you have several hours a day to spare.


... Have you ever tried it, or ever asked anyone from certain parts of Lucan who are virtual prisoners in their own estates at peak times?

I'm speaking from experience. By day Lucan is served by 3 different bus routes with the 25A having a bus almost every 10 minutes during peak time http://www.dublinbus.ie/your_journey/viewer.asp?route=25A With buses coming so frequently during peak time, it's impossible for a person not to get picked up at some stage or end up "stranded" in the city. As for a two hour journey? I never once experienced that travelling from Lucan, my record was an hour and a half but that was due to a crash on the road. Anyone in a car would be stuck in the exact same situation. It's a busy route, I won't deny but you'll still get a seat about 90% of the time. Also, the traffic can be bad, but driving a car into the city will only marginally reduce your journey time.

The traffic situation in Dublin deserves to be highlighted but I don't think that lying about the state of public transportation is going to help.

BessBoy

Bards wrote:

so lets blamne the transport Minister instead of the Environment Minister...
<SNIP>
Cullen is in Transport 2 years.. so for the last 20 years of bad planning must be his fault..

The permanent govt (Civil Servants) are to blame...

Alas, Cullen was the env misister from 2002. Before that from 97-02 he was in charge of the OPW, which has some involvement in planning, I believe.
So, yes, lets blame the man who has been at the heart of the problem for 10 years. He takes the fame, he should take the blame.

spacetweek

Raskolnikov wrote:

I'm speaking from experience. By day Lucan is served by 3 different bus routes with the 25A having a bus almost every 10 minutes during peak time http://www.dublinbus.ie/your_journey/viewer.asp?route=25A With buses coming so frequently during peak time, it's impossible for a person not to get picked up at some stage or end up "stranded" in the city. As for a two hour journey? I never once experienced that travelling from Lucan, my record was an hour and a half but that was due to a crash on the road. Anyone in a car would be stuck in the exact same situation. It's a busy route, I won't deny but you'll still get a seat about 90% of the time. Also, the traffic can be bad, but driving a car into the city will only marginally reduce your journey time.

The traffic situation in Dublin deserves to be highlighted but I don't think that lying about the state of public transportation is going to help.

True and in fact, despite much more traffic now rather than then, I recall having to stand waaay more often about 7 or 8 years ago than I do now.

Still though, Lucan Luas, bring it on.

lostexpectation

Sarsfield wrote:

Traffic may be crap. Something must be done. But I don't think the article really accused Dublin of anything other than suffering the problems of success.

does the above describe a success? I dont think so, if our economy is booming but our infrastructure can't cope thats the defintion of failure

dmeehan

the ny times article gets a mention in todays indo:
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1751197&issue_id=15081