Cities around the world that are reducing car access

Thelonious Monk · 11-05-2023 3:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583534#Comment_120583534

it's pretty much walking distance to town. the moaning out of people thinking you need a ford ranger to buy a few groceries is sickening.

hans aus dtschl · 11-05-2023 3:26pm

But what about the World Economic Forum and the Paedophiles, and the 5G and the Covid scam and the Vaccine scam and the fake climate crisis narrative from MSM?

Serious question: how did the crackpots latch on to pedestrian-friendly urban areas as being a bad thing? This seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon from what I can make out, where anything that improves the urban area or limits car usage is being heavily commented on as a conspiracy.

Thelonious Monk · 11-05-2023 3:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583640#Comment_120583640

I think Jordan Peterson said that the pedestrianisation and 15 minute city plans for Oxford were part of a WEF conspiracy so that you wouldn't ever be able to own your own car or travel beyond certain zones. The everyone-i-dont-agree-with-is-a-groomer-paedophile nutjobs have latched on to this.

BlueSkyDreams · 11-05-2023 3:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583640#Comment_120583640

I think its the idea of being penned into your 15 min city, rather than having the choice to enjoy all of the city.

The choice being the whole point of being in a city, surely.

I can see how they then make their bizarre conspiritorial leap to being monitored in your 15 minute space and fined Green credits for leaving your virtual city pen :)

Pete_Cavan · 11-05-2023 3:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120579622#Comment_120579622

The only entry for Deepwell on the Property Price Register is for 2014 so must not have been sold since (or sold very recently and hasn't been added yet). The house itself is a Protected Structure but the gardens do seem to be open for development. Maybe the whole lot should be CPOed and the gardens incorporated into the park, it could really help to tie the park and station into the village. It would very expensive but the value could be reduced by changing the zoning to not allow development.

loyatemu · 11-05-2023 4:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583444#Comment_120583444

"new road markings" "junctions layout changed" etc - they're so pointless and they never get removed, they're basically saying "warning, you are on a road, signs ahead!".

The other ones that really annoy me are the massive "Funded by the NDP 2009" type signs that are on every tiny bit of new road or improved footpath in the country. How useful to know which defunct civil engineering company built this 2km distributor road 15 years ago...

Thelonious Monk · 11-05-2023 4:33pm

I even noticed it on the entrance to my estate today, there's a new sign that says something like "SLOW ZONE CHILDREN PLAYING" and then like 2 meters away another triangle sign with pictures of children playing on it. Like how tf does this happen? I'll try and photo it next time I'm passing.

RobertFoster · 11-05-2023 5:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583794#Comment_120583794

The specificity of this sign and the fact it's still there always gets me when I pass it.

"Let it be known that on the 19th day of November, in the year of our lord 1990..."

crushproof · 12-05-2023 1:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584082#Comment_120584082

That amazing, surely it's a UNESCO World heritage site by now?

spacetweek · 13-05-2023 10:06pm

The two empty poles you see in this shot from Lucan village had the same message on the sign. It was removed in the late 2000s but had been there since 1990 also.

Seth Brundle · 15-05-2023 10:08am

I saw an advert on Facebook this morning for some anonymous group that want to return Malahide to its pre June 2020 setup under the guise that they are saving the place. It claims to be a group of "local businesses and residents who are concerned about the effects of the closure of New Street" but has all the hallmarks of the groups we have previously seen in Sandymount and Lucan who are against anything that reduces their ability to drive wherever they wish.

However, looking at the comments to this group's (paid advertising) post on facebook, I'm surprised that people actually believe the stuff they post...

cgcsb · 15-05-2023 10:13am

I suppose space cadets feel empowered now because of social media. They can connect with other space cadets without the restriction of geography.

Sam Russell · 15-05-2023 11:02am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120598478#Comment_120598478

But do they really think that the '15 min city' means they will be restricted to only conversing with their space cadets over the internet? Do they not realise that all they need in life is within 15 mins of their keyboard?

The old adage - 'Do not be afraid to keep silent lest you are thought stupid, when opening it will remove all doubt'.

cgcsb · 15-05-2023 11:25am

Most of these people are dolers who live their lives on the Internet anyway and don't travel so probably wouldn't affect them they've likely made their brain into swiss with years of weed and coke abuse. I'd love to know how they think it's going to be managed. Where will the barriers be if 15 minutes gives you a different radius circle for every dwelling. 🤔 anyway that's only one of a long novel of logic fails these whackos come out with.

hans aus dtschl · 15-05-2023 12:15pm

What if I walk a little bit faster? Will I get 16-minutes worth of the tinfoil-hat brigade WEF jail? So many questions!

loyatemu · 15-05-2023 1:59pm

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2023/05/15/complete-ban-will-halt-near-10000-motorists-illegally-driving-at-college-green-every-week/

I fail to see how a complete ban will solve the problem of drivers ignoring the bus gate - if it's not enforced now, it's not going to be enforced in the future (see also: every other Bus Gate and Bus Lane in the city).

Unsurprisingly the picture on the article shows a traffic jam consisting of only buses and taxis.

serfboard · 15-05-2023 3:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599497#Comment_120599497

I disagree. Before now, people could use the defence of "honest mistake" in not remembering the timings. A complete ban takes away that defence, making the task of enforcement much easier.

MJohnston · 15-05-2023 3:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599497#Comment_120599497

If nothing else, it's an opportunity to remove dozens of bits of road sign clutter!

loyatemu · 15-05-2023 3:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599856#Comment_120599856

who exactly are they saying "honest mistake" to? there's no enforcement.

LXFlyer · 15-05-2023 3:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599942#Comment_120599942

Au contraire.

Three days last week, as my bus passed through, there were Gardai in situ awaiting any cars that might be using the bus gate illegally.

serfboard · 15-05-2023 3:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599942#Comment_120599942

Where a defence of "honest mistake" can be used, it seems like the Gardai are less than enthusiastic about enforcing laws - consider the scenario of the Gardai going to all the trouble of bringing a prosecution, only for a judge to agree with the defendants defence of "honest mistake" and throwing out the case.

Now consider speeding laws. There is no defence of honest mistake possible, and compliance is very high. On those days when the Gardai conduct "slow-down" operations, you'll hear about the lunatics who drive at 80 in a 50 zone. But when you actually read the stats, the compliance rate is 99%.

I've always thought that it was ridiculous that Dublin has these time-limited Bus Lanes, making the defence of honest mistake possible. The rest of the country (Galway, for instance) has learned from that and the few Bus Lanes present are 24/7 and breaching of them is rare.

I'll wager that you will find simliar high compliance rates in College Green when the complete car ban is in place.

magicbastarder · 15-05-2023 5:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120600080#Comment_120600080

Now consider speeding laws. There is no defence of honest mistake possible, and compliance is very high. On those days when the Gardai conduct "slow-down" operations, you'll hear about the lunatics who drive at 80 in a 50 zone. But when you actually read the stats, the compliance rate is 99%.

i'd say on those days, the compliance rate reported is close to 99.9%. which is nonsense, unless the gardai are cherry picking their spots and putting up warning signs well in advance of the speed cameras. only one in approximately every thousand motorists speeding is an untenable claim.

e.g. 211 motorists out of 140k checked - 99.85%;

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41121685.html

cgcsb · 15-05-2023 8:47pm

Sounds like an excuse for more signs on approach streets

Tomrota · 22-05-2023 8:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120558573#Comment_120558573

Why weren’t they ever included? Can someone explain why it make sense not to include them? They are identical services. I could take the 139 to Sallins train station on my commute every morning, but it’s so damn infrequent, doesn’t have real time info, and doesn’t have fare capping. So I’d end up having to pay two fares and have to wait hours for the bus. So I just drive, like virtually everyone else.

Why does the 184 in Wicklow benefit from all of the above but the 197 and 139 do not? Who is making these decisions? They don’t make any sense from a public policy or an urban planning standpoint.

LXFlyer · 22-05-2023 8:48pm

It really boils down to history.

The local bus services in Northeast Wicklow were always part of the Dublin City network by virtue of their original operators being subsumed into the city bus company over time which became Dublin Bus.

Arguably they, and the likes of the 33 and 65 should all have gone to the provincial operator. But that’s just a quirk of history.

The 197 and 139 are both on separate individual tendered contracts, outside the city bus service contracts, and that may also be down to what funding was available when they were launched.

They do both go well outside of the traditional city bus network area - the likes of Ashbourne, Clane and Naas have never been within the city network.

But the NTA are currently planning a new national fares strategy which may result in changes. We will have to wait and see.

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230109_National-Fare-Strategy-Summary_v3.1.pdf

Tomrota · 22-05-2023 11:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120628962#Comment_120628962

Thanks for the detailed answer.

I think in a climate emergency with a push to put people on public transport, they really need to sort out these inconsistencies. It’s not good enough that bus fares are determined by operator/legacy of bus operator. That doesn’t only result in complexities within the fare system, but makes life so much harder for commuters who happen to live in areas not served by that operator. It also makes life a lot more expensive. During a cost of living crisis, we need not be ripping off commuters using PSO services because they happen to live in Naas/Ashbourne and not in Wicklow.

I’ll use Sallins train station as an example - one of the busiest in the commuter belt. It is unique in that it is in the short hop zone but no bus services connect with the train ticket. Throw in a couple of ‘city bus’ services that bring all of these commuters to Sallins train station (with all of their benefits of frequency, real time info, standardised fare which connects with the train, fare capping, etc.) and you’ve just moved hundreds if not thousands of car users over to public transport. You’ve also alleviated pressure off the N7 which is the busiest artery into the city everyday.

People in the likes of Ashbourne, Clane, and Naas may not have commuted into town back in the 1960’s but it is a plurality, if not majority, of the populations of those areas which do today. During a housing crisis, these problems are only going to get worse. The NTA need to act quickly to address these ridiculous inconsistencies and provide more options for commuters on the peripheries of the short hop zone. I think these places are a huge contributor to traffic not only on the N7, N4, etc. but inside the M50. I will also add that if a private company can make a profit on a service, why doesn’t a PSO service already exist? It is not in the best interest of society to have 6 or 7 different fare systems in one town. I hope that new fare strategy results in one ticket = one journey within the Dublin commuter/city zone without exceptions.

AndrewJRenko · 23-05-2023 10:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120600055#Comment_120600055

Wasn't policing of College Green bus gate the issue that the Gardai tried to shake down the NTA to pay the Gardai for doing the Gardai's job?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583235#Comment_120583235

Hopefully it doesn't end up like the Dunnes in a town in Cork iirc, which has twelve empty apartments above, built as a condition of planning for the supermarket, but left empty by Dunnes ever since.