Cities around the world that are reducing car access

Podge_irl

Just put a bloody camera there and have a Scrooge mcDuckian bath in the proceeds. Why must we be so **** at this.

Thelonious Monk

I was on dame st and college green on Saturday night. Pedestrianisation can't come quick enough the footpaths are so narrow and simply can't accommodate the amount of people walking around. They should get it underway ASAP if it's ever happening.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904232#Comment_123904232

It can’t happen (in full anyways) until after the A Spine phase of the BusConnects revised network is implemented. There a large number of bus routes to change yet, and that is not a straightforward task.

A significant number of bus routes will be removed from College Green this weekend - 9, 49, 54a, 83, 83a, 123 and 140, with their replacements either using the Quays, western Dame Street, Dawson St/Kildare St. or Westland Row.

The D-Spine and A-Spine phases will remove the rest but when they will happen is impossible to estimate right now.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123852914#Comment_123852914

What I have noticed most often in the cycle lanes near me is cars parked in them and scramblers/e-scooters using them like race tracks. Until they are safe to use people will stay using their cars

Thunder87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904473#Comment_123904473

The full plan can't be implemented but surely it's always been possible to make it better than the current mess, e.g. remove the left turn lane onto George's Street, narrow the road all the way up to Parliament Street and stop delivery drivers dumping their vehicles everywhere..

Where there's a will there's a way, the footpath on the northern side in particular is barely wide enough for two people to pass each other in parts which is mental for one of our main thoroughfares

cgcsb

The footpaths on dame street are a complete joke, they need to be tipple the current size with all the poles removed.

PlatformNine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904805#Comment_123904805

I think it's a bit tricky to do much with Dame St while it's still one of the primary bus corridors for the city.

The F-spine launch will help a bit but even then there will still be 12 regularly scheduled routes (not counting peak-only, Nitelink, etc) using it. Doing a rough count there are still over 70bph using Dame St to/from CG, which also really starts to show the picture of how much pressure is put on CG.

It may be possible to make some changes after the D-spine launch as around half of the services are moved elsewhere, but the last 30-40bph would only go after the A-Spine so Dame St still needs to be able to handle a good few buses.

loco_scolo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904915#Comment_123904915

How many poles in this picture?

Free public transport for a year for first correct answer.

Hasbaralies

Not sure if it was mentioned before but in central Berlin as a local group called Volksentscheid Berlin autofrei has been pushing to reduce or remove cars from the city center and in June this year they won a major step forward when the state constitutional court approved the referendum, so Berliners will now get to vote on the plan, interesting

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/berlin-court-allows-referendum-making-german-capital-largely-car-free

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123905690#Comment_123905690

This should be a recaptcha image

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904743#Comment_123904743

That seems to suggest people in cars are making the lanes unsafe so they don't have to get out of their cars.

But it's true enforcement is key here. Need to crush illegal vehicles and enforce the rules.

Flinty997

It's sobering to think how little progress has been made and how long it has taken. People still welded to their cars.

https://youtu.be/NXCJTKZ0eUE?si=FSY2IHXHvL0rkC8j

gjim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123929704#Comment_123929704

You see ”little progress “? In the video: no DART/electrified commuter rail, no Luas, no port tunnel - heavy vehicles/trucks clogging up the streets, no bus lanes, no cycle lanes, etc.

There’s been progress, come on. Could there have been more? Maybe, if we hadn’t been dirt poor for most of the last century.

Flinty997

I was referring to earlier comments people staying in their cars.

Things are better but....

Most of Dublin does not have Dart or Luas. Cycle lanes are very recent and lots of areas do not have good cycle lanes. Rolling stock is old, not enough carriages and everything is over crowded.

A lot of the poor planning has been been in recent years not ancient.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123929702#Comment_123929702

With the greatest of respect to car drivers, I am one myself, we are not that organised. The issue around Limerick City is that a lot of on-street parking has been replaced by cycle lanes, I'm not sure if it's muscle memory or brain-deadness but either way enforcement would solve the issue.

Notably as well on the northside on match days for the Gaelic Grounds and Thomond Park a lot of the "side of the road" parking has been taken away for new cycle lanes. And to be fair I can understand the frustration as they are rarely used. The "build it and they will come" method simply hasn't worked

Cookiemunster

He has me on ignore, so can someone ask him to name these streets in Limerick where cycle lanes have replaced parking? Because I can't think of a single one.

Flinty997

I think if the carrot hasn't worked then the stick....

In fairness the options for many are not good. There's whole areas in Dublin and around I'll rule out for a job because it's just too hard to get there. I think it was worse in the 90s but we are getting back to that.

The options are vastly better today than back then. I've had to upgrade my folding bike to smaller and lighter to fit on the overcrowded trains.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123929952#Comment_123929952

On what streets in Limerick have cycle lanes replaced parking?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123929992#Comment_123929992

O'Connell Street

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123929986#Comment_123929986

I would certainly add the rathfarnham, ballyboden, terenure, templeogue areas that have extremely poor PT.

I wouldn’t blame anyone from these areas driving into CC as there is a crap or no alternative.

In fact I’d also add greenhills, kimmage, clondalkin to that list.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123929986#Comment_123929986

We have a lot of stick already, we have a carbon tax on petrol and diesel. We have on-street parking charges, in Dublin City they are even valid when charging an electric car. Not saying we don't need more "stick" but is there much more we can do in that area? Perhaps increasing the Carbon Tax by more than inflation would be a good move…

The only carrot to my knowledge is that the public transport in Dublin is cheap and isn't increasing with inflation. And I don't meant to make light of that as it's an excellent carrot in my opinion. The last time I was at Croke Park it was €2 to get from Maynooth to the city, which to be fair is phenomenal value

A decent bike will set you back €400 and is much too easy for the scumbags to steal, perhaps they need to look at that

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123930024#Comment_123930024

You can get a decent commuter bike for 250e in decathlon. I lock my bike in the city centre all the time and it's worth over a grand but I'm smart about where I lock it and use good locks, so not every bike gets nicked.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123930042#Comment_123930042

Good shout on Decathlon!

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123929994#Comment_123929994

I think he meant, on which streets - where people used to park for matches - has cycle infrastructure replaced the previously-available parking space.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123930345#Comment_123930345

Well then he probably should have phrased the question that way

To answer that question, Brookville avenue was regularly used by matchgoers to Thomond Park, the cycle lane now takes over the unmarked parking spaces. The Ennis Road between Ivan's cross and the Greenhills was regularly used by the PnaG matchgoers although I would concede that this one is still illegally used as parking because the cycle lane is only a painted line on the side of the road.

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123930464#Comment_123930464

But was Brookville Avenue not entirely double-yellow lines other than "resident" spaces directly outside of houses? Has that changed now, are there now no spaces at all on Brookville Avenue? (Genuine question, I haven't been there recently). It seems like (note, I'm assuming!) Brookville Avenue was actually being used illegally by matchgoers?

I don't think the one on Ennis Road is an issue though, right? You seem to be saying nobody was impacted by that. And I believe it's been in its current configuration for over 15 years.

So I don't fully understand your point if I'm honest.

I think you were saying that "build it and they will come" hasn't worked, but you're referencing paint on the side of the road that you say people park on (basically this cycle track is substandard in the extreme). And you're saying that people have been inconvenienced by parking being removed but seem to be referencing places where nobody was inconvenienced.

From what I can see, Limerick haven't really gone down the road of "build it and they will come" to any major degree yet.

Cookiemunster

The Brookville Avenue bike lane runs along the main R445 road. It was never legal to park there.

But that's Reds posting style. I'm on his ignore list for calling out his BS.

He's claiming parking was removed from O'Connell St for bike lanes too even though it was actually removed during the upgrade of the street to make it more pedestrian friendly.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123930765#Comment_123930765

But was Brookville Avenue not entirely double-yellow lines other than "resident" spaces directly outside of houses?

It may have had double-yellows, I have only ever noticed cars parked there, not whether they were parked legally or not, there was 3 lanes of space on that road and traffic was able to flow freely with cars parked on one side, just as it is now with the cycle lane in place

I don't think the one on Ennis Road is an issue though, right? You seem to be saying nobody was impacted by that. And I believe it's been in its current configuration for over 15 years.

Not sure if anybody actually receives parking fines for parking there, certainly they are liable to

The question raised by Thelonious Monk was where parking has been removed in Limerick to be replaced by cycle lanes. I gave 3 examples of where this happened.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/13/berlin-bicycle-and-pedestrian-car-friendly-transport

Good to see and it's very telling it's those that remember Communism being most outspoken.

For many older Berliners and easterners who grew up under communism, cars remain a symbol of independence, freedom and status.

Against that backdrop, the new government began by axing a high-profile pilot project to pedestrianise a short stretch of Friedrichstrasse, the main shopping street in east Berlin.

More recently, it announced plans to shrink budgets for bike lanes and pedestrian safety in 2026 and 2027, after already slashing the amount previously earmarked.

I hope this trend accelerates around Europe especially as socialist and green parties decline.

magicbastarder

posted this earlier to the 30km/h thread in the commuting&transport forum:

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/11/13/dublin-city-speed-limits-to-be-cut/

Speed limits are set to be reduced across Dublin city for the first time in five years, including on main roads and arterial routes into the city centre.