Cities around the world that are reducing car access

Seth Brundle

https://twitter.com/EndCarCulture/status/1600552964413964308

. .

magicbastarder

Someone with a one-hour commute in a car needs to earn 40% more to be as happy as someone with a short walk to work. On the other hand, researchers found that if someone shifts from a long commute to a walk, their happiness increases as much as if they’d fallen in love. People who walk 8.6 minutes a day are 33% more likely to report better mental health.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3062989/50-reasons-why-everyone-should-want-more-walkable-streets

Ben D Bus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985765#Comment_119985765

Not sure everyone will see reason 23 as a good thing 🤐

Peregrine

20% reduction in cars by 2030

https://www.newstalk.com/news/we-are-going-for-it-eamon-ryan-determined-to-take-cars-off-the-road-1412569

cgcsb

Sounds very positive and a welcome departure from the 'everyone just get an electric car' nonsense. Also cars are a very high value item that we don't produce in this country so the less of them we buy the better for the domestic economy.

Whatever about car ownership, I think car usage in city centres needs to be cut by 80% in the more immediate future. City centres need to be no through roads. I'm looking at Cork on this one, national roads going straight through the city centre in 2022 not good.

Further evidence of the benefits of congestion charges from the likes of London where its been quite successful in shifting the needle of what is seen as a convenient when it comes to mode of travel

First came the congestion charge in 2003, followed by the LEZ in 2008, followed again by the ULEZ in 2019

The ULEZ will expand next year to cover the entirety of greater London

https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/12/17/transport-for-london-how-one-of-the-worlds-most-congested-cities-is-keeping-cars-out

Some numbers

• Current population, 8.8 million, projection for 2030 is 9.4
• Over the last decade traffic numbers have dropped by 10%
  • In some areas, that figure is bigger: in Westminster, for instance, traffic flow has decreased by 28 per cent in the last ten years. In Camden, it has dropped by 21 per cent.
• In 2022, traffic on London’s busiest routes is still down six per cent compared to before the pandemic
• After the ULEZ was rolled out, traffic flow across the capital has decreased by 11 per cent since 2019

On the flip side, the numbers for cycling have rocketed

• Between 2011 and 2021, bike traffic in London increased by 66 per cent
• The number of people living within 400 metres of a high-quality cycle route almost doubling since 2019

serfboard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120014034#Comment_120014034

Don't agree with congestion charges myself - it just discriminates against those who can't afford it.

Just get rid of private car traffic from the roads in question altogether.

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120015384#Comment_120015384

I think that a good solution, just remove all parking in the centre and all through roads and/or ban non residents from driving into the centre using the canal cordon.

The National Transport Authority has published the Waterford Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (WMATS). It follows on in the same form as the recent Limerick & Cork ones where it moves further away from provisioning for the private car towards sustainable modes instead (walking, cycling, bus, rail etc).

The press release which includes many other supporting documents

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/planning-and-investment/strategic-planning/regional-transport-strategies/waterford-metropolitan-area-transport-strategy-wmats/

The report itself

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/01-Waterford-Metropolitan-Area-Transport-Strategy.pdf

serfboard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120015428#Comment_120015428

I presume that you mean public car parking? Because if you want to remove private car parking then the private car park owners will be up in arms - look at the accommodations they've had to resort to in Dublin to facilitate traffic to private Car Parks.

By way of a solution, we could always offer to compensate the car park owners to the amounts of profit that they report to revenue! Or, have a regeneration scheme like we had before, but a specific time-limited one for re-purposing car parks. Something like:

"Dear Car Park owner, we are planning to close road X to private car traffic by 202Y. This will mean that no traffic will be able to use your Car Park by then. If you apply for our new car-park repurposing scheme, you can receive a grant/tax incentive, but you must have the car park re-purposed before the road is closed."

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120015483#Comment_120015483

I mean both public and private. The car park owners got tax free deals to open up in the 1990s as part of efforts to tackle dereliction, they have even gotten special treatment in public consultations with their opinion being given greater value than 90% of respondents in some cases. The Jervis even got the council to bring in 2 way traffic on Jervis so that cars could access the quays directly heading east through the most congested part of the city. They have taken more than their share from society and contributed nothing so I'm not fussed if they get 'up in arms'.

Many of them are now struggling in any case, Arnotts has voluntary converted part of theirs to alternative use. Clearys Q Park is empty and I think Brown Thomas has more or less priced themselves out of appeal. Brown Thomas are now publicly distancing their brand from the car park and calling for more pedestrianized areas. The fact that DCC actually owns and operates car parks in the city centre is another perplexing situation but to be expected.

serfboard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120015567#Comment_120015567

Oh I don't care if they get up in arms either, except for the fact that they have the potential to delay progress for years with threats of legal challenges. And the mere threat of a legal challenge seems to be enough to scare off most city officials and politicians.

It would be better of course if their business just withered on the vine, but, in the interests of faster progression, I would have no problem with a limited (in terms of time and money), once-off scheme to rid city centres of private car parks.

I would also actively penalise all city-centre organisations (private and public) that have car parks for staff. (IIRC there was a proposal about this more than a decade ago). Civil servants, politicians or city officials will never really be incentivised to improve sustainable transport, when they themselves drive in and park in their work-provided car park. Those who are responsible for providing sustainable transport, must be forced to use it. The staff Car Park in Leinster House, or in Galway's City Hall are perfect examples of what I'm talking about.

Pete_Cavan

Any sort of payment or compensation which car park owners would willingly accept would be extortionately expensive, money which would be better spent in other ways.

Apart from the one at BTs, I don't think any of the multi-storeys actually have much impact on main road space reallocation projects. Just keep implementing changes and putting the funding into that. Multi-storeys serve a purpose in that they mean parked cars aren't taking up valuable outdoor space and all users have to pay to use them.

The priority initially should be removing on street parking, many people see it as free parking and there is a cost to enforcing it. Most of it could be removed at little capital cost and possibly a saving in operating costs. I'd rather DCC start removing on street parking and tell any complainers to use the multi-storeys rather than getting into expensive and drawn-out battles with multi-storey owners.

JohnC.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120015480#Comment_120015480

I'm only getting to skim it at the moment, but some interesting stuff. I can already hear people tearing their hair out at the picture of Rice Bridge reduced to 2 general traffic lanes 😉

Some interesting cycle and greenway stuff. 2040 seems like a long time to sort out some bus routes. Sad to see a downstream bridge could be scuppered by it affecting the profits on the toll bridge.

Sam Russell

Toll bridges are an abomination. They do nothing for traffic management.

cgcsb

I like the proposed bus network with almost every route going to the train station. Great for a city the size of Waterford. A simple network with strong bus priority and quality cycling could make Waterford a leader. The quays need a total overhaul, it should be a civic space and not a car park. When are the council actually putting in the new ped bridge?

JohnC.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120017749#Comment_120017749

I don't know when the actual bridge should start, but enabling works and south plaza works have started.

McGrath5

This looks promising but we all know how well it could be watered down by the time special interest groups have their say.

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2022/1220/1342970-transport-carbon-emissions/

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120017749#Comment_120017749

I was in Waterford for the first time last year and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the wasted space that is the car park on the quays.

Are there any other towns or cities in Europe that would devote that prime real estate to parking vehicles? On the continent that space would be full of cafes, restaurants and bars.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120018202#Comment_120018202

The measures listed in that article are coming straight from the 5 Cities demand management study

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/63517-publication-of-five-cities-demand-management-study-phase-1-report-and-toolkits/

Its a well written doc with loads more carrot/stick proposals. Well worth a read to see whats coming for the cities over the next decade

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120018221#Comment_120018221

It's crazy the main water front of a city centre, just stuffed with cars and ita not as if Waterford lacks parking. More surface parking spaces than humans.

namloc1980

Went to Waterford last Christmas for the Christmas festival which was nice. What wasn't good though was the entire length of the Quays being a giant car park. Unbelievable waste of river front space for storing private cars. It looks terrible.

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120013431#Comment_120013431

Thankfully this will not happen

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028108#Comment_120028108

Why not and why thankfully?

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028061#Comment_120028061

You dont know the area. The river space is not impended by the cars. Terrible candidate for pedestrianisation.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028143#Comment_120028143

Did you mean impeded or impended?

@namloc1980 didn't use either anyhow. Nonetheless, the waterfront is a kip. Its a massive car park whereas it could be a lovely public space if the local reps had the balls to push for it. To say that it would be a terrible candidate for pedestrianisation is a bit strange. it only looks like it might be a bad choice because of a main road helping to keep people away from the river. However, can you think of any other city where a riverside would be deemed to be a terrible candidate for pedestriansiation?

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028143#Comment_120028143

Rubbish. Limerick turned Arthurs Quay carpark into to an actual park over 20 years ago. That space would be ideal for a linear park along the river. Limerick also created boardwalks and mini parks along both sides of the river. It's not perfect and could do with more pedestrianisation, but its light years ahead of Waterford, and the banks of the Shannon are now one of the most popular areas of the city, especially in the summer.

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028396#Comment_120028396

Most of the quay is about 50 metres in width. It is huge space. There is ample space for walkers and all vehicles types. It is also the biggest road in the city by far and that already has prob the best pedestrianisation in Ireland, far ahead of Limerick. The easy pedestrianisation sites are used. Arthurs Quay is tiny corner about 5,000m2, the Waterford Quays are about 50,000m2. Mad idea altogether.

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028135#Comment_120028135

Because we have a rapidly growing population which is also rapidly aging, both of which mean more car transport is needed. We already have lowest numbers of cars per capita in Europe, outside some former East Block nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita

Also because public transport is overwhelmed and has no space. I say thankfully as you cant take away that many cars and not suffer a cost to quality of life.

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120028450#Comment_120028450

It's not in anyway mad. There is absolutely no need for a surface car park in such a location. Riverside cities all over the world are creating riverside public spaces and parks with shops, restaurants and bars facing onto them. Rivers are selling points for cities to attract new residents and tourists and any city ignoring its river is shooting itself in the foot.