Cities around the world that are reducing car access

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120312743#Comment_120312743

Oh don't think much if it relative to the volume of people. Similar sized cities like Paris is also a mega city and has amuch better system. The buses in London are woefully slow in my experience with very little bus priority

Thelonious Monk

https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2023/03/06/coalition-tensions-over-options-to-reduce-private-car-usage/

poor Eamon is gonna face serious backlash over this

Sam Russell

I think the traffic congestion has gradually worsened over the last decade such that it is now intolerable, but no-one can say when it became intolerable.

The Covid lockdown got very many to work from home - quite successfully, much to the surprise of many. Workers suddenly found they no longer had to spend hours in traffic if they worked from home.

The Gov reduced the cost of PT by 20% instead of raising it and PT use increased - that should continue.

The increases in motor fuel costs have reduced traffic congestion, and speeding. Or at least, when I was on the N7 recently, no-one was going over the 60 Km/h speed limit - presumably watching the fuel consumption.

Ryan wants more bus lanes, more cycling and active travel infrastructure, congestion charges, increased parking charges, etc.

Now what have others done to reduce congestion over the last few years?

Sam Russell

Mod: Off topic posts deleted.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120319635#Comment_120319635

That's the thing, it's either keep going with a society that requires you to own a car and putting more and more cars on the road and needing new infrastructure for them, or doing what Ryan is proposing. Unfortunately it seems most people are unable to get their head around this and see it as a personal attack.

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120319635#Comment_120319635

Do you think so? I seem to remember traffic was a lot worse in the 1990s compared to now. And the Dublin city canal cordon count seems to back that up, year on year cars entering central Dublin have been dropping in number.

I think it's fairly clear that city centres have to be car free or 'low car' meaning access only. We could do that fairly quickly and there'd be no new charges or taxes.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120319924#Comment_120319924

Depends on what you measure and at what time of day.

Listening to the traffic reports on RTE in the morning, Kilmoon Cross, Dunkettle, N6 junction in Galway, N7 and Newlands Cross/Mad Cow, Harold's Cross and Portobello Bridge and a few others got the daily mention. Kilmoon Cross is in the middle of nowhere.

Driving around Dublin, I find congestion at unusual times for not particular reason. Illegal parking is often a contributor.

A number of unpopular actions could be taken. A congestion charge would certainly affect the way people use their cars, as would higher parking charges and high level of enforcement. As would better availability and frequency of PT with lower fares. P&R is another action that would help.

McGrath5

I was out for my usual walks over the weekend around Rathfarnham, Terenure & Knocklyon. The amount of car usage and traffic congestion in general is just appalling on both Saturday and Sunday morning/afternoon. One thing I notice is pedestrian infrastructure is so poor in many places like narrow broken up footpaths in close proximity to 2000KG SUVs driving by at high speed. Pedestrian crossings take an age to cycle through , illegal parking everywhere, car centric junctions with no pedestrian lights meaning you have no make a run for it when there is a gap in traffic.

It's depressing, not even sure where to begin to undo this mess.

Grassey

I'd start simple... Prevent the parked on path just for mass or football as a start!

Fines or bollards. I'm OK with either!

cgcsb

6.1 news covering the story now on potential congestion charges, increase in parking charges etc. And who do they ask for comment? The head of the AA of course not anybody representing people using sustainable modes. And of course the AA say make public transport free. Never mind if they actually asked the NTA they'd be told that Dublin commuters are relatively price insensitive and abolishing fares would only attract normal cyclists and walkers and put pressure on bus capacity and have no impact on car usage.

And of course no challenge from RTE

Sam Russell

That is always the way RTE and IT - the both treat this type of story in the same way.

Always they look for the edge case - the one with single mother with the disabled child that has to travel every week for specialist treatment in Dublin with only the diesel car the only transport. Many times they do not even check the veracity of the claims made by the edge case they quote, nor whether there are many such cases or whether this is rare, or alternatives to the case quoted.

AlmightyCushion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120322823#Comment_120322823

Just like the story that made the front page of the Irish Times about the blind guy who gets two buses to work every day but with the BusConnects changes his journey will change to a 6 bus round trip (I assumed they phrased it that way because saying 6 bus round trip sounds worse than 3 bus trips). Turns out they were wrong and under BusConnects the person in question would actually be able to get to work using a single bus trip and the stop that bus goes from is closer to his house than the old stop. So, BusConnects ended up being a big improvement to this person's life than the status quo. Of course, that part never made the front page it was in the letters section.

Heartbreak Hank

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120323071#Comment_120323071

This is brilliant.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120323071#Comment_120323071

They didn't get it "wrong". The journalist in question knew full well there was a direct bus, but he proclaimed that the person in question needed to go via town for undeclared reasons and therefore his article was perfectly valid. Its even worse!

My own favourite reporting is when the put in the extra bus lane on the North quays and the IT reported on "commuter chaos" as the 500 drivers had a slightly tougher time as the 5,000 bus users breezed through more easily.

AlmightyCushion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120336872#Comment_120336872

I don't remember that part but it doesn't really surprise me.

CatInABox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120337667#Comment_120337667

Yeah, the response from the journalist was the worst thing about that whole sorry affair. "Ok, so it seems that there's a lot of factual errors in my article, but I'm actually right. Oh, you want proof? No, no, for reasons I won't go in to, I can't provide any, but rest assured, despite how it looks, I'm right" essentially.

Seth Brundle

Galway - leading by example...

https://connachttribune.ie/galway-city-councils-e3-5m-bill-for-crown-square-car-parking/

Thelonious Monk

https://twitter.com/JanetPHorner/status/1633831795769905155

Looks interesting

cgcsb

Not sure on the Capel street pics. It looks like there's still a 'carriageway' and a layer of imperiability and then footpaths. Should the seating not be shopside and have the rest of the street open.

Seth Brundle

interesting...

None of the European cities that lowered the speed limit to 30 km/h regrets it

It reduces accidents, makes transports safer and gets people using public transport and cycling, thus improving air quality and reducing noise pollution. The introduction of a 30 km/h speed limit has so far worked in all the cities concerned. Let's take a closer look.

https://www.europeandatajournalism.eu/eng/News/Data-news/None-of-the-European-cities-that-lowered-the-speed-limit-to-30-km-h-regrets-it

Saudades

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120339871#Comment_120339871

Very good idea having seating and furniture centrally in the street. At the moment, Capel Street doesn't have a pedestrianised feel to it as the 'road' has been taken over by cyclists and the occasional e-scooter, so most pedestrians are still sticking to those narrow footpaths. By having benches and giant plant pots in the middle, this should deter cyclists from using the street.

It looks great, hopefully this will be in place before the summer.

CatInABox

I don't think the aim is to deter cyclists, I think it's to slow them down. It is still a mixed use street, and is actually meant to be a significant part of the cycle network.

In that sense, I think designing the street to ensure cyclists go slow is the right approach.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120360767#Comment_120360767

Any time I've been down there I've also noticed motorbikes using it, mainly for deliveries/collections.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120360886#Comment_120360886

That makes sense. Not all cyclists slow down as they should on shared sections.

magicbastarder

https://medium.com/%40harrythetallcyclist/how-i-got-arrested-for-being-a-pedestrian-a66bd3c86472

That's such a weird situation.

Saudades

Motorcyclists should not be on this street except for making a delivery between 6am to 11am.

I'm not even sure if cycling is still legal on Capel Street (after 11am anyway) as there is no cycle lane south of the Black Sheep, and it's now a pedestrianised area.

Pedestrians and cyclists sharing this same space is a bad idea. A parent pushing a pram down the street, wheelchair users using the street, old folks out for a stroll, with cyclists swerving past them.

At the moment it's a speedway paradise for cyclists, motorcyclists, and e-scooterists with a wide open stretch of nice new smooth tarmac. Pedestrians are still having to shuffle along the narrow footpaths.

magicbastarder

according to this sign, it's a shared ped/cycling area. if cycling was not allowed, this sign would not be used.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3493833,-6.2695695,3a,75y,85.46h,91.56t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suO84RqhzSJzPTNuEyphS0g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

CatInABox

Just checked there, and while the Dublin Cycle Network map hasn't been updated in a while (or at least not to my cursory search), Capel Street is indeed a primary route on the Proposed Dublin Cycle Network. The idea that cyclists won't be, or shouldn't be, allowed to cycle down it is a bit far fetched in that case.

Best thing to do is either design it to separate cyclists from pedestrians, or design it so that when cyclists and pedestrians do mix, it is at low speeds/low danger. In this case, I'd prefer it as a slow speed mixed use, as that way you don't have a "high speed highway" going through the middle.

magicbastarder

not ideal that a primary route on a cycle network is routed through a shared pedestrian street.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120361911#Comment_120361911

congrats on your 44,444th post