Thoughts on this? I think it would work really well and wouldn't even require much work compared to other towns. Would there be much opposition?
My interpretation of where would be blocked off top and bottom:
Great idea imo
What do people with disabilities do ? there are healthcare businesses including a doctor and physiotherapist in the area potentially ‘zoned’ for pedestrianisation.
what do couriers do, attempting to make deliveries to the various businesses ? ask a courier delivering to anywhere on Grafton St what a gigantic nightmare it is and how unsafe it is for themselves and pedestrians with them attempting to negotiate crowds with a pallet truck, and boxes or a pallet… or hand trolley..
what would the Gardai do if they have to send a car to an emergency ? A detour and extra time to get to the incident.
The surrounding arterial routes are busy enough trying to serve access to the street… castle, county council and the hundreds of shops, with little to no safe opportunities to allow people be dropped to make their own way… push more cars onto those streets ? It’s unavoidable with pedestrianisation…
public transport…. Buses and taxis… there are in excess of 9 bus routes which use main st… where do they go ? ohhh year, let’s have them clog up smaller more arterial roads….
There's parking at the castle shopping centre, opposite Fingal coco, and beside the plaza for disabled people to use. As long as the paths and new area are accessible and we keep disabled parking spots they will be fine.
We could do what Grafton street does and allow deliveries between 5:30-10:30am
Emergency vehicles retain access for emergency situations of course.
Just block the end of the new street where the red stop sign is beside the star bar to stop people cramming arterial routes as a shortcut.
Public transport can just go around?
Right, so FedEx, UPS, DHL, fast way and a host of other delivery companies will just start making deliveries at night ( they don’t deliver at night ) and all those businesses receiving goods and their staff will be cool with that ?
emergency vehicles won’t retain access or certainly safe access. Getting to an emergency while creating another one, jeeez.
just go around ? Erm you haven’t thought this out.
go around ? No.
How do shops on Grafton street get deliveries?answer: commercial vehicles have access 6-11 am source: https://www.graftonstreet.ie/blogs/news/grafton-street-your-questions-answered
In 2022 you think a public space would be designed without access for emergency vehicles? Madness of course they'll have safe and easy access. ( Just like Grafton street and every other pedestrianized area in Dublin)
I don't see how diverting public transport to go down the R132 and cut back in is a bad idea. We're changing to the bus connect system anyway so it makes more sense for the main bus to continue down the national road and be fed into by the other local bus services.
Deliveries to businesses on Main Street can be made from the rear, I'd say that is the case for most already. That won't stop some from using it as an excuse, always looks better to pretend to be concerned about somebody else when you are really only concerned about yourself.
The only reasonable impediment to pedestrianisation is bus routes. Bus access should be retained, prioritising buses will also allow for the removal of cars as people will have a genuine alternative. The first step should be removal of all parking spaces on Main Street and having bus only access. Full pedestrianisation may be possible later but going for it straight away would likely result in nothing happening.
Yeah parking space removal would be a great first step.
so delivery agents / couriers should be forced to change to have their flights arrive earlier to suit the pedestrianisation of Swords ? Staff arrive earlier to sort, unload, drive ? Irish customs staff come in early to arrange inspections ?
madness is to think an emergency vehicle proceeding at a required efficiency.. would be recommend by you to mix with pedestrianised routes :)
Why have we settled in this country for giving over all our towns to vehicles rather than as places to live and enjoy. I don't think an ambulance or garda car with their lights and sirens will have any difficulty getting down the street.
We probably have.. planning is and has been a disaster for decades..
they wouldn’t have a particular difficulty but some people might have difficulty getting out of their way… a risk assessment would be interesting viewing.
Good idea.
Downside is it will attract even more drunken knackbags, like what happened in Malahide.
If they can keep riff raff element to just the local ones it'd work.
I think the train station makes Malahide an easy target.
It doesn't look like the metro is coming anytime soon so no need to worry :D
All asked and answered many, many, many times whenever pedestrianisation is proposed.
There are alternatives, workarounds and facilitation options a plenty that have been shown to work..... literally everywhere around the world and in Ireland.
There are honestly very few arguments against pedestrianisation that stand up against the many options
Thank you Strumms, for at least bringing up the fact that pedestriaisation does not work for everyone.
As a disabled driver, we seem to be forgotten in all these great plans to pedestrianise parts of the city and remove of parking spaces.
To cut to the chase, if an area is pedestrianised and has no parking it is not accessible to me. Its basically cut off - its as simple as that.
There arnt, sorry, that’s just fanciful pie in the sky stuff that pays no heed to the reality of daily life or the needs of people.
So do you think no areas should be pedestrianised because some people are disabled?
How about if dedicated disabled parking spaces are provided close to the pedestrianised area, that way you can park nearby and then access a large level traffic-free space? Surely that is better than a street full of traffic with narrow footpaths and level changes between paths either side and road in the middle.
I’ve outlined as clear as day the problems with pedestrianisation of the street… i never articulated that what you are saying…that is just disingenuous of you…I think a main street that doesn’t require pedestrianisation and isn’t suited to it and that as said has healthcare facilities and various other essential services as well as multiple bus routes that are not suitable to be rerouted …so no it shouldn’t be pedestrianised
Why does it not require pedestrianisation? Actually, I think a better question is why does it require cars to function?
Why is it not suited to it? How do you define a street as suitable/unsuitable? Honestly curious what your criteria are
Why can bus routes not be redirected? Routes are altered all the time for various logistical, infrastructure changes or demand reasons. What is so special about this street that prevent routes from being altered?
Have you any experience of the side roads and understand their non ability to accommodate the 11 or 12 bus routes that go through Swords ? Plus …Numerous taxis, private cars… all of which several hundred in not over a thousand an hour pass in each direction…church road, brackenstown road … look them up on google maps and tell me if you believe they can… either way, they cannot… it would be dangerous, ineffective, inefficient and a waste of time…
people require cars to transport themselves, shopping, families, it’s not like that’s a new concept.
Maybe you’d like to pedestrianise Eccles St and the North Circular Road too… preventing people with disabilities / illnesses from accessing the Mater Hospital by car…
can you quote where I said.. “ no areas should be pedestrianised because people are disabled” ?
im not remotely against pedestrianisation… I’m against the plans / ideas to pedestrianise places not suited to pedestrianisation…. Such as this area of swords..
Like I said, few reasons against pedestrianisation stand up to scrutiny, least of which that one
I think you're confusing me with another poster tbh
I actually was involved with running a survey about 10 years ago examining this very feasibility with the business on the Main St. We couldn't get the Council interested at all. Funny how when Malahide does it, they're suddenly interested.
While there are obvious considerations for re-routing the buses, deliveries and disabled users, I think this could be a very good thing for Swords. If it was cut from Apache to the BOI, the number of parking spaces lost would actually be quite small, especially at the moment where several have already been turned into outdoor seating areas for the restaurants and pubs.
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