Cities around the world that are reducing car access

Some hot takes going on here.

By saying hot takes it sounds you are implying I am trying to be edgy or contrarian, but I am really not. I am just reflecting mainstream thought. Ryan is the radical here. A 20% reduction in car numbers in just 7 years is really very radical.

So all Ferrybank traffic has to move through Military Road and Ballybricken instead? It would be much more just closuring the car park. Would you pedestrianise Grattan Quay too? How would you supply shops on the quays? Truck access at certain hours? Some of the hotels there have no other road frontage. Where do you move the bus station too?

Given the CSO stats that 50% of car journeys are under 2km then aiming for getting more of those journey types eliminated would go a massive way to a reduction by 20% of total car usage on the roads. It really is low hanging achievable fruit. But far less sensational than "that cabbage lads wants to take 20% of our cars off us..."

Waterford has been lauded as a leader in pedestrianisation. There is already a long established walking route there.

The Irish Times and a few other peddlers of fake news came up with 20% of cars.

Why are you paying any attention to that clown? He's irrelevant and not nearly as popular as twitter would have you believe.

They're definitely taking the p*ss but the most voted comment thinks it will dissuade shoppers from going to the city centre, sigh.

I don't know what it is about internet comments but it does not matter how uncontroversial, how much good it brings, the majority of the comments will be sensationally negative. The journal is particularly bad for it though. Anyway it is isolated though as proper voting polls done for Capel Street and College Green show that it is overwhelmingly what people want and hope for.

yeah but they look like they're in favour because people like us who take an interest in these things answer these polls. your average dubliner seems to think otehrwise if facebook etc. are anything to go by. even some of my own friend group back home can't understand why you'd pedestrianise areas and think it's ruining the city. i'm losing hope, i think i need to get off twitter and other social media.

Forcing thousands of cars into a medieval street pattern and a subsequent endless programme of road building across the country to support that choice for untold billions of euros and putting 133 people (the safest year since the 1940s) into their graves per year to accommodate that choice was the radical decision. A 20% reduction is a partial de-radicalisation of a transport policy that was plain nuts to begin with.

Look at the ads: the person who pays the piper calls the tune.

Same with "drive time radio". If all the ads are car companies....