Cities around the world that are reducing car access

Have you evidence that most Irish people dont want cars? I am sure most people want short commutes, but perhaps most want both good public transport and cars.

I actually drove there and parked in the centre last year, and it wasn't terrible to navigate or find a space, was a Sunday though. I did notice that it's pretty carcentric, me not helping matters either.

>There are significant societal impacts also. Roads can separate an area. Motorways will have the effect of cutting people off from what weree neighbours. Within urban areas, dial carriageways and alrge wide roads segregate communities. It has gotten to the point in Ireland and elsewhere that it is regarded as unsafe to allow children play outside on the streets. Many children remain indoors which contributes to childhood obesity. Similarly, because roads are regarded as too dangerous, most parents won't let their kids cycle to school. Many parents won't even let their kids walk. You also see large numbers of parents driving their kids to and from school.

Arguments against roads don’t really resonate with me as you need roads for buses and freight.

>Within a city, I'm definitely faster by bike.

You said your 12km commute is faster with a bike but I don’t think so outside rush hour. Id love of there was a good spatial analysis of this by the CSO or someone else because I find it hard to believe that in most areas of the country, rural or urban, a 12km journey is quicker on bike.

However, to pick you up on your "extending peoples lives" - over-reliance on cars to travel also contributes towards health issues which can reduce people's lives.

>A moral imperitave? What utter crap!

Nope. There is a moral imperative for cars. That doesn’t mean I only appreciate cars. I am passionately for cycling, buses and trains too. I just hate the dishonesty here that cars are bad. Cars have made life much better. Cycling is more dangerous than car use and that isn’t a new thing. Cycling used to be a lot more dangerous, so cycling would not become risk free if cars were removed. In the 1930s US, there was twice as many cycling deaths per capita as present despite a vastly lower ownership rate of cars.

As for the balancing of road space - any reallocation of road space has been difficult with people in cars not being able to see past the windscreen view of the world. They have grudgingly allowed to share space despite the obvious effect of reducting the numbers of people driving

The balance is shifting though, especially in cities with more and more progressive societies allocating more and more funding towards sustainable travel - public transit, active travel, etc.

Again funding for roads is funding for buses.

Progressivism isn’t a good thing. It is a toxic ideology.

I lived around that way 10 years ago or so and I don't think anyone even knew what an LTN was. Where in Herne Hill are they doing this? Used to drink in the Prince Regent by the Lido! Lovely place.

vaguely related to this thread but it's actually pretty hilarious, I wonder how many people have paid heed to that sign over the years, i'd go out on a limb and say zero. we need a guerilla sign removing team at night like the tire extinguishers.

an ambitious plan for the south quays. Hopefully DCC have the nerve to get it done.

this is a great thread. actually where I'm from in Dublin has plenty of shops but the greengrocers and butchers are all gone due to supermarket influx, but there are plenty of supermarkets within a 15 minute walk.

what worries me are the swathes of new apartments and houses being built in places like clongriffin and elsewhere that don't seem to have any amenities whatsoever nearby. no pubs or cafes, nothing.

what's the solution to this? should councils be subsidising businesses to start in these areas? the overheads are so expensive in ireland now that no one is going to risk competing against the supermarkets everyone will drive to.

also it's funny how this 15 minute city thing is being hijacked by the loonies as some kind of communist credit scheme, or something.

Fingers crossed from that initial sounding for a reversal of the decision.

But presumably then to the Supreme Court for the burghers and denizens of Sandymount, and their feckless councillor enablers? After all, this is a case of national and indeed constitutional importance... 😁

Are they not at all concerned about the 'mortification'? Or is that a working class concern.

It seems more congested yes, but then any time I've been down it there's only been a few cars that proceed to turn down Serpentine Road - most continue straight towards Ballsbridge

Also bear in mind that there's roadworks around Booterstown-Trimblestone which probably aids in clumping all of the cars together.

I was over in London in the last few weeks. I came out of Euston train station and was walking around the area. This was at about 5PM.

When I came out of the train station I expected to hear the usual roar of a city. What really struck me was how quiet it was. Almost eerily quiet. You could even hear the birds clearly.

And this was despite the fact that the area is not pedestrianised.

I put it down to several factors:

1. It was a Monday and a lot of people work from home on Mondays now.
2. The congestion charge in London removing a lot of cars from the roads.
3. The electrification of the remaining fleet of cars and vans. In fact whenever I did hear an old diesel engine, it really stood out.

As well as cutting down on actual pollution, the amount by which the changes have reduced noise pollution was striking.

you don't really need one so it's just an unnecessary expense. where i am in hackney it's really quiet too, hardly any cars around until you go down to kingsland road towards the city and even that isn't too bad. you'd only really need a car if you're leaving the city everything else is accessible by pub tran or walking/bike. i honestly can't think of anyone in my social circle that owns a car here, except one but he lives a bit further out in croydon direction.

Saw recent complaints online about how packed the Elizabeth Line is. But sounds more like it's doing it's job if it's full of commuters.