Time for a Car Ban on Lower Abbey Street

Jamie2k9 · 09-08-2018 7:43pm #1

Over the last few months the left turn from Marlborough and O Connell street has been causing major traffic congestion and if private cars were removed it would help as they have increased in recent months. Its more less a complete standstill between O Connell and Gardner St junction at peak hours these days.

I'm sure Dublin Bus and BE would support it. At the very least an even peak ban between 16.00-19.00 should be considered.

Yer Da sells Avon · 09-08-2018 8:32pm

Car park owners local businesses represented by fronts organisations like 'Dublin Town' might have some objections to that perfectly legitimate suggestion.

Jamie2k9 · 09-08-2018 10:09pm

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

Car park owners local businesses represented by fronts organisations like 'Dublin Town' might have some objections to that perfectly legitimate suggestion.

There is no shops but is a car park but I'm not sure if its for Irish Life or public one at the end.

Mr.Frame · 09-08-2018 10:39pm

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Over the last few months the left turn from Marlborough and O Connell street has been causing major traffic congestion and if private cars were removed it would help as they have increased in recent months. Its more less a complete standstill between O Connell and Gardner St junction at peak hours these days.

I'm sure Dublin Bus and BE would support it. At the very least an even peak ban between 16.00-19.00 should be considered.

So where do you propose the traffic should go then, if its removed from Abbey St

Ben D Bus · 09-08-2018 10:44pm

Mr.Frame wrote: »

So where do you propose the traffic should go then, if its removed from Abbey St

Left from Marlborough St onto Eden Quay and left again onto Beresford Place? Cars off O'Connell St should be virtually non-existent anyway due to existing restrictions.

Jamie2k9 · 09-08-2018 10:56pm

Mr.Frame wrote: »

So where do you propose the traffic should go then, if its removed from Abbey St

That's not my problem, they shouldn't be coming down O'Connell Street to exit onto the Quays by Busaras. Its a very busy bus route.

Mr.Frame · 10-08-2018 8:15pm

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

That's not my problem, they shouldn't be coming down O'Connell Street to exit onto the Quays by Busaras. Its a very busy bus route.

So no solution then!

n!ghtmancometh · 10-08-2018 8:36pm

Solution is to use public transport, and not to expect to be able to drive unhindered into the city centre where road space is at a premium, and should be put to use as efficiently as possible.

Carawaystick · 10-08-2018 9:42pm

Mr.Frame wrote: »

So where do you propose the traffic should go then, if its removed from Abbey St

same place the traffic from middle abbey st went, or the traffic on Grafton st went.
Away

liamog · 10-08-2018 9:42pm

They could remove traffic from Lower Abbey St up to the Irish Life car park exit. The entrance is now on Beresford Lane.

Mr.Frame · 10-08-2018 11:00pm

Carawaystick wrote: »

same place the traffic from middle abbey st went, or the traffic on Grafton st went.
Away

Hence the posters post

veryangryman · 11-08-2018 12:48am

"Not my problem "attitudes is what slows down the process of removing cars. Cork the first attempt on patrick street a case study

Arcade_Tryer · 11-08-2018 2:22am

Introduce congestion charges in the city centre.

Allow people to drive in the city centre, but make them pay for the privilege.

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime · 11-08-2018 10:12am

The biggest issue is where the luas red line crosses the green line heading south

We've been known to be stuck at the red light there for easily over 7 mins (vehicles even idle shut down activating)

Then when they do go green only one vehicle can get through !

Private traffic on that stretch isint really an issue from what I see

Jamie2k9 · 11-08-2018 12:09pm

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

The biggest issue is where the luas red line crosses the green line heading south

We've been known to be stuck at the red light there for easily over 7 mins (vehicles even idle shut down activating)

Then when they do go green only one vehicle can get through !

Private traffic on that stretch isint really an issue from what I see

I do agree about lights issue, they need to revisit and depending on trams you could get a full line of traffic cleared but the real problem is after Marlborough you are backed up.

The route is heavily used by BE, DB and could be wrong but those tourist buses are a more recent addition than a few years ago. Reality is a car ban would not have any significant consequences but I suspect it will require congestion to get worse before a ban is floated.

"Not my problem "attitudes is what slows down the process of removing cars. Cork the first attempt on patrick street a case study

Comparing Patrick's street is mad, politics is what reversed this and the place was clogged up with cars since the ban was removed and rightfully put back in place all be it slightly altered.

They could remove traffic from Lower Abbey St up to the Irish Life car park exit. The entrance is now on Beresford Lane.

Exactly what I would like to see.

Mr.Frame · 11-08-2018 3:11pm

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

Introduce congestion charges in the city centre.

Allow people to drive in the city centre, but make them pay for the privilege.

Why penalise the motorist.Most people have to take their cars to work as most cannot afford to live in Dublin, plus the public transport in Dublin and surrounding areas is not good enough.
People already pay high car insurance, tax, nct petrol/diesel, why ask them to pay more?

cython · 12-08-2018 4:37pm

Mr.Frame wrote: »

Why penalise the motorist.Most people have to take their cars to work as most cannot afford to live in Dublin, plus the public transport in Dublin and surrounding areas is not good enough.
People already pay high car insurance, tax, nct petrol/diesel, why ask them to pay more?

Because the motorist has elected to use the most space-inefficient and least sustainable means to navigate the city. Short of razing the city centre and building a 6 lane dual carriageway through it, the city can't be made to accommodate more cars while also facilitating better and more efficient public transport, so driving into the city (in particular in single-occupancy vehicles - if there are 4/5 people in a car obviously the efficiency of the vehicle is greater) has to be disincentivised for motorists somehow. What a lot of people miss is that if there were no cars in the CC, buses would work a lot better, and the excuse of PT not being good enough wouldn't hold true to anywhere near the same extent.

EDIT: I say this as someone who found themselves driving to and from work in the city centre due to running between work and hospitals for a week or so earlier this year, and to be honest such is my hatred for sitting in traffic I was in work by 6am each day, and generally it was after 6:30pm when I left to go to whichever hospital by car. I took public transport between work and the hospitals during the day or at peak times. Main reason for driving to work was that it was well located between all three of home (Dublin 15) and both hospitals (Vincents and James's), and the fact that I was likely to be coming and going at odd hours.

Podge_irl · 12-08-2018 7:28pm

Mr.Frame wrote: »

Why penalise the motorist.Most people have to take their cars to work as most cannot afford to live in Dublin, plus the public transport in Dublin and surrounding areas is not good enough.
People already pay high car insurance, tax, nct petrol/diesel, why ask them to pay more?

No they don't. Most people get to work by public transport, walking or cycling.

Mr.Frame · 14-08-2018 3:07pm

Podge_irl wrote: »

No they don't. Most people get to work by public transport, walking or cycling.

Really ? Thats interesting, have you any info about it?

Podge_irl · 14-08-2018 3:32pm

Mr.Frame wrote: »

Really ? Thats interesting, have you any info about it?

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Canal_Cordon_Report_2017.pdf

61,694 people out of 211,416 cross into the city in cars.

Public transport, walking and cycling account for 144,543

magicbastarder · 14-08-2018 4:16pm

worth noting that that only counts people crossing the canal cordons - does not capture commuters whose commute does not cross one of those points.

Podge_irl · 14-08-2018 5:04pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

worth noting that that only counts people crossing the canal cordons - does not capture commuters whose commute does not cross one of those points.

True, though I think it is fair to class that as the "city centre".

Mr.Frame · 14-08-2018 9:31pm

Podge_irl wrote: »

True, though I think it is fair to class that as the "city centre".

not to be pedantic but if it was the city centre the report would have said city centre,
It was quite specific and said "canal cordons"

magicbastarder · 14-08-2018 9:55pm

what you might class as 'the city centre' is obviously a moving target, but the canals is as good a way of defining it as any other.

LuckyLloyd · 15-08-2018 11:43am

The car will eventually be removed in its entirety from the City Centre outside of specific and highly restricted time periods. That is the trend, and the trend is supported by the data (pedantry of canals vs city centre aside). Car parks will move out to interchange points with Public Transport outside of the city centre where demand resides.

It's over, but we just have to suffer the death by a thousand cuts until everyone realises that and stops flogging a dead horse. This will ultimately be understood in the end as a ~60 year process starting from when Henry St was closed to cars as a temporary experiment in June 1971. At EVERY SINGLE STEP OF THE WAY there has been objections from Councillors, lobbyists, businesses, etc. But these objections have always been on the wrong side of history and will continue to be so. It's been far too slow, but we're getting there.

Time for a Car Ban on Lower Abbey Street

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