Dublin City Centre - Car Restrictions

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Gordon Gekko

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A material revenue stream for Dublin City Council is on-street parking spaces between the canals. I’ve seen lots of city centre road space converted to cycle lanes and I like this as I cycle to/from work in city centre. I’ve never seen any paid-for parking spaces removed though.


No one ever seems to point this out and instead blames the evil car park owners who are doing nothing more than privately providing storage for private property.
 
If DCC are serious about wanting to get private traffic out of the city then why charge tolls on the East Link Bridge, or M50 ?

... This only encourages motorists, who need to cross the city, to come further into the city, to avoid the tolls?
 
Gordon Gekko said:
The fact that 80% of submissions support restricting cars in Dublin City Centre does not mean that there’s ‘overwhelming support’ for such measures.
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It's very clear that there is an anti-car agenda, in Dublin, and probably elsewhere in the country.

I wouldn't be so bothered about it, were it not for the fact that the Government has failed, miserably, to provide a quality public transport service, for all.

As for the cycle lanes, most of the time, they seem to be nearly empty (exception being during peak hours, M-F (and subject to the weather being okay)) .
 
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The Government tried this before with the 200 euro car parking levy for employer provided parking. I believe this may still be on the statute books. However, the Public Sector stopped it getting implemented. Most of the cars and parking within the city centre (between the canals) are Public Sector employees.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
It’s a lot, but not most.


It actually fell apart at implementation phase because of the difficulty of defining a parking space.
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It was both. Public sector employees have parking spaces in the city centre, they were against it. Lots of private sector parking is less formal, with first come first served parking making it hard to see who should be charged the levy.
 

Yes successive governments have failed in this regard, but if the use of cars is limited within city, other options such as public transport, cycling etc., will automatically become more viable, as there will be fewer cars restricting their movement.
In addition, there have been significant improvements to Dublin Bus services & cycle paths over the last two years, with further improvements due soon.
 
Fortune said:
It was both. Public sector employees have parking spaces in the city centre, they were against it. Lots of private sector parking is less formal, with first come first served parking making it hard to see who should be charged the levy.
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Yes, no BIK on mobile phones or parking spaces. The people who make the rules get mobile phones and parking spaces...
 
I live down the country and don't drive anywhere into Dublin unless it is a last resort. I work in the IFSC once or twice a month, train into Heuston and Luas across. Same if I was heading to Croker and if I was heading for the Grafton Street area or the NCH etc, I'd park at Dundrum Shopping centre. No need or no point in driving into the City Centre.

however I have easy train access and conscious not everyone does
 
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Exactly. If there were proper viable alternatives, i.e. trains/metros/Luas, for almost everyone, I’d be more in favour of anti-car measures. But there aren’t. Plus there are stats around the average spend of a car user versus a public transport user when visiting the city centre. I firmly believe that we should build a Metro for Dublin. Not the flaccid and limited proposal for ‘Metro North’, a proper Metro.
 
Yes, the stats show that people who drive spend the least.

Public transport users and walkers ‘spend most in Dublin shops’

Car-based shoppers account for only €1 in every €5 spent in city, NTA research finds
www.irishtimes.com
 
Gordon Gekko said:
If there were proper viable alternatives, i.e. trains/metros/Luas, for almost everyone, I’d be more in favour of anti-car measures.
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If we wait until the perfect solution is available nothing will ever get done.
The town where I live is serviced by train, Bus Éireann and also Dublin bus. There are viable alternatives yet still people take cars into the city. Then once in the city they complain about traffic. Then repeat.

Something needs to be done to disincentivize cars in the city. In the long term it will be for the best.
 
No public transport system will ever be good enough to get people out of private vehicles, they are so far apart in experience that the only way to get change is to dis-incentivise car use - make it so expensive or so inconvenient that it is not worth it. And even then it will never be inconvenient or expensive enough and people will spend their time or money to avoid public transport.

Private vehicle use on our scarce shared spaces should be prioritised only for those truly need it. Those of us lucky enough to be able bodied and able to walk to stops and get on and off public transport vehicles should leave the scarce road space for those who aren't, this should be a normal civic behaviour. People go on holidays to lovely European capitals and to places like Centreparcs and are so impressed with the car free experience but can't imagine it in our own country. Or don't see the not so hidden impact the car use has on all of our health (obesity - especially in kids, lung issues) and our pockets.
 
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