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LAST UPDATE | 9 May 2023
DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has announced that private cars will be banned from the College Green area of the city in three weeks time and that an enhancement project will commence at nearby Foster Place.
Current College Green bus corridor hours, which ban private cars from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, will be extended to a 24/7 bus corridor on 29 May as part of the College Green Pathfinder Project.
The council has said that an average of more than half a million pedestrians and two million passengers on public transport go through College Green each week, compared to just 27,000 private vehicles.
However, “this small number of vehicles causes significant delays to public transport journey times in the area, particularly in the evenings and at weekends when there are no restrictions”.
These new traffic management measures will reallocate the road space exclusively to sustainable modes of transport which account for 97% of current journeys through College Green, today’s announcement said.
Increased footpath space on Dame Street at Foster Place and in the median opposite it will be installed and to provide the public with interim public seating and planters.
“This Pathfinder project will enhance the often overlooked area of Foster Place,” the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Caroline Conroy, said.
“The traffic management measures will improve public transport times, as well as creating a more relaxing and inviting environment to enjoy our historic city centre. This is in accordance with the objective for College Green in the development plan 2022 – 2028.”
I proposed taking cars out of Foster Place in the 2016 Dev Plan. It's been a minute, but it's so great to see some progress on the pedestrianisation of #CollegeGreen. New measures include:
— Cllr Claire Byrne (@CByrneGreen) May 8, 2023
⭐️24/7 bus gate
⭐️decluttering of signs etc
⭐️build outs & seating
⭐️more care free events https://t.co/s3iBZnXgXm
Foster Place, which sits between the Bank of Ireland and the Irish Stock Exchange will have its taxi ranks reduced in favour of planters and public seating.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said that the removal of non-public transport traffic from College Green was “really good news”.
“It is only one of a series of development that are going to be needed for us to make the switch away from unsustainable gridlock traffic system to one that works for everyone,” Ryan said.
Green Party councillor for the South East Inner City, Claire Byrne, said that the move was a welcome step to fully pedestrianising the area.
“We have to stop looking at it as banning private cars and instead as the pedestrianisation of a significant portion of the city center. That is the intention of the College Green Pathfinder project.”
“Developing a plaza in the middle of the city, like most other European cities have, is a really positive thing for the city,” she said.
Plans have been made to remove all vehicles from College Green but this has been delayed until the BusConnects programme has been redesigned.
“I’d certainly be asking for the National Transport Authority to make that a priority. So this is only an interim measure, we need to be moving towards the full thing as soon as possible,” Cllr Byrne said.
She added that she would like to see schemes like the College Green Pathfinder Project continue in the city, as well as the pedestrianisation of South William Street.
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Do you remember when you could park on O Connell St and Dublin used to look pretty? I miss those days.
@Fi Wyse: Yes, it was nice, but what was the population of Dublin in those days, and what proportion of Dubliners owned cars back then?
@Fi Wyse: yeah it was the same time the city was 50 % derelict, governed by corrupt politicians and children in state and religious care were being abused with the knowledge and tacit consent of the guards and the greater society . Happy days alright
@Conor Flood: Yeah but the trees on O Connell Street used to be pretty. My post was 50/50 joke sarcasm no need to be so serious.
@Fi Wyse: Dublin hasn’t looked pretty since the 1950s. The city has lost about 50 percent of its historic buildings since then. You can see the brutalist buildings in the pic with the statue of Thomas Davis. We get the city we deserve
@Fergus Peter Smyth: I think our city looks great. If only the buildings were taller it would be more practical.
@Fi Wyse: Black when huge parts of the city looked bombed out?
The undeclared war on cars continues (see Agenda 2030). Whether that’s a good thing or not the fact is that the public have been given no say in the matter. It’s been done by stealth and deception.
@Tony Murphy: “see Agenda 2030″
OK
Agenda 2030, formally known as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is a global action plan adopted by all United Nations member states in September 2015. The agenda is a commitment to work towards achieving sustainable development and eradicating poverty worldwide by 2030. It is a comprehensive framework that aims to create a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future for all people and the planet. The Sustainable Development Goals are:
• Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere
• Ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture
• Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages
• Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls
• Ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
• Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
• Promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation
• Reducing inequality within and among countries
• Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
• Protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managing forests, combatting desertification, and halting and reversing land degradation and halting biodiversity loss
• Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
@David Jordan: *drops mic…
@David Jordan: Ending poverty?
31 Aug 2022 — DÁIL deputies will see their salaries rise by more than €6,500 to nearly €108,000 a year under the new public sector pay deal.
Those at the bottom (the poorest in society) got €624 !
then add in inflation and the racketeering/price gouging+ fuel price extorsions and that €12 per week is effectively worthless, just like that essay you wrote !
@David Jordan: do you think this will work?
@David Jordan: What absolute claptrap, straight out of the WEF Klaus Schwab you will own nothing and be happy hand book, Sustainable is a cover word for control, these bad actors will have us back in the dark with the help of mushrooms like you. No links permitted by Journal.ie, although you don’t seem to have a problem posting links.
@David Jordan: If you believe that claptrap from what ya just typed, I have some magic beans id like to sell ya
27k cars.. the usual spin! Make it all but impossible to use and then spin it to make it look like we don’t wanna use it. Same as banks..
Here we go again.The Green Party Lord Mayor, Lording it over the poor plebs by banning their unsustainable transport.
@Pat Man: exactly, unsustainable. The issue however is that the sustainable transport systems, bus, rail, tram, etc, aren’t being re-generated quickly enough
@D. Memery: no no no, you’re wrong. You see if you remove the mode of transport that is cars the other modes will magically just be there. Only a fool, a fool I tell you, thinks you should put that stuff back before you remove the cars to show a carrot instead of a stick.
The city’s a dump, maybe sort that out first before banning cars.
The city manager hates cars.
They need to stop talking about the pedestrianisation of the city, its not, its getting rid of cars, leaving the bikes and scooters. On Capel Street you still have to use the footpaths not the road due to a rogue element of users of these forms of transport (I am not saying all, only a few, but enough for a hearing impaired person to feel very uncomfortable and unsafe).
@GClare: Nah, on Capel street its the many, not the few, that ruin the street by having no regard for the pedestrians on the supposedly pedestrianised street.
How much did they pay for that rendering? Looks like it was done on Microsoft Paint!!… Also is that a private vehicle in the picture? The ones that won’t be allowed there anymore…
Give me back some money from my car tax
The Green Reaper Continues.
Any efforts to improve the centre should be welcomed but why is progress always so slow in Ireland / the Germans sensibly made works “essential” to take advantage of no cars on the roads during covid and fast track planned structural works up to 2025 and brought forward / ireland made off licenses “essential services” and stopped all construction / go figure
The elite won’t be forced onto public transport like you plebs….
@Paulco: Good, quite happy not having to mingle with the hoity toity as I go about my life
How about proving a tunnel or direct north south route around the city centre first. Ridiculous city to drive in
@Baronvoncass: and we could call it Metro….imagine.
First there was that trouble with the Vikings, and now this.
Great idea ! College Green is a natural city square!
It didn’t mention taxis? They’ll be there…plus 300 stinking buses every hour.
@Mike Magan: now that you got that off your chest have you any sensible alternative solutions to how to facilitate and drive the large quantity of public transport buses and taxis across the city – I mean one that might actually work – how exactly are people suppose to journey in the city at all if you want buses and taxis not to use the main arteries – I’m all ears
@Mike Magan: I certainly hope so. Glad to see regular bus services resuming. As is anyone who waited for over an hour in town in the rain. Do you want to buy them each a car?
And what provision is to be made for disabled drivers? What is happening to the disabled parking bays in Foster Place?
Were they not banned already?
Bejaziz
-are bicycles banned to save the environment too?
@Alison Metoudi: how much methane do bicycles generate after a few pints of the black stuff?
Planters! That went well the last time.
Between the walking dead and the half a million plastic bollards Dublin is officially a kip. Pedestrian lights set so long you could run a heard of majestic wilder beasts across the road. Maybe if you gave public transport priority at lights and junctions people may be more inclined to use it. 20 min average journey time Connolly to Heuston all of 2.8 miles on the LUAS. No park and ride facilities outside the city or park and cycle. Does nobody remember
Maybe add cycle lanes? Bycicles are supposed to share the LUAS tracks which is very dangerous
Dublin will ever be again, what it once was.
The city is ugly mainly because of cars and car dominance over everything especially planning. Many children in Dublin have never learned to cycle because it’s seen as too dangerous. This is a shameful legacy to leave the next generation.
Fantastic news. Hopefully a step in bringing some life back to the city. They need to really push on and make the city more bike friendly. As it is O’Connell Street is a nightmare trying to keep a look out for buses randomly pulling in or pedestrians crossing the road without regard (and yes cyclist should not break red lights).
@Sal Paradise: so basically you want buses and pedestrians banned also
@GClare: That’s a bit of a leap. Making it safer for cycling does not mean banning buses and pedestrians. Odd response.
Banning cars during the off peak hours will not be much benefit to anyone and I don’t want to see my tax contributions wasted on seating and planters that will just become a gathering area for the Canada Goose yobs to loiter around in the day or for the scruffy types to pester people for spare change for a hostel. I don’t know why they’d put seating there anyway. Not an attractive view.
About time!
@ Stephen Gaffney : Best comment .
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