There is further talk of a congestion charge, but of course that cannot occur without significant (and visible) public transport improvements. As it stands it is not something that would survive a mauling from the motoring public.

If we were cynics we would see all these recent announcements from various, usually silent, officials as having little to do with improving the transport situation in Dublin and much to do with posturing in order to secure places on the board of the DTA.

RTE News reports:

The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, has said a ban on private cars in Dublin city centre will not be introduced until 2011 during the Metro and LUAS works.

The head of the Dublin Transportation Office, John Henry, said he would like to see this measure made permanent and said a congestion charge will also be considered.
The DTO was today launching a public consultation process for the future of transport in Dublin up to 2030.

The most pressing concern now is the massive disruption that will occur once construction begins.

Plans have been put forward on several occasions for a re-routing of private cars away from Dame Street and College Green, through Westmoreland Street and O’Connell Street.

This will become necessary before work starts on the rail projects in 2011.

Mr Henry cited the example of St Stephen’s Green West, which has been closed to through traffic since the LUAS was situated there.

And while we’re at it, if some routes will be run by Dublin Bus and some by private operators then the introduction by Dublin Bus of smartcards means absolutely nothing, since only Dublin Bus and one private operator are equipped to take the tickets. As usual, the newspaper article below doesn’t mention this, merely reprinting whatever press release passed the newsdesk.

Nicola Cooke of the Sunday Business Post writes:

Parts of Dublin city centre could be closed to traffic within 12 months, under a radical plan to tackle the capital’s congestion problem.

Under the new bus strategy, from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, a ‘‘bus gate’’ would be created at College Green by April 2009. This would lead to private traffic being banned from O’Connell Street , Dame Street, College Green and Westmoreland Street.

Two temporary steel bridges would be erected at Macken Street and Hawkins Street or Marlborough Street, to ensure a traffic flow. Dublin City Council has told the committee that such bridges could be lifted into place within three months, with bus priority lanes created.

The Sunday Business Post also understands that 350 new buses would be subcontracted from the private sector. And some routes currently serviced by both Dublin Bus and the private sector would be given exclusively to the private sector.

The bus strategy, which was passed by the 15-member committee last Thursday, will be finalised next week, before it is presented to transport minister Noel Dempsey. Other proposals in the report include:

• increasing cash fares to encourage use of a smartcard, which Dublin Bus said it could introduce by December
• extending Railway Order legislation to include Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs)
• allowing buses and taxis to use the port tunnel at a reduced rate
• converting some motorway hard shoulders to QBCs.

The aim of the bus strategy is to increase, from 20 per cent to 80 per cent, the number of commuters who travel to the city by bus.

A major marketing campaign of bus transport would be required to reverse the current trend, according to the draft strategy, and increase passengers from 148 million to 200 million.

The Dublin Transport Office is envisaged to have a role in the introduction of workplace travel plans to all city centre private and public employers, as part of any such campaign.

The City Council’s efforts in this regard are a joke, closing only four streets, two of which are currently building sites. From 9am to 6pm Middle & Upper Abbey Street are being declared car free zones, but of course they are already virtually car free zones (due to Luas works), with only a small amount of bus traffic eastbound on Upr Abbey St. and traffic coming out of the Arnott’s car park on Middle Abbey St. And guess what, cars will still be allowed to use Middle Abbey Street for the entire of Car Free Day if they are leaving the car park, something which immediately puts the road out of bounds for us pedestrians.

There are plans afoot for on demand pedestrian crossings at many “key traffic lights”, although we have been unable to discover which ones these are. This sounds like a good idea, although we doubt if this would ever be extended throughout the rest of the year.

Also car free on the day will be Parliament Street & St. Andrew Street. St. Andrew Street is treated by many pedestrians as a half-pedestrian street anyway, as cars usually amble through there at a relatively slow speed. Meanwhile, we are promised that Parliament Street will have “…information stands, bicycle displays and music”.

So all in all a disgraceful display of ignorance on behalf of the city council. We don’t need bicycle displays on a street cut off to traffic, as some kind of freakshow. The council should be investing heavily in providing roadspace for cyclists throughout the city and promoting it as a regular means of transport, not sticking it next to some street theatre and music as if it is some kind of entertainment and not a real alternative to car use.

The attitude displayed in Dublin is totally out of step with the rest of Europe, just look at the official website. Started by the French in 1998 and adopted by the EU two years later, the ethos of Car Free Day has been taken on board by much of the rest of Europe, but then, of course, they don’t have our “local concerns”.

For some reason, the city fathers have never been fans of it, usually buckling to pressure from the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, since most, if not all, of it’s members drive to work this is hardly surprising. As we have reported in the past, Car Free Day is a day the council like to sweep under the carpet, just look at their website (if it doesn’t crash your browser with java applets and god knows what else), no mention of car free day, but what do we see: a link to “Traffic Updates”. Bearing in mind their recent attitude to the placement of bus stops and termini this clearly shows the prevailing mindset down on Wood Quay: sod the buses, sod the bikes, cars are for winners. If you want somebody to blame for the doubling of car ownership in Ireland over the last ten years (there are 1.5 Million vehicles in use in the country) we can lay the blame squarely at the doorstep of our politicians.

But sure if we didn’t take the car, what would we do…?

Of course the car lobby, led by the likes of the AA, complain that there is not enough public transport for people to use. We’ve been complaining about that for nearly 3 years, and guess what: things have improved in Dublin, there are more buses on our streets and there are more QBCs. For many motorists there is no longer an excuse to drive into the city, the buses are there to be used. The reality is that many car drivers would like to see other people take the bus, so that they can drive into the city with ease. Nothing short of banning cars from the centre of Dublin is going to change this.

We’ve say it before and we’ll say it again, driving a car into the city is a privilege, not a right. Cars, invariably four seater vehicles, containing one passenger (i.e. the driver) take up much roadspace, so much so in fact that one bus can replace more than 60 cars. More could be done to encourage people out of their cars, like showing how quick their journey to work might be if they took the bus or train, a perfect reason to close most of the city to cars for at least a day, and letting them travel in with the rest of us plebs.

Unfortunately, another opportunity is being lost, as Dublin Bus have scrapped plans for 6 hours of fare free travel on the bus for the day, and are instead offering free travel between 10am and 1pm. It seems that there is no funding available to widen this throughout the rest of the day. This is idiotic thinking, yet another case of management and traffic planners being unable to see beyond the length of their nose, after all the city’s traffic problems cost the company an estimated €1M per week, surely they would generate revenue in the medium to long term if they just got a few thousand motorists out of their cars and onto the buses. Some leadership from the DOT and Minister “Licensed Driver” Brennan would have been nice, but then he’s probably too eager to try out his newly renewed driving skills to take the bus for a day anyway.

Well how do we show the world how great we are? Dublin Corporation and Minister Dan Wallace believe they have the answer. As our government tell the rest of the world how much we’re doing to keep the Earth Summit accords alive, details of this years Car-Free Day are announced.

And how is the European Car-Free Day handled in Dublin? The corporation is keeping all the roads….open! In fact, they are encouraging people to drive in to do their shopping. Car-Free Day (September 22nd) is, after all, falling on a Saturday, and we all know how important it is to let people use their cars on a day when most people don’t need to go to work. The Corporation is only interested in people using public transport during the week.

This is all the more disappointing when you consider what a success the limited Car-Free Day was last year. Then only a limited number of streets were closed, and the closures occurred between 10am and 4pm. Opinion polls of Dubliners taken after the event show strong public support of it, with people regarding it well and almost unanimously agreeing that it should be an annual event (over 90% of people felt this).

Is it any wonder that William Campbell is pursuing RTE and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission over AA Roadwatch’s in-built bias, with The AA officially regarding Car-Free Day as a “public relations gimmick” and still being free to air it’s views on RTE, unchallenged.

Now, nearly 900 European cities have managed to agree to ban cars from their city centres for the duration of the day, you’d think Ireland could do the same.

Green Party Councillor Eamon Ryan has gone as far to say that “..They’re only paying lip service to the idea of a cleaner, quiet city. It’s a misnomer now, and they should cancel it,”

so, while the rest or Europe can walk around their city centres in peace and quiet, at least for one day, Dubliners have to content with the same old pollution, gridlock and misery.

All we’re asking for is one day, just one day to walk around the streets of our own city, and what does the corporation do? Decide to close a quiet part of the quays at Custom House Dock.

If you think this isn’t good enough, you can phone Dublin Corporation on (01) 672 2222, the Office of the Director of Traffic on (01) 672 2257 and The Department of the Environment on (01) 888 2000.

Make sure to explain fully how you’d like to see a genuine Car-Free Day reinstated.