Car Free Day - Wed 22nd Sept 2004

Kêrmêttê

Does anyone actually take notice of these "special" days?
Will anyone who normally drives to school/college/work bite the bullet and actually walk, cycle or take public transport tomorrow?

I for one will be jumping in my little car as usual because the backwards public transport system in this country is unreliable and there is no bus route near my job.

I reckon people should purposely drive everywhere tomorrow... even to their next-door-neighbours, to deliberatly screw up the roads and yet again force the powers that be to re-think the road network/public transport system in this country.

Sabbotage "Car Free Day" in an attempt to gain a proper infrastructure!!!
(UP THE REVOLUTION!) :P

But, then again... maybe I'm just being lazy

midget lord

I hear bus eireann are offering free travel between 10 and 4.30 on car free day.

Bard

I live 20 miles from work and have to be there at 10am on "Car Free Day".

I'll be driving.

fletch

midget lord wrote:

I hear bus eireann are offering free travel between 10 and 4.30 on car free day.

Well now isn't that generous of them.....just after and before rush hour traffic. Well I for one will not be respecting these days when I get my car. Yesterday I spent the guts of 3 hours getting home thanks to all the delays on the trains/darts! Now thats service!

Chalk

hah i live 15 mins drive from work
about 8.5 miles with a short stretch along a motorway so i aint walkin or cycling
my other option would two bus journeys
one about 1h 10 m he other about 40m depending on traffic
then thers the fact that the bus stops a 15 min walk from work
im thinking id be lucky if i timed it so it "only" took me 2 hrs to get to work
and its unlikely id get there any time remotely near when im supposed to be in

so to re iterate i will be driving to work tomorrow

Darren

I work at Heathrow and to avoid the gridlock everyday I take the train.

My journey is Hanwell station to West Drayton whihc takes 11 mins on the train and then work lay on a bus from the station to the office which takes another 10 minutes.

Tomoroow, purely out of spite, I'll be driving!

Draupnir

id say its only car free day in Ireland?

are the normal Dublin Buses free?

Darren

Nope, tis a car free day here too.

woosaysdan

my job is a 86 mile round trip from my front door to work and back, ill be driving!!!

byte

I won't be drivng much Wednesday but that's purely coincidence as my car will be at the garage getting bearings and brakepads fitted! Afterwards, I shall indeed be driving. It costs too much to have it lying around gathering dust!

smoke.me.a.kipper

i wont be driving as ive a day off work. unfortunatly im 60mile round trip to work and public transport would leave me stuck in waterford for the night, so if i was in work, id be driving.

ando

I'll be driving

Stark

Don't own a car so makes no difference to me. Think I'll hop on a free bus just for the sake of it like all the old people

Osku-82

I think I'll use the local commuter train to go to school... Because it probably is raining tomorrow here in Helsinki. They're offering a bus ticket for 1€ for the whole day. I think it depends a lot on the weather how people will act tomorrow. The public transportation is very well organized here, in my city there are trams, buses, a subway line and local trains.

OfflerCrocGod

Osku-82 wrote:

I think I'll use the local commuter train to go to school... Because it probably is raining tomorrow here in Helsinki. They're offering a bus ticket for 1€ for the whole day. I think it depends a lot on the weather how people will act tomorrow. The public transportation is very well organized here, in my city there are trams, buses, a subway line and local trains.

Helsinki you say? Damn you Canadians!! and your fully-functional, efficient, clean and cheap public transportation. Take your lyonnaise, smug, self-satisfied ass OUT of boards.ie this is an Irish forum; full of Irish people who want to b1tch about their 3rd world country and it's various problems. Down with all these ghanaians on boards!

Welcome to boards I use pub transport everyday without problems, most of the above^^ drive everywhere - what does that tell you? Irish people are FULL OF IT

tribble

Osku-82 wrote:

The public transportation is very well organized here, in my city there are trams, buses, a subway line and local trains.

I think I hate you...



Here, we couldn't organise a pissup* in a brewery.

tribble

*drunken party.

littleninja

I don't have a car, but I would imagine that I would probably be driving if I did as it would probably be cheaper and more reliable than public transport

FX Meister

The rep on the radio this morning said the free tickets were valid for any time and are not just valid for today. Maybe if people took it seriously then the government might see how well the system would work if they invested more in public transport. Typical Irish attitude.

PH01

I vow to use my car only twice today - to work and back. And I'm not going to use it for going to the shops, or driving a couple doors down the street to see my mates

narommy

The traffic was mental today. I was late for work so i got to hear Gerry Ryan read out a message from a listener saying that lucan road was mental today. Backed up to maynooth. Was same on last year's car free day.

Only people who pay attention are those who think the traffic will be lighter so they drive instead of gettin the train/bus.

eth0_

midget lord wrote:

I hear bus eireann are offering free travel between 10 and 4.30 on car free day.

That's an absolute joke! The whole point of car free day is to get COMMUTERS to leave the car at home...not Biddy going up to Dublin to do some shopping!

Typical Bus Eireann.

Apparently the traffic into Dublin was awful this morning, probably due to the rain and also people thinking 'Car free day? Grand, the roads will be clear, i'll take the car!'

Kêrmêttê

I'm ill and can't go to work today. So, by default I am complying with the "Car Free Day". Grrr!!

DukeDredd

Screw this car-free day. Around €600 Euro a year on road tax & another €1200 on insurance - i'll be damed if i'm gonna walk to work in the cold and rain when i'm paying that much to own a car.

irlirishkev

I drove from Greystones to Clontarf this morning, and the traffic was astronomically sh*t! Took nearly 2 hours.
Usually I'd get the DART, but I actually had no choice today for reasons I won't go into..
I drive occasionally, but I've rarely seen it as bad as it was this morning. Of course the rain didn't help.
And this crap about free tickets between 10am and 4.30pm.. what good is that supposed to do :rolleyes:

K.

Kone

irlirishkev wrote:

free tickets between 10am and 4.30pm.. what good is that supposed to do

K.

Typical fecking Dublin Bus/Bus Eireann scam

"Oh look aren't we so helpful, we're giving away free travel and we're helping the environment etc etc"

Grrr! no talent ass clowns!

the Guru

car free my arse i have never seen such traffic from Lucan livid 2 hours to get to work not to mention a bolicking when I got in.

They are going to have to do something with the schoolies start them at 10 or fine the parents that drive with only 1 child in the car

narommy

I think that schools starting at 7:30 or 8 would be better. (Like in France)

It would suit those of us who have to commute from way outside dublin because of house prices.

conor-mr2

Blanchardstown was a parking lot as usual.

I watched one chap park his 4 door Ford on Roselawn road, get out with his two little kids and walk the rest of the way to St. Brigids. I actually saw him coming out of the school as I was rounding the corner ar the Bell. Couldnt help thinking that altogether this chap probably walked further than he drove--and why he didnt just walk from his house to the school in the first place.

Stark

Bus was extra packed with skangers today

Plus the service was less reliable than usual (probably due to extra traffic and St. Patrick Street being closed off for the Patrick Street opening ceremony).

jor el

Heh, I normally walk or cycle to work but I took my car today because it was píssing rain, plus I needed to take a trip to the bank and post office. I wouldn't pay any attention to these special days. If people want to drive, they'll drive, if not they'll bike/walk/cycle or whatever.
These days may work in other countries that have a reasonably good public transport infrastructure but in Ireland, it's crap. I once, and will never again, tried to get across Limerick one morning, from Castletroy side to Raheen. I spent about 45 minutes waiting for a bus, then it only went to the city centre so I had to wait for another bus, as mine had just left. I eventually had to get a taxi so the whole journey cost me nearly €10. I'd hate to see it on a busy day. As DukeDredd said, why would you pay for bus or train when you already fork out two grand a year just to be able to drive.

Tommy Vercetti

learn your lessons for next year: always take that day off work