Cities around the world that are reducing car access

Zebra3

We do need to reduce car space for proper safe cycling lanes.

AndrewJRenko

SeanW wrote: »

You do not need to reallocate road space with Dart Underground, the Metro etc and they could serve vastly more people than another lousy bus snaking around Trinity. Metros and DARTs benefit everyone.

A big part of the problem around Trinity is the private cars blocking up College Green both directions, mainly taxis but a bunch of private drivers ignoring the bus gate rules and getting away with it.

cgcsb

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Here's a photo I took earlier this year, a good example of how space is considered when it comes to pedestrians or cyclists, or anything that isn't a car basically. This is at Merrion Row.

Merrion Row is absolute disgrace. 2 lanes for vehicles but space for 3 and pedestrians have to take their life into their hands. It won't change until someone is killed unfortunately.

cgcsb

SeanW wrote: »

You do not need to reallocate road space with Dart Underground, the Metro etc and they could serve vastly more people than another lousy bus snaking around Trinity. Metros and DARTs benefit everyone.

Reducing motorist usage of city streets may be a good idea for other reasons, but it is not necessary to get people moving. Anyone who has used Maynooth-City, DART, Kildare Commuter or Green Line Luas, heck even the Docklands trains from the M3, to be in the city before 9AM any time in the last 5 years will tell you that we need dramatically more rail based transport. ASAP.

We need to reallocate road space asap. No question about that.

LeinsterDub

SeanW wrote: »

You do not need to reallocate road space with Dart Underground, the Metro etc and they could serve vastly more people than another lousy bus snaking around Trinity. Metros and DARTs benefit everyone.

Reducing motorist usage of city streets may be a good idea for other reasons, but it is not necessary to get people moving. Anyone who has used Maynooth-City, DART, Kildare Commuter or Green Line Luas, heck even the Docklands trains from the M3, to be in the city before 9AM any time in the last 5 years will tell you that we need dramatically more rail based transport. ASAP.

Bus carries more people in London than tube .

Thelonious Monk

cgcsb wrote: »

Merrion Row is absolute disgrace. 2 lanes for vehicles but space for 3 and pedestrians have to take their life into their hands. It won't change until someone is killed unfortunately.

I just can't get my head around how a planner or someone involved with roads or the council or whoever should be doing these things hasn't said, ok let's allocate X amount of money to sort out that stretch of street with footpaths and bike lanes. There's still plenty of room for a lane of traffic, it's one way.
I mean what the hell do they even do in the council?

D.L.R.

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Bus carries more people in London than tube .

So imagine London without the tube. It would be totally dysfunctional, like Dublin.

D.L.R.

D.L.R. wrote: »

So imagine London without the tube. It would be totally dysfunctional, like Dublin.

London would simply not have grown to what is now without the Tube.

cgcsb

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I just can't get my head around how a planner or someone involved with roads or the council or whoever should be doing these things hasn't said, ok let's allocate X amount of money to sort out that stretch of street with footpaths and bike lanes. There's still plenty of room for a lane of traffic, it's one way.
I mean what the hell do they even do in the council?

Basically nothing at all, decisions are purely political/emotional. Someone will have to be killed there and have some sob storey in the papers with lots of angry face comments and then their family will be on the late late and then something will be done about it.

magicbastarder

i was at a dublin cycling campaign meeting attended by a senior chap from the roads section of the other DCC, the council.
he was saying, write to your local councillors, or directly to the council if you want stuff done. if no one is complaining about X, they'll focus on Y, which people are complaining about.

Zebra3

Best place I guess for this.

Worth a read.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-love-affair-with-driving-takes-a-back-seat-11577183402

whisky_galore

magicbastarder wrote: »

i was at a dublin cycling campaign meeting attended by a senior chap from the roads section of the other DCC, the council.
he was saying, write to your local councillors, or directly to the council if you want stuff done. if no one is complaining about X, they'll focus on Y, which people are complaining about.

Completely archaic. It's like writing into Mailbag on RTE in the 80s to complain about something.

What do we even conduct a Census for, for a bit of a laugh??

JohnC.

Ross isn’t interested, but DCC will do a pilot scheme for camera enforcement of bus and cycle lanes

https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-to-get-cameras-installed-in-bus-cycle-lanes-4891669-Dec2019/

skelly22

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I just can't get my head around how a planner or someone involved with roads or the council or whoever should be doing these things hasn't said, ok let's allocate X amount of money to sort out that stretch of street with footpaths and bike lanes. There's still plenty of room for a lane of traffic, it's one way.
I mean what the hell do they even do in the council?

The main thing holding Dublin back from greatness is Dublin City Council. The city is being transformed all around us but at soon as your eyes are drawn downwards to the streetscape it's a picture of utter neglect unfortunately.

CatInABox

Birmingham, of all places, has decided to start planning a massive car reduction scheme.

These measures are designed to:

• Reduce transport’s damaging impact on the environment, supporting Birmingham’s commitment to becoming a carbon neutral city by 2030
• Eliminate road danger particularly in residential areas
• Connect people with new job and training opportunities
• Reconnect communities by prioritising people over cars
• Revitalise the city centre and local centres

This is one to keep an eye on, as if successful, this will probably be the biggest swing from a car orientated city to something more human.

See more here, with the plans available here.

wakka12

Manchester and Birmingham are two of the most dramatic urban regeneration developments in the world! Both cities are almost unrecognisable just ten years on. Can't believe I'm saying it but in another couple years they will be properly nice cities to live in/visit, which is incredible to me because imo they were among the worst major cities in the western world not too long ago

woohoo!!!

One of the biggest barriers to alternatives to a car is the only way in/out of often huge housing estates. You can have all the lovely public transport on roads around, but only a small section of the housing estate, close to the one entrance will ever realistically use it.

donvito99

woohoo!!! wrote: »

One of the biggest barriers to alternatives to a car is the only way in/out of often huge housing estates. You can have all the lovely public transport on roads around, but only a small section of the housing estate, close to the one entrance will ever realistically use it.

How big is your estate???

Will some people only use a bus if it stops outside their front gate?

LeinsterDub

woohoo!!! wrote: »

One of the biggest barriers to alternatives to a car is the only way in/out of often huge housing estates. You can have all the lovely public transport on roads around, but only a small section of the housing estate, close to the one entrance will ever realistically use it.

Often this can be overcome by opening passages that were closed due to 'anti social behavior' in others gaps can be created.

woohoo!!!

donvito99 wrote: »

How big is your estate???

Will some people only use a bus if it stops outside their front gate?

I walk, take a short cut over an abandoned field to a road behind me, kids do the same for school including this morning. It brings us the way we want to go or a desire line if you will. Estate entrance goes to other road and away from where I'm going, bus stop 10 mins away, maybe a bus every half hour. Bus takes a very circuous route to main work places. Road too narrow for bikes. Basically all set up for folk to drive and not an alternative. That's replicated across most housing estates. I'm lucky cos 25 mins to work walking, so doable and I enjoy it.

woohoo!!!

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Often this can be overcome by opening passages that were closed due to 'anti social behavior' in others gaps can be created.

I agree but often big opposition from residents who like their cul-de-sacs, and perceive that opening up the gap will mean anti social behaviour, just don't see the benefits.

wakka12

woohoo!!! wrote: »

One of the biggest barriers to alternatives to a car is the only way in/out of often huge housing estates. You can have all the lovely public transport on roads around, but only a small section of the housing estate, close to the one entrance will ever realistically use it.

I dont think thats true or realistic at all. Hundreds of thousands of people in Dublin living up to 1.5km away from the green and red luas lines walk or cycle or drive to it to commute on it. Personally I walk 1.5 km to the green line and use it very often, in my opinion it is not a big walk at all and most people who live in my estate regularly use the luas too and walk to the station. I'm relatively young and fit so I know it's not for everyone but I definitely think up to a 2km walk to a tram/train is perfectly doable for a large segment of the population, but a bit of a pain yeah. And significantly further if cycling, up to 4/5km is fine for that I'd say.

Zebra3

woohoo!!! wrote: »

Road too narrow for bikes.

Roads are never too narrow for bikes.

woohoo!!!

Zebra3 wrote: »

Roads are never too narrow for bikes.

Sorry, meant for kids and with heavy traffic volumes, not particularly safe. We've our unofficial short cut so works well but sooner or later will be built on

woohoo!!!

Won't derail the thread further, just highlighting an often overlooked aspect re take up of alternatives to cars, and consequent moves to limit cars in cities and towns.

Zebra3

zimmermania wrote: »

I was in Luxembourg last week for a few days and was surprised to find that all the city buses appeared to be free.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/05/luxembourg-to-become-first-country-to-make-all-public-transport-free?CMP=share_btn_tw

irish_goat

donvito99 wrote: »

How big is your estate???

Will some people only use a bus if it stops outside their front gate?

I walk out of estate every morning and watch parents driving past me to drop their children at the same bus stop I'm going to. Literally chatting about 3-4 min walks. I would understand if it was poor weather but this happens during the summer months too.

Pinch Flat

People have just gotten used to the car as being a personal magic carpet. I have the same too - passed by parents and one teacher on a 400m trip to school by car.

Where you truly see this bizarre logic is when IR introduced paid parking in our station. neighbors of mine drive there - it's literally a 5 minute walk - were all peeved they'd have to spend €4 / day to pay. "well ,at least you'll get a space now" was the general consensus.

magicbastarder

sure wasn't there a thread here a couple of years ago where a poster was asking during the bus strikes 'how will i get to work without the bus?'
and as it turned out, it was a 4km trip (IIRC) but he reacted with horror when someone suggested 'uh, walk?'

Pinch Flat

magicbastarder wrote: »

sure wasn't there a thread here a couple of years ago where a poster was asking during the bus strikes 'how will i get to work without the bus?'
and as it turned out, it was a 4km trip (IIRC) but he reacted with horror when someone suggested 'uh, walk?'

Hah yeah in the snow of 2010 I worked in Blanchardstown Corporate park - 4.5km from home to work which I cycled daily. During the snow, I tried it on the MTB a few times but gave u pwhen the roads started getting slushy and messy so walked to work - the funny part was watching mototoists trying to drive over Diswellstown bridge and sliding back. There was a lad who lived near me and used to drive every single morning. During the snow, he stayed with the driving used to take him about 2 hours to get the 4 or 5km home by car. Every-single-morning-and-evening. He thought I was mad walking. Not sure about that :0.