Galway traffic

This might dissuade some from driving in and choosing more sustainable modes of transport instead

https://www.galwaydaily.com/news/transport/long-term-car-parking-fees-in-galway-city-going-up/

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118512969#Comment_118512969

How many bike to work schemes were taken in Galway?

at1withmyself

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517203#Comment_118517203

The problem for me is that if 2 of us get the bus into town it's almost 10 euro return so it's easier and cheaper to chose the car. That price increase is still fine and saves us money over public transport.

I think the price of public transport needs to drop off, for me then I'd consider it more often.

Worth noting that when I'm by myself, then I'll walk or bus but once the cost is more then driving I'm afraid I go back to the car.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517472#Comment_118517472

You perfectly highlighted why changes like this are being done i.e. cost and convenience.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517526#Comment_118517526

Yeah but it shouldn't be all stick. Use any increased revenue to reduce public transport ticket prices.

xckjoo

I was in a town in upstate New York a few years ago and all the buses were free. Didn't think they'd go for something like that in the home of capitalism.

If they did a free bus month when they launch bus connect it would give a good taster to people. Actually maybe not the first month cause it'll probably have teething problems and put everyone off!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118518380#Comment_118518380

Would be awesome if they did that but I'm not aware of any plans to do so unfortunately.

What's more likely to happen is any increase in turnover would go towards more carrots i.e. expansion of routes, frequency of services etc, which isn't a bad thing either.

I agree price is an issue for PT and that's kinda what I was getting at in that post, as in it made sense, price-wise, for that poster to make X choice in one situation and Y choice in another situation and those choices were driven by the cost and convenience impacts. Probably should have explained it better in my last post

One of the proposals for Galway, re: parking is to do something similar to Nottingham where they put a levy on every parking spot employers provided to their staff for businesses with more than 12 spaces.

Now Leicester is about to implement the same thing.

Leicester is now set to become the second: it is consulting on proposals to charge companies with more than 10 parking spaces £550 a year per space from next year. It is up to employers to decide whether to absorb the cost or pass it on to their staff. It could raise £450m in the next decade to invest in a new fleet of electric buses, an expanded cycle network and train station renovations.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/22/tax-on-parking-uk-cities-to-impose-levy-on-cars-in-bid-to-cut-pollution

The one reservation I'd have with this is wrt implementation timelines for Park & Stride facilities to serve those coming from outside the city. There's no point bringing in this levy if there is no other option.

As to why this is being looked at, its part of the 5 cities demand management strategy where many things are going to be trialed across the 5 cities, e.g. Cork & Dublin are to get congestion charges, Galway trials the workplace parking levy and so on

Little My

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517203#Comment_118517203

Yep. I'd love not to drive into work and pay for parking, except there isn't any viable choices.

Full breakdown of active travel funding provided to Galway City & County councils for 2022

City - €15.1 million

County - €7.8 million

Great - now spend it!

ratracer

That’s almost 10% of the National allocation. I really hope it is spent wisely and effectively on the active travel plans/ projects.

Great response so far on the submissions for the Salthill trial.

RTE news : Over 1,000 submissions made on Salthill cycle lane plan

http://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2022/0124/1275614-cycle-lane-salthill/

zell12

I see the business lobby in Salthill are 'telling their members' to object to the cycleway - Cycle lane will be a ‘disaster’

Unrealistic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529110#Comment_118529110

If I was a rational business owner in Salthill I'd be getting pretty frustrated with these gobdaws. This kind of improvement for active travel has been shown all over the world to be good for business. Businesses in Blackrock (Dublin) went from being vocally against the Coastal Mobility Route there before it was put in place, to overwhelmingly calling for it to be made permanent after they saw actually it improved their sales.

I read some commentary about Waterford city recently making the point that there are many Councillors and high profile local business people who were vehemently opposed to the greenway and associated bike facilities before they went in there but, now that it has proved a success, they all try to make out they supported it all along.

You have to wonder why some Galway business people are so insular that they're not even aware of directly comparable experiences in other parts of the country or somehow think 'Galway is different'.

xckjoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529640#Comment_118529640

I think there's a mindset among the middle-aged that cars=success. They grew up in a time when cars were starting to become available and they probably remember the first one the family could afford. Now they can't see past driving everywhere and can't understand that the rest of us not thinking the car is king. And sure if they wouldn't walk somewhere surely nobody else would. But ya there's is also a mindset in the city that we're special little snowflakes that aren't like the rest of the world. You can't possibly think that we're the same as everyone else!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530006#Comment_118530006

Oh dear, lol

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530006#Comment_118530006

What is the projects official title?

http://www.n6galwaycityringroad.ie/

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529696#Comment_118529696

Yeah there's a lot of this. I arrived on bike to a family gathering with elderly aunts and uncles. They were very concerned - "You should have said you were going to cycle, we would have collected you". They were utterly confused when I said I have the car at home but preferred the cycle. Also meant I could have a pint!

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530064#Comment_118530064

The very people who are proposing it, call it a ring road and not a bypass. They could have called it a bypass, but they didnt.

You calling it a bypass does not make it a bypass, by design its a distributor road, not a bypass. So if you have an issue with the technical naming of the road, collector-distributor is the most accurate name, not bypass.

The most accurate name is the official project name - "N6 Galway City Ring Road".

The city development plan is proposing they investigate building a second pedestrian bridge from Gaol road to Newtownsmith, seems odd to build another pedestrian bridge a stones throw from the new one on the salmon weir. Unless they purchase some of the existing buildings there any second bridge would be very close to the first one https://connachttribune.ie/plans-afloat-for-another-new-bridge-over-corrib/

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530068#Comment_118530068

I worked with a guy like this (from Galway). He use to peer out the window to see what type of cars people arrived in for meetings. He was HORRIFIED when a director of another agency arrived in on a bike, fell about the place laughing and couldn’t take him seriously. 

The cyclist turned up a week later in a Maserati Ghibli to pick up something. He just didn’t have fragile ego and was confident turning up on a bike to the meeting. 

(your aunts and uncles misdirected concern is very cute and nice)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118531113#Comment_118531113

I'll hold off on judgement until some drawings are released.

Really looking forward to seeing the one on the old railway piers though

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530068#Comment_118530068

Bus users get the same: shared transport is further young (can't afford a car), old (past driving) and the eccentric/mad.

CowboyTed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118513088#Comment_118513088

The elements which have objecting to an outer road to take traffic away from the city have also been pushing some of these failed ideas....

City has doubled in size and we have no new road bridge... Cork got a tunnel, Limerick tunnel, Waterford bridge... Galway has been growing faster than these cities without the infrastructure...

Because the way Galway is built we still need cars... Having outer roads allows for roads to be given up to public transport and pedestrians... Cycling would be after these two due to the uptake of cycling in comparison...

Just look at the pictures earlier about cycling in the Dyke Road... There is a cycle lane two hundred yards to the left going parallel... Thanks for proving that building infrastructure for cycling is a waste of time...

what_traffic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118531386#Comment_118531386

"a cycle lane two hundred yards to the left going parallel"

What are you talking about? Where is it?

Do you live in Galway City?

Have you ever used this mythical cycle lane that you are talking about?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118531386#Comment_118531386

Having outer roads allows for roads to be given up to public transport and pedestrians

Its been said before and its needs repeating.....there are no plans, anywhere, by any dept, agency or council, for using the GCRR to free up space for active travel. None, nadda, zip, zilch

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118531113#Comment_118531113

There'll be no river left if this keeps up - bridges everywhere!

Really though, even in a newly developed Nuns Island, there is not much need for a bridge over the Corrib at Hygeia. Less than 100m down there is O Briens bridge, less than 100m upstream is the new salmon weir pedestrian bridge. Add to that, the fact that you would have to walk past either O Briens or Salmon weir bridges to even get to the crossing point of the new proposed bridge - its pointless.

Woodquay to NUIG via the old viaduct will be a good addition, but this newtownsmith proposal is nonsense.

CowboyTed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529696#Comment_118529696

Lovely narrow minded thinking there...

I use my car because I come from a village in North East Galway and live in Kingston, I visit my mother... I have over a half a dozen friends in the same similar position... Please explain how that transport works...

Galway is weather is generally not great and use my car to pop down to Salthill and supermarket to pick things up... No major traffic issues when I am traveling, might stop at the prom like thousands of people do a day and go for a walk... I prefer that a small minority of cyclists don't make our lives harder because of some twisted notion that they are some how entitled to a cycle lane on the prom... I was parking up on the Prom on Saturday Evening around 5:30 pm... What you noticed is the amount of people getting in and out of cars going for walks. the car spaces were fairly busy but people were moving...

Cycling has offered nothing close to these types of numbers.. Nothing close... There was constant stream of driving down and going for a walk... Cyclists don't want this... They want it there way... You want to cut off people from doing this activity... There is no way remove the parking from the prom and expect this to not ed up in a mess... This wasn't a fine day in July but a cold Saturday evening and the prom was very busy with walkers... This is something that they want to end, sorry but but not taking account for your actions is wanting to end it...

I laugh at them demanding thousands of pages about a the ring road impact on the environment... But they don't give a crap about the humans they effect with their decisions to massively reduce access to the prom... No human impact statements for them, they can go away, they aren't important...