New bus gates on Bachelors Walk and Aston Quay

As far as I'm aware this was a introduced by DCC without any consultation with AGS

Given the riots of last November and also general issues in the city centre, I don't expect AGS for one second to be enforcing this.

Plus, there's actually a loophole anyway already on DCCs map. Coming from Westmoreland at, simply take a left onto Fleet St, and a right back onto Aston Quay. If stopped further down Aston Quay, you were simply using "access"/fleet st carpark.

We complain about all sorts of issues within the city centre, and as a business owner here having talked to a few people, I don't want a state body creating another "offence" without consultation with another state body.

To put it simply, there's enough issues in the city centre. And to introduce another hoop to enforce and expecting the guards to deal with it is crazy. Theres less Guards in Dublin 2 than 5years ago and way less than 10years ago. The quays are in a jocker drug user wise. Templebar is a state. And drug dealing near the Stephen's green Luas is crazy. I see the guards attempting to tackle an issue near my place there (albeit the courts need to follow up)

If you think for a second that I'm willing to let what little there is to cover a traffic stop on Aston Quay, you're mistaken.

I support road safety. But I support the decision of AGS to ignore this one if necessary.

If the council are going to introduce it they should enforce it via camera and a fine in the post. (Who's the big shot who decided on this plan for their own CV without thinking of installing a camera I wonder?)

The guards have enough to be looking at. Particularly in an area with low risk of actual road deaths, and more a case of introduction for the sake of politics.

After a while, when people get used to the changes, cars that don’t need to access O’Connell St will avoid the area altogether, which is the whole idea.

Live report on Morning Ireland just now - all quite positive, things are going well so far they say.

The general vibe was early days but so far this is going great.

I've heard staff from some of the bigger retailers saying their largest spend is often from people driving into the city centre, sometimes driving from outside the city altogether.

Rearranging the car parks is fine, but dont remove overall spaces or access.

Horsesht. Staff in larger retailers in the city centre generally have no clue how the customer got there or where they came from.

Who the hell has the kind of conversation with staff in a large retailer that would divulge that information.

Utter bollix.

I agree with you that it is neither cheap nor fast to implement.

It would have been nice to have seen more progress on it to date though and it really is the only solution, especially if population growth estimates are accurate.

My main point is that we shouldnt restrict car shoppers in the city centre and hope/expect them to be replaced by bus passengers.

Make the routes for buses more streamlined, of course. And if that means drivers have to drive for a little longer, then ok. But I wouldnt favour an approach where we reduce car parking spaces and access overall.

And the same logic applies the other way around also.

The optimal is surely to keep both groups happy and have both groups arrive to shop.