We need to see less cars in Dublin City Centre – but Owen Keegan’s approach is “needlessly aggressive” towards motorists, according to transport commentator Conor Faughnan.
He was speaking after Dublin City Council CEO Owen Keegan said he aimed to “aggressively restrict” road space for cars in the city.
Speaking at a cycling symposium in Dublin, Mr Keegan said the city’s motorists were “proving to be a very resilient group” and noted that the private car continues to be the preferred choice for many commuters.
He said DCC must increase efforts to make cycling a much attractive option and, in the absence of congestion charges, the only way to do this was to aggressively restrict the road space offered to cars and hand it cycling and pedestrian friendly facilities.
"Needlessly agressive"
On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, transport commentator Conor Faughnan said “aggressively pushing” drivers out of the city is not the solution.
“He does have a talent, Owen Keegan, doesn’t he? “He can raise hackles. I think the language is needlessly aggressive and I think it will wind people up.
“Essentially, he is treating motorists as if it was their fault when they simply don’t have transport alternatives.
“I think the notion that you can harass or force motorists out of the city and in so doing improve things, I am slightly weary of that because it has been going on for years and it demonstrably isn’t successful.
“You have got to provide good alternatives, but you can’t pretend that it is the fault of motorists and aggressively pushing them out of the way will help. I think the city centre has proven over the years that that just doesn’t work.”
Cars
Mr Faughnan said our city centres need to be much more pedestrian and cycle friendly, noting that cars should, “at best, be guests in a city centre – and conscious of it”.
“We really don’t want them there for all sorts of reasons, including climate, but the way we get to that vision is not to demonise the users of the cars.
“I mean Owen Keegan is bemoaning the fact that he can’t charge them more. He is saying they are proving remarkably resilient? Well small wonder – they don’t have any other choices.
“We have got to do things like Metro for example, there is no city in the world that does this well unless they have much better public transport than Dublin has at the moment.”
“Tone deaf”
The former AA Ireland spokesman said Mr Keegan’s comments were also “very tone-deaf to the needs of business” in the city.
“There is a lot of common sense in what he says but there is a near-brutal lack of sympathy for people who have transport needs and commerce that needs to operate,” he said.
He said the future of Dublin is public transport, cycling and walking.
“As I say, that is around building proper public transport alternatives – in many cases including cycling facilities,” he said.
“I mean the humble bike and the e-bike are a really, really important part of the solution. I am sure there will be a reallocation of road space and it will be a good thing – with some pain included perhaps, but it will be a good thing.
“Fundamentally, we have to provide public transport; that means Metro, it means very significant investment, but it cannot just mean talking to and at motorists as if they were the root cause of the problem.
“It is frustrating when that tack is repeatedly taken.”
