The Quays in Dublin are set to close to car traffic under new proposals from the City Council.
A consultation is now open on a new draft Dublin City Centre Transport Plan.
It sets out proposed changes for the capital, including a 40% reduction in general traffic and "significant increases" in walking, cycling and public transport.
The overall plan sees a low traffic city centre with public transport, walking and cycling being prioritised.
"It draws lessons from the response to the COVID pandemic whereby low traffic volumes allowed very ambitious changes to be undertaken in areas such as Capel Street, Nassau Street and along the North and South Quays," the Council said.
Key initiatives include removing the two out of every three cars in the city centre which don't have a destination there, traffic management measures to prioritise pedestrians, public transport and cyclists, and reallocating sections of the North and South Quays to just public transport, walking and cycling.
There is also a proposal to make Parliament Street traffic-free.
Green Party Dublin City Councillor Michael Pidgeon told The Hard Shoulder cars are the reason for bus delays.
"If you're on a bus the reason you're delayed, it isn't because the bus is breaking down, it's because you're stuck behind a car," he said.
"That's particularly acute on The Quays... so the idea from the Council is to try and reduce the amount of traffic coming into the city centre."
'You can still get there'
Cllr Pidgeon said the "headline change" would be on Aston Quay and Bachelor's Walk.
"The idea is to basically say that's only going to be for buses, bikes and taxis," he said.
"If you need to make a delivery or if you're one of the people who lives there, or you need to reach somewhere by car you can still get there.
"The days of driving along The Quays to get from one side of the city to the other are over."
Cllr Pidgeon said he believes the city is now "too big" to have people using The Quays as a throughway.
"The city centre hasn't grown, it's an old city, we can't pave over the Liffey, even some might want to do that," he said.
"So, we need to have an inner-city strategy for transport, which is giving those people a much better bus [service] than they currently have.
"A lot of people look at the bus and say, 'I'd be faster walking along The Quays than I would be stuck in traffic' - so we need to fix that."
'Contested road space'
Cllr Pidgeon said the solution is "a bus."
"A bus takes up the space of about two cars, on average two cars would hold between them three or four people," he said.
"A bus takes 90 [people] ... the bus wins every time.
"That road space along The Quays is probably the most valuable and contested road space in the city," he added.
Postal submissions on the transport plan can be sent to City Centre Transport Projects, Dublin City Council, Block 2, Floor 7, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8.
The consultation finishes at 5pm on Friday December 1st.
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