Car free cities
- This topic has 43 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 25 years, 11 months ago by
.
- Posts
Just had a wonderful few days over here in London, with a fraction of the usual number of cars on the road.
We’ve had sweet, clean air, unusual quiet, efficient buses full of jovial people whizzing to their destinations unimpeded by jams, and lots more walkers and cyclists.
It’s a lucent portent of how city life could be, if properly managed. This selfless demonstration of future urbanism was of course brought to us by the nation’s truckers, and – since they ended their action before we all ran out of food and hospital treatment – I can’t thank them enough.
I gather you’re now having similar action in Ireland. Enjoy it – the pain of gridlock is followed by the splendour of the people-oriented, convivial city. And as Mr. Clerkin amply demonstrates, we already have the electronic means to make this possible permanently. Thanks to our trucker friends, we have seen the future, and it works.
To hurry this along, of course, we need to triple the price of petrol.
I noticed this also in Italy when everyone took their holidays together in August. At last in the city I am in, it was possible to cross the road without having to do a sort of improvised dance through the throng of cars and vespas. However at the end of the holidays here, there were 18 million cars on the road in Italy all trying to return home and most of the roads were at a standstill resembling something out of REM’s ‘everybody hurts’ video. However at the same time the city felt dead largely due to lack of people, but the cars too give life to a city.
Who can think of New York, Rome or London without cars? I’d have to say if there were no cars in the centre of Dublin I would miss the mental satisfaction of flying past the miles of gridlock from the canal to the liffey on my bicycle.dan, dan, dan, you really shouldn’t rise people who actually drive. dublin is absolutely crazy to drive in, so i only envy you for being able to cycle. new york, where i am at the moment is very different to dublin. if you stay out of midtown, then you can mostly avoid bad traffic. at night the traffic is worse, in my opinion. the horns only really get going after 11. i can’t explain this but i would just say that public transport is very efficient, so that minimises the need for cars. also parking in the city is unbelievably expensive.
p.s yes, you do know me dan.
Friends of mine who work outside the city centre here, loved this morning, no traffic beeping horns at them as they cycled to work.
As a cyclist I say long may it continue.
There’ll be another chance to savour the pleasure in Dublin later this month, on Sept 22nd or 23rd: European day for car-free cities. Details from the Corpo.
Hear, hear to all that – I just spent the last 6 days in Amsterdam doing a lot of cycling. Bikes, as you all know, have primacy there and the feeling was grand. Aaahhh, if only we could be no.1 in Dublin as well.
Some times that I had loved living in Dublin
– Tour de France start, centre of town car free
– occassional street festivals, again streets car free
the human scale of the city really comes out when we dont have everything clogged by buses and cars and as a walker, you notice more, you see the details of the buildings, and learn the way streets intereact and possible reasons why they connect in such ways…. you learn about the city
I’m afraid Dublin is a S***hole.
Reeking of piss, Strewn with litter, Splattered with vomit, and totally congested with noisy traffic. It’s doing my head in…
I can only agree that banishing all non-corporation/Authority/non-delivery vehicles will be a HUGE step in the right direction.
People will have a shorter working week, be less stressed, more pleasant, and perhaps tend not to contribute to the state of affairs listed at the top of this note.
I don’t suppose it will happen though – seeing as our politicians are so spineless and terrified of upsetting ANYBODY. Especially the new ’80’s style, acquisitive BMW driving types who they seem to think are driving this economy.
J
Hi John,
Welcome back.
Couldnt agree more with the sentiments expressed, Dublin has become the most depressing kip – just wondering how this clean up of the square mile between O’Connel and Amiens street will go – good luck to them.How about banning private transport within the canals and having free public transport within the canals instead. It’s a start!!
Rory W
PS adding 1,000 cars per week to the roads is just plain nuts. Well done Eoin Keegan for cycling in to work, its the sort of top down leadership needed (Now just make the government do it)
Hiya Rory
A pleasant greeting in response to a depressing & angry post! It’s nice to be back – I’ll try to be more positive.
I’ll try…
Cheerio
Johncar free day in helsingborg, sweeden
yesterday went well in helsingborg
there were a lot of events going on to raise awareness
i was there on a field trip with lund university to get people to fill out questionaires and get feedbackthere were still cars in the city but this was the first time this event happened there.
it is amazing to see how organized the swedes are, all kinds of groups got involved together, kids plays, actors kidnapping the minister of environment, rock bands playing in the train station, jazz bands in the 16th century churh, electric cars on show, free bus passes for the weekend, car drop areas outside the city, etcthe plan there is to work on things for next year and so on
i hope dublin went well, i think it might not have been so organized and i also think that people dont think these issues are too important.
I run another general entertainment site p45.net which as very busy chat boards. All smart young people, with good jobs and tech savvy, mostly living in London and Dublin. All the Dublin posters were anti-car free day, ranting about having to take the bus with the proletariet etc…..
Smart, but still require education
What a bunch of arseholes!
No wonder Dublin is so horrible to work in.
Aaahh, yes… once again I’m reminded of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire in Microcosm. Nice to know that when the country’s economy goes down the tubes those people, accustomed to having towels handed to them by black people in the toilettes of their trendy bars [like Fireworks for example]will HAVE to take the bus!
That’s if they have a job to go to that is…
HA HA HAAAAAA
Arseholes.
I also made a quick visit to p45.com, what a bunch of shitwits. Immature, cocieted and ill educated. These are the type of people I have aspired not to be. They say they dont want to take the bus with the proletariats. They are the ****ing proles, the proles of 2000AD. Working for the ‘boss’, trying to get a raise, shafting collegues & all the time, making someone they dont even know, extremely rich. The only difference with these plonkers is that in 1984 (the book), the proles knew who they were, these guys dont realise they are.
Oh MK! Don’t be silly. Of COURSE they know who they are.
It’s defined by their choice of sunglasses, cars, favourite bars and tech stocks.
To be honest – I hate using public transport at rush hour too but mainly because of congestion. Funny, often the most offensive people are the types we’re talking about with their stinking aftershave, horrible nose-picking, mobile-phone-yelling and snott snorting.
I prefer to cycle to and from work. Keeps me fitter, lowers stress and is very enjoyable especially with the addition of cycle lanes. I’m also fortunate in being able to cycle along the coast for much of it.
Why would I want to blow my hard earned savings on a silly 00 BMW?
Oh JOYOUS indeed!
These are the exact same people who no doubt pay a weekend visit to Temple Bar, drink a lot of alcohol and at the end of the night unable to hold their liquor spew the contents of their guts over the pavements or urinate in doorways as they wait for taxis…..our wealthy young educated professional working classes.As Oscar Wilde said they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
We might be going a little of the point here in our mutual disregard for the above.
The question is, how can we reduce traffic in Dublin. Make it a pedestrian friendly city?
Will there be more cycle lanes?
Can a citywide ban of even and odd registration No.s on every other day be implemented.
Can we teach our young go-getters to respect the enviornment & each other?
Is it possible for us (anyone who gives a damn) to improve our cities & the air we breathe. I dont want to hear verbal masturbation, just constructive & possible suggestions to a better urban enviornment.well with cars sales soaring, reaching all time records it look as if the battle with the automobile is lost with regard to us Irish. Roads are too narrow for cycle and bus lanes and with the lust of everyone wanting to possess their very own car it looks as if there’s no way back… maybe a crash at the stock exchanges would help. Sorry folks but I am joining the masses too, well with all the bus strikes that time and the general poor standard of public transport I’ve decided to purchase my very own Honda Prelude,sporty red with white alloy wheels, sunroof and all electrics………….VROOOOOOOM!
In issues like car ownership and public transport, people often fail to distinguish between two very different concepts. Car ownership is not the same as car usage. In Ireland car ownership is increasing but still remains relatively low, compared to our neighbours in Europe. We often buy cars, and believe they are the sole means to transporting us, everywhere, work, school, shopping leisure activities. In many European countries cars are used far more efficiently, not to sit in traffic going to work, not for dropping kids to school, usually for evenings and weekend use instead. Admittedly, their alternative of public transport is usually more attractive than ours, however I do believe that they do not share the snobbery a lot of Irish have towards it. There are many many sad people in Ireland who would prefer to sit in a car, in traffic, pay high prices for these cars, ridiculous insurance figures, and high fuel prices, become stressed, believe their status symbol actually means something, impresses others etc., and watch buses fly by in designated bus lanes…… and still they think it is worth it, not to travel on public vehicles. This idea of the status symbol of the car is still powerful,but if u look at the U.S. situation, where the cult of the car originated, it has destroyed cities eg. LA, Phoenix. On the other hand, look at New York, a vibrant, 24hr., city(more European than American), suits and homeless people share subway carriages.They will not think of driving into work. Why?? Our attitude to public transport is the problem, as is the system itself. to all those who are ‘unfortunate ‘ to have to use the buses, keep waving at the lucky drivers as you pass them. Sorry about the length.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
