Re: Re: The Velibs are coming?

Re Westmorland / D’Olier Streets and cycling, Bus Gate was part sold on the basis of being improvements to the public domain.

This has not been the case. Footpaths have been left at a miserable width, the streets have been left as multi-lane one-ways (5 lanes wide) – with the result that traffic (mostly taxis/ buses) can really speed along here – none of which is any benefit whatsoever to cyclists. No new cycle-lanes, despite the space being clearly present 😡

The primary accomplishments of Bus Gate from what I can see are that trade has been driven out of the city centre, ugly large motorway-standard has been inserted in a manner that blocks facades of the city’s best buildings while also damaging antique pavements, and Westmorland Street has been left exposed as what it has become, ie a stretch of dereliction, vacancy, and urban failure.

It couldn’t be any worse – really, you just couldn’t make it up. In my opinion the planners/ officials responsible for presiding over and implementing this mess should be released of their duties on grounds of incompetency.

There is one question in all of this, which is the more dogma-driven tokenistic supposed “green” measure – bikes provided by a firm that makes maybe €200m out of badly-planned new adverts in poor areas, or a Bus Gate that has succeed in driving trade out to the out-of-town shopping malls, making “edge city” more viable?

I note neither of these supposed “green” schemes had Environmental Impact Assessments – well done to gobshites in the Green Party who have been in government while these template examples of bad planning have been allowed to damage the city… You could get away with building a concentration camp in Ireland these days – as long as you put the word “eco” in front of it, and provide a bicycle rack for the guards.

Bus Gate should have the letter “t” added into its title, Bust Gate – as that’s the primary effect its having on the city centre.