INDEPENDENT councillor Maria Donoghue is calling for park and ride buses as a matter of urgency to help increase footfall for city businesses this Christmas.
A presentation was made by a city traders’ group to councillors at the recent Metropolitan District meeting with a focus on quick wins to increase footfall over the festive period.
Debate touched on reopening dedicated bus lanes through the city to allow an increase in car access. Cllr Donoghue spoke out against this move, deeping it a retrograde step. Instead, she called on the local authority to urgently organise cheap and frequent park and ride transport in and out of the city.
She said that while she was in agreement with the traders there there are quick and cost-effective wins that could be had for the city, “I cannot agree with their proposals to effectively remove the bus lanes into and through the city on a short-term basis”.
“The quick win here is not about bringing in more cars – it’s about bringing in more people more quickly. Frequent, cheap, and fast public transport is the way to unlock this,” she said.
“One of the unintended outcomes of opening the bus lanes to car traffic is that even fewer people will take the bus into town as it will be slower than ever; if everyone drives a car into town, traffic congestion will get heavier, car parking spaces will be under pressure, and it will discourage people from going into the city centre.”
Another unintended outcome, she believes, will be the increase of illegal car parking, which will “slow down or block traffic, making it even more difficult for cars to move through the city”.
“Park and ride has been discussed in LCCC numerous times since at least 2018, I cannot understand why this is not being pursued as the straightforward solution that it is, even on a trial basis in the lead up to Christmas,” she said.
Councillors were also informed at tbhe meeting that the Council will liaise with Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority for late night bus services during the Christmas period.
