Par 5.3 Stategic Aims: Omit the aim of supporting Economic Growth. Economic growth suggests increasing consumption of goods and energy, which is bad and contrary to achieving climate goals. The other 2 aims cover good things like the Arts or Education, and are sufficient.
There should be a Transport and Planning Authority for the Greater Dublin Area (like the Dublin Transport Authority only improved). It is difficult to co-ordinate policy with 4 separate local authorities. If there was an executive Mayor for the Dublin Metropolitan area, responsible for everything, that wouldn't work either, as every aspect of a population the third of the country is too wide a brief for one person. Give us a Greater Dublin Transport and Planning Authority!
There should be more benches here and there but especially on longer pedestrian routes. Some people cannot walk for long without needing a rest, and not everyone can sit on the ground. Some people may be frail elderly, or have a breathing or heart conditions, or not very good on their legs, or just tired. Seating along pavements, walkways and pedestrian routes should be plentiful, and would facilitate pedestrians other than just those who are healthy, fit and able.
Another problem that stops people going out much is lack of access to public toilets, and this disproportionately affects women, older people and children. Pedestrians and public transport users should have access to toilet facilities, which should be in places like main train stations, bus termini, and busy pedestrian centres.
Concerning the draft Cycling network map (from the point of view of a Dublin 4 resident): Serpentine Avenue and Tritonville road should be designated a secondary cycle route, purely because a lot of commuters cycle along it to get to school or work. This road connects Sandymount and Irishtown with places like Stephens Green, Ranelagh, Donnybrook, etc. These are areas where people cycle a lot and where all the schools are. However, the route is threatened with extra, diverted East Link and local South Port traffic if the proposed Strand Road closure goes ahead.
In comparison, Strand Road is not a useful commuter route for cyclists, except perhaps those from Ringsend going to Booterstown, or from Booterstown to Pearce St (although the DART provides an excellent service for this route). Dublin City Council will conduct a public consultation on flood defenses along the northern edge of Sandymount Strand, and I believe the options will include a wide concrete flood wall. If this becomes the preferred option, it changes everything concerning the design of a coastal cycleway here, which it is currently proposed will occupy and close the inbound lane, causing essential vehicular traffic to the East Link to divert via Merrion Rd., Serpentine Ave etc (and Church Ave.! which is a complete nonsense as larger vehicles can barely manage that turn as it is). It would be very sensible to design the proposed recreational coastal cycleway, conceived as 'S2S', using the new flood defense infrastructure. Therefore plans for cycle ways or routes along Strand Road and Beach Road must not be finalized until after public consultation, concerning design options for a cycleway in conjunction with new flood defenses, has taken place.
Concerning the Dodder Greenway: I suppose this strongly, as it will be an extremely useful cycle route. However, the exact details of the design will be terribly important, as this is a very important wildlife corridor, vital both to our quality of life and to biodiversity aspects of climate change. Extra funding should be provided for biodiversity enhancement during the design and construction phase of this project.
E-scooters: people using E-scooters should be required to wear high-Viz.
Public Transport Operation: The bus network in Dublin is a natural monopoly, and (having studied a little Macroeconomics), I believe that in the long run, if Dublin Bus could ruin it as a monopoly, in the long run, it would lead to a better service, at lower cost. I also think that Public Transport is as much a public service as footpaths, and that it should be much more heavily subsidised, as in other European cities (eg Nice), so as to be very affordable.
Bus Connects: I hope the plan is not still to cut down all the trees along roads like Merrion Road and Baggot St, which would turn our lovely city into a concrete desert with 4 lane highways. Where road space does not allow enough space for cycle lanes and a bus and vehicle lane in each direction, the challenge is to reduce the amount of vehicular traffic so that buses and vehicles can share a lane, and the buses can provide a good service using various bus priority measures.
Accessibility: There are Security issues on DART, LUAS and busses, where people have been attacked and injured, and would-be passengers, women especially, are afraid to use public transport. CCTV and security guards should be provided.
There should be toilet facilities at main train stations, and at bus and LUAS, and taxi, termini.
In my opinion, the bus route should be moved back from Park Ave (Dublin 4) to Strand road. A Cycleway is proposed for Park Ave, but when 2 buses pass each other, one has to mount the pavement, (as the road is not very wide)- not ideal for cyclists. Also, who wants to go to Park Ave? Strand road is a popular leisure destination.
LUAS tracks should be filled in with rubber. as in other cities worldwide, so that cyclists don't get their wheels caught. Therte has been at least one death, and many accidents, to cyclists, caused by Luas tracks.
As regards public transport to the airport and to Dublin Port: For Climate reasons sea travel should be prioritised over air travel. Therefore busses (and Trains) meeting foot-passengers from ferries at Dublin (and Dunlaoghaire) port need to provide an efficient and attractive service, and actually meet the boats whether on time or delayed. At the moment, this service in Dublin Port is very poor indeed.
I support the deletion of the Eastern Bypass. However, the R131( Booterstown to Druncondra) is an important regional road which must be retained. it is an essential route for many tradesmen (eg a plumber living in Fairview and doing a job in Blackrock). It is an important route for ambulances between St Vincents and Beamont hospitals, and for taxis and busses from Merrion Gates and beyond to the airport. There is plenty of essential traffic from Merrion Gates direction to the East Link that cannot dissolve and must not be re-routed through the City centre. The proposed diversion route, from Merrion Road to Serpentine Ave to Church Ave, is impractical and will not work.
Park-and-Ride: I think park-and-ride car parks should be provided, not only around the M50, but also at a variety of locations outside the canals and inside the M50. This would facilitate, for example, someone having to collect a child from creche on their way home, and would keep more traffic out of the City Centre. Take for example, the N11. Motorists drive into town along it into Town, to go to work, go shopping or run errands. They arrive in at Donnybrook and then jam up the roads. If there was a Park-and-ride carpark over Donnybrook bus garage, all the N11 cars (from Stillorgan or wherever) would not have to go into town. This would be a great location to run a variety of small local buses from.
I think a shift from road to Rail freight is important. Given that more sea freight goes through Rosslare, much of this container traffic should be via rail. Therefore there needs to be a distribution yard in the environs of, probably, Connolly Station.
As for containers that arrive either from Rosslare or from Dublin Port. In many cases these containers need to be split into different loads for different destinations or be transferred to smaller vehicles, and this requires a distribution yard(s).
Until comprehensive plans have been finalized for distribution yards for rail and sea freight, no land in Dublin Port or the CIE lands near Dublin Port, should be released for development.
It is terribly important to meet or preferably exceed all the latest GHG targets, 2030 being a crunch year for avoiding tipping points. I think at the moment only about 40% or less of our electricity is from renewables; the rest is from fossil fuels. Therefore, while in the longer term EVs are low-emission, in the short to medium term they are only as GHG-free as our electricity supply.
Therefore the priority has to be, not just to switch to active transport, public transport and EVs, but to reduce the number of trips. Fortunately, remote working is feasible. The demand for trips by private motorised vehicles needs to be managed carefully, and I think the best way to do this is by well-designed Congestion charging (THE reason Ken Livingstone was so popular as first London Mayor). There are many legitimate reasons for using a car, and many, many times that motorists could be incentivised to use a different mode, or just not to travel as much.
Congestion Charging could be introduced incrementally, based on where people have good public transport options. They could be tailored to penalize SUVs and large cars, and to incentivize a switch to EVs. [Given the human nature of people, cheaper charges for EVs would work well!] . There could be derrogations for essential workers, like nurses, especially nurses on night duty in dodgy areas.
I believe intelligent Congestion charges could transform our streetscapes. With fewer cars, there would be more space for other road users, and drastic measures of cutting down trees (vital for Climate) for Bus Connects would be unnecessary. I absolutely oppose the idea of using congestion as a roadspoace demand management tool ( ie let motorists fester in traffic jams so that they give up driving). Congestion worsens pollution, and frustrates legitimate and important car trips (eg a doctor on an emergency call, purchase of a heavy or bulky item that you can't carry, etc).