Dublin City Council chief seeks to ‘aggressively restrict’ space for cars

Dublin City Council Chief Executive, Owen Keegan, has informed a cycling symposium in Dublin that road space for cars needs to be severely restricted by providing more protected cycle lanes in the city and reallocating on-street parking spaces to cyclists.

According to Keegan, in the absence of road pricing, reallocating general traffic road space to cyclists was 'the best and indeed the only option' to meet the council’s transport decarbonising targets, and to increase cyclist numbers and improve cycling and pedestrian facilities.

Currently, the private car appears to be the preferred choice for many residents and journeys in the city, despite having to endure long and variable journey times. Whilst there was 'widespread public and political support' for cycling infrastructure, Keegan noted it was contingent on it not adversely impacting motorists, either in the form of reduced access to road space or reduced on-street parking opportunities. Keegan added that there was 'considerable justification' for many residents and businesses believing they would be worse off as a consequence of cycling infrastructure measures and therefore efforts would need to be intensified to make cycling a more attractive option to a wider range of residents.