Proposal to ban private cars from city centre

Radical new traffic management plans from the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO)to ban private cars from Dublin city centre are to be put to city councillors today.

The plans, devised in consultation with several agencies including Dublin Bus and the Railway Procurement Agency, (RPA), would make it impossible for cars to use the city centre to cross north to south and vice versa.

Cars would be banned from College Green, Westmoreland Street, O'Connell Bridge, on Dame Street from the junction with George's Street, northbound on O'Connell Street and southbound on O'Connell Street from the junction with Abbey Street.

These areas would be accessible to public transport only.

The DTO also plans to introduce a system that would give buses priority at traffic lights by enabling the light to switch in favour of an approaching bus. This system would also allow for countdown clocks at bus stops that would show the actual time a bus will arrive.

The plan was approved by the board of Dublin Bus last December and is supported by the RPA, but must be ratified by the city council before it can be put into action.

Fine Gael councillor Naoise Ó Muirí said he supported pedestrianisation but the DTO plan was "extreme, impractical and unworkable" and would lead to "segregation" between northsiders and southsiders.

Labour councillor Andrew Montague said the plans could be realised but only when the public transport infrastructure had been put in place.