Traders’ groups hire consultants on transport plan

Dublin city traders’ groups have expressed “serious concerns” over the €150 million sustainable transport plan proposed for the city.

With an extended deadline for submissions due to close this Friday, both the Dublin City Business Association and Dublin Town – the latter the organisation formerly known as Dublin Business Improvement Districts – have hired consultants to help them raise issues with aspects of the plan.

The National Transport Authority and Dublin City Council have put forward the plan to create a more sustainable city by reducing private car journeys through the centre, and to improve facilities for pedestrians and public transport.

But chief among the traders’ concern is what they say is a lack of clarity on how the plan would differentiate between cars used by commuters, which they say should be curtailed, and cars used by shoppers which they say play a vital part in prosperity and jobs.

Extremely blunt

Chairman of Dublin Town Ray Herman called for traders to make individual submissions on the plan, describing it as “extremely blunt”. In an email to individual traders, he said it had “the potential to significantly impact your business irrespective of whether you are in the commercial, professional, hospitality or retail sector”

“While they claim that the focus is to reduce congestion at ‘rush hour’ the study does not differentiate between commuter traffic at peak times versus off-peak consumer/customer traffic,” he said.

Commuters

and

shoppers

Chief executive of Dublin Town Richard Guiney said moves to tackle congested roadspace were welcome. He said there were interesting elements in the transport plan, but he too raised the issue of distinguishing between commuters

and shoppers.

He said access to the 10,000 shopping centre parking spaces in the city centre was vital and he pointed out Bristol had 10,000 car parking spaces with a population of just 300,000 people – a fraction of the population of the Dublin region.

He also said Nottingham had imposed a tax on private car commuters’ parking spaces and this tax was used to finance public transport infrastructure. There were, he said, technological possibilities of differentiating between car commuters and car shoppers. He said the main priority must be “to protect the retail and commercial core” of the city.