The lights are up, the tables are stacked and Mariah Carey has infiltrated the in-store playlists. Yes, it is only November 7th, but as far as retailers are concerned, Christmas is here, and it will continue to be here, in its build-up phase alone, for the next 48 days.
But while a certain amount of pushing, elbowing and crowd-dodging is inevitable during peak shopping periods, there is one place where festive sprees have the capacity to be much more pleasant this year: Dublin city centre.
Thanks to the parts of the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan that have been implemented to date, walking between the Henry Street and Grafton Street, the two main shopping areas in Dublin is a smoother, calmer and more seamless experience.
Under the traffic management measures introduced in August, the absence of vehicles – other than buses and taxis – travelling between Bachelors Walk and Eden Quay makes walking from Liffey Street over to Temple Bar and crossing O’Connell Bridge safer and faster and healthier, with noticeably fewer fumes.
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That was not quite the upbeat take advanced earlier this year by a group called the Dublin City Centre Traders’ Alliance, which argued that the plan, when fully implemented, posed a possible €400 million loss to the city’s economy. This was based on an economic analysis that made certain assumptions – disputed assumptions – about the shopping intentions of car users who travel into the city centre.
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The true economic impact will eventually reveal itself. Notably, retailers have not been faring too badly of late, with spending in the Dublin economy increasing in the July-September period for the 17th consecutive quarter, albeit at a slightly more subdued rate.
As it stands, the benefits to pedestrians from even the initial measures under the plan – published by Dublin City Council in partnership with the National Transport Authority – are tangible.
On one page captioned “the city of walking”, the plan refers to “significant opportunities for improving the pedestrian environment” and talks about ensuring there is “sufficient space for peak demands for pedestrian movement” on “high-quality footpaths” cleared as much as possible of any obstructions.
That still sounds futuristic, rather than a reflection of the current reality. But the improvement to the pedestrian experience in evidence in recent months, thanks to traffic-management measures alone, suggests the “city of walking” is, like Christmas, on the way.
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