Sir, – I found myself in full agreement with everything Mark O’Connell wrote in his opinion piece “Like all Dubliners, I question my life choices, especially when I’m trying to cross the street” (Opinion & Analysis, July 13th), especially where he crystallises it in saying “cities with fewer cars are . . . more pleasant places to spend time in”.
Every city has its issues, and Munich, where I live, certainly has plenty of its own. It can, however, be commended on being relatively car free.
An effective city ring road, a prohibition on older diesel cars, relatively few places to park, an outstanding (if expensive) public transport system, and real bike lanes (the majority raised at path level beside pedestrians and not cars) are key factors.
The result is a city where it is pleasant, quiet, safe, clean and unpolluted, where both old people (who I never see in Dublin city anymore) and young can go and linger and spend their money.
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The closest we have got in Dublin is the rebirth of Capel Street. A street with slow-moving cars moving at a funeral cortège pace, and with narrow paths and not great retail, has now become a vibrant area to browse and dine in.
If the will was there, it does not feel impossible to imagine the Dublin that Mark O’Connell wishes for. – Yours, etc,
SIMON BLAKE,
Munich,
Germany.