Sir, – Kathy Sheridan ("Cycle of despair for commuters to Dublin", Opinion & Analysis, June 25th) has injected some much-needed perspective into a debate that is endlessly framed as greener-than-green cyclists versus thoughtless, car-driving road hogs.
Dublin is our capital and transport “solutions” that milk motorists are bad for the city and bad for the country. – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA O’RIORDAN,
Stamer Street,
Dublin 8 .
Sir, – A friend of mine recently travelled from Bruges to Ghent, which are roughly 49 kilometres apart, by train. The return fare was €6! A few years ago I met friends of a friend in Tokyo. The idea of needing a car to get around seemed silly to them.
Why would they need a car when they had good public transport? Provide good subsidised transport and cars will disappear from our city streets. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN LOUGHEED,
Arlington Heights,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.
Sir, – In response to Kathy Sheridan, it must be pointed out that there is simply a finite amount of road-space available in Dublin.
Provision of safe cycling corridors is a more equitable sharing out of this limited urban road-space and such corridors would facilitate more efficient movement of people. – Yours, etc,
DEREK BRADY,
Victoria,
Vancouver Island,
Canada.
Sir, – Kathy Sheridan writes that people do not choose to drive in Dublin, rather they do so for “pressing practical or health reasons”.
The National Transport Authority recently found that half of daily trips are less than three kilometres and that half of these short trips are made by car.
If we could switch just these short trips to cycling or walking, then congestion and many of our health problems would be solved. – Yours, etc,
Cllr OSSIAN SMYTH,
Montpelier Place,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.