According to Mr. Ryan, the city centre needs an upgrade and more areas for bicycling, walking, and public transportation would make it a more desirable area to live, work, shop, and spend the evenings.
The goal of the proposed Dublin city transport plan is to incentivize motorists to drive around rather than through the city core when they wish to go across it to get to other locations.
Part of the idea would be to remove cars from Parliament Street and Customs House Quay and to block Bachelor's Walk and Aston Quay to traffic.
More than 80% of respondents to a survey on the plan supported ideas to remove parking spaces from automobiles in Dublin's downtown, according to the results released this week.
The strategy, according to Brendan O'Brien, Head of Technical Services of Dublin City Council, focuses on “The heart of the city centre - the quays and Pearse Street areas, O'Connell Street, and so on - to reduce the amount of traffic in the city centre area.”
The idea, he added, is targeted at those who drive through the city centre and “don't need to do that,” but entry would still be permitted for certain purposes, such as deliveries and access to other parking lots.
Plans for walking and bicycling, which he claims everyone would want to see, are more difficult to execute because of traffic numbers and delays in public transit, according to Mr O'Brien.
He went on to say that needless driving through the city core typically does not "contribute" to the region.
In order to make the city centre "less hostile" to people who choose to walk, cycle, or take public transportation, Mr. O'Brien stated that during the plan's duration, which runs until 2028, some plaza concepts and traffic-free zones are intended to be implemented in locations like College Green, Pearse, and Tara streets.
He clarified that Bachelor's Walk would only be accessible by public transportation, taxis, bicycles, and pedestrians; private and business cars would not be permitted.
He claimed that the busiest pedestrian intersection in the nation is at O'Connell Bridge and Bachelor's Walk and that the goal of these plans is to lessen the volume of traffic that people must “cope with” by placing more emphasis on those who choose to walk or use public transportation.
The Dublin City Council, according to Mr. O'Brien, is also aware that more and more people will begin to visit the city centre as a result of public transportation projects like Bus Connects, DART, and Metro.
He said that Luas Cross City demonstrates that there is “nothing new” in the proposal because modifications were necessary to make it functional when it was first launched in 2016 and 2017. Dublin Bus stated that its services are now being negatively impacted by traffic.