Two bus routes that have impeded the removal of traffic from Dublin’s Parliament Street, one of the key elements of the city centre transport plan, will be taken off the street from Sunday.
Dublin City Council plans to make Parliament Street traffic-free from this summer as part of the second phase of the transport plan, which will also see a ban on cars turning left from Westland Row into Pearse Street.
The first phase came into force last August, with a ban on private cars and commercial vehicles travelling directly east or west along the Liffey at either side of O’Connell Bridge from 7am to 7pm daily.
Cars were banned from Parliament Street and Capel Street, which face each other over the river Liffey at Grattan Bridge, on weekend evenings in the summer of 2021. The council subsequently decided to make the Capel Street car-free zone permanent, but retained traffic on Parliament Street, in part due to its use by buses.
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The following summer the council again trialed the pedestrian and cycle-only zone on Parliament Street and, following positive reaction from the public and business owners, decided to make the measure permanent.
However, its implementation was suspended until bus routes 69 and 69X could be rerouted. Both bus services run from Rathcoole in west Dublin to Hawkins Street and turn from the north quays across Grattan Bridge on to Parliament Street and left on to Dame Street.
From Sunday, April 13th, the buses will instead continue along the north quays and cross Rosie Hackett Bridge on to Hawkins Street, before terminating at Poolbeg Street.
By this summer private traffic will also be prohibited from crossing Grattan Bridge into Parliament Street. Car numbers are already extremely low on the street, with the left turn from the south quays banned several years ago. Following the removal of traffic from Capel Street the number of cars on Parliament Street fell by a further 72 per cent.
Traffic will no longer be permitted to head south on Parliament Street but, similar to Capel Street, a west-to-east movement will be retained from Essex Gate to Essex Street East to allow access to disabled bays, the District Court at Dolphin House and the Clarence Hotel, and for deliveries and resident access.
In a similar time frame the ban on private traffic turning left from Westland Row into Pearse Street will be implemented. Currently, Pearse Street is one-way from Sandwith Street towards College Green. When the ban on general traffic turning left from Westland Row into Pearse Street is implemented, a right-hand turn will be introduced allowing cars to head east on a new two-way stretch of Pearse Street. Heading west from Westland Row, Pearse Street will remain one-way.
Cars and other private vehicles with a destination in Pearse Street or Tara Street will be able to return to their route using Sandwith Street and Lombard Street.
Speaking at a city council meeting earlier this week, Independent councillor Nial Ring said the Westland Row change would create a loop of about 2.5km for traffic and he did not understand the point of that, particularly if the aim was to lower emissions having regard to climate change.
Councillor Mannix Flynn said there were concerns Parliament Street could become a “drunk’s street” as had happened elsewhere in the city, leaving traders asking that cars be brought back. He asked why councillors were learning of this through the media and not well in advance.
The council’s head of traffic, Brendan O’Brien, said “all these measures were actually in the city centre transport plan, which came out in September 2023, which went to a huge level of consultation and discussion.”
