THE NUMBER of drivers using Dublin city centre car parks has fallen by up to 17 per cent since the introduction of the College Green “bus gate” last year, a report commissioned by Dublin City Council has found.
Last July the council commissioned consultants CB Richard Ellis to assess the economic impact of the bus gate on the city centre, with a specific focus on the retail sector.
However in their report, which will be presented to councillors later this week, the consultants said they could not identify the impact of the bus gate on shopping because the Dublin City Business Association did not supply the necessary information on retail sales.
The council agreed to commission the report following claims made primarily by the association of a significant drop in revenue generated in the city centre since the bus gate was introduced in July 2009. The association could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
The bus gate restricts traffic on College Green to public transport vehicles and cyclists from 7am to 10am and from 4pm to 7pm, from Monday to Friday.
The report found there was evidence that car parks had been directly affected by the restrictions.
It said that while all car parks in the city centre were asked to provide information, only three private car parks, the Brown Thomas car park on Clarendon Street, Trinity Street car park and the Thomas Street car park contributed.
However, it said in examining these businesses in conjunction with the council-owned car parks at the Ilac Centre, Drury Street and Dawson Street, it found a definite fall off in business, depending on the location of the car park.
This ranged from a 1.7 per cent drop in a Thomas Street car park, which is furthest from the bus gate, to a 17.4 per cent drop at the Brown Thomas car park, one of those closest to College Green.
While there was an undisputed fall in trade in the city centre since the bus gate was introduced, establishing what proportion of the decline was attributable to the recession and what if any could be put down to the bus gate was impossible without detailed sales information, the report said.
“Comprehensive transactional data and location-specific retail sales data would have facilitated the identification of the specific impact that the introduction of the bus corridor had on economic activity and retail sales activity in Dublin city centre.
The consultants cautioned that any further changes to the traffic system would probably encourage the misconception that the city centre was either difficult to access or closed to traffic.
“This “would damage trade further,” the report concludes.
