The great experiment of Car Free Day was more than a bit of a misnomer in Dublin. It might more appropriately have been dubbed Slightly Car Free Day.
While a few streets were closed off altogether to traffic, more allowed access to buses and commercial vehicles. Restricted roads such as Talbot Street had junction crossings with Gardiner Street where traffic was as normal - slow and unending.
Gardai manned the restricted roads and on some, particularly O'Connell Street, managed to reroute quite a few "chancers" brazening it out in their private cars.
"If it's going to be car-free, there should be no trucks, no traffic and none of this Irish way of `get your car in before 10 and wait until after four to drive home'. It's a joke," said Ms Mary Carroll, from Walkinstown, as she waited at pedestrian lights on O'Connell Street.
On College Green Dublin Corporation was monitoring air and noise and displayed big posters showing the worst levels in the city centre and predictions for Car Free Day. However, it would not have noticed much difference with the thumping and drilling as building work carried on nearby.
There were, however, some nice touches. Organised events, such as the lunchtime performance by the Picolo Lasso children's choir in front of the GPO, soothed quite a number of pedestrians.
One of the blocked-off streets at Custom House Quay had been closed off at 7 a.m. but had to be reopened, because of traffic congestion, until 10 a.m.
The office of the director of traffic was pleased with the one-day project. Ms Eileen Brady, assistant principal officer in the director's office, said the main idea was for people to see the city with little traffic, not to cause congestion.
"It was a practical approach. We were not trying to force people to leave their cars at home but to give people a flavour of what it might be like with less traffic." There was a significant reduction in the number of private cars, she said.
The Dublin City Centre Business Association said it was a good idea but badly managed. It found a downturn of 60 per cent in the retail sector. There was also staff absenteeism as some who used public transport had difficulty getting to work.
The Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, said it did not live up to expectations. He was accosted by people on the street saying "Do you call this car free?" as if he was to blame. He understood the huge pressures on the director of traffic, Mr Owen Keegan, particularly from businesses, but while the idea was great, the input could have been far stronger.
Perhaps the one popular success of the day was the free travel for users of public transport who had the luxury of taking buses or the DART in off-peak hours.
Mr Joe Lennon of Dublin Bus said anecdotal evidence so far was that more people used public transport, and on some bus routes across the city journey times were cut by some 10 or 15 minutes.
AA Roadwatch said the city centre was fairly quiet. "The normal rush-hour happened earlier," according to Ms Emma Caulfield. "Today was similar to the hauliers' protest last week."
