Dublin Transport Plan: Economy ‘too fragile for trial and error’ approach

Dublin’s retail sector is “too fragile” for a traffic plan based on trial and error, claims the head of Retail Excellence.

Dublin City Transport Plan came into force on Sunday to reduce traffic congestion in the city centre.

From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., private vehicles are prohibited from driving along the North Quays to Bachelor's Walk and the South Quays to Burgh Quay.

Buses, taxis and cyclists can continue to travel as usual, and diversions have been set up for private cars.

Jean McCabe, CEO of Retail Excellence, said: Newstalk Breakfast The real test will come when schools reopen next week.

“It's hard to predict what this morning will be like, but I think when school fully starts again and everyone goes back to work, we'll see how the traffic plan works,” she said.

“We are very concerned about drivers and how they move around the city. Anything that takes them somewhere else could have a negative impact on retail.”

“Considering how important car drivers are to retailers, they spend over 60 percent more than other transport users and some retailers report that up to 40 percent of their revenue comes from customers traveling by car.”

People walk past a closed Ted Baker in Dublin's Grafton Street on 20.8.24. Image: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie

Ms McCabe acknowledged that while the transport plan was aimed at people travelling through the city rather than those travelling into it, she also said any barrier to customers was likely to drive them away.

“The retail sector was not consulted on this plan, which was a concern from the start,” she said.

“I don’t know if you’ve walked down Grafton Street lately, but there are currently nearly 19 vacant units there.

“As we have argued from the outset, the sector is too fragile at the moment for a trial-and-error approach.

“When it becomes difficult to get somewhere [customers] will go somewhere else”.

According to Ms. McCabe, other cities that had implemented similar transportation plans had to change them “because they made a mistake the first time.”

Ms McCabe added that everyone shared the same vision “for a thriving and vibrant city of Dublin”.

Main image: Heavy traffic on the quays ahead of the Dublin City Transport Plan coming into force on 24.4.21. Image: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie