Madam, – Recent developments around Dublin show both how much and how little we have learned about building a smart and sustainable capital city.
The splendid new Aviva Stadium, which promotes “non-car modes of transport to and from the stadium”, has no spaces for coaches to park.
The spectacular new O2 Arena has no spaces for coaches to park and even operates an “exclusion zone” to prevent set-downs and pick-ups.
The stunning new Convention Centre, claiming to be “the world’s first carbon neutral convention centre”, has no spaces for coaches to park.
Croke Park, claiming to be “one of the first net-carbon neutral stadiums in the world”, has no spaces for coaches to park on match days when they can expect up to 80,000 people.
The futuristic new terminal that will bring Dublin Airport’s capacity up to 35 million passengers per year will open just as the airport cuts its coach parking spaces from 16 to 12.
Every full coach takes around 30 cars off our streets. When will our planners, engineers, architects and Garda Síochána learn this most basic rule of traffic management? – Yours, etc,