St Patrick St car ban - Tentative first step is welcome

Cork city's council has spent no fewer than six years agreeing and then watering down plans to solve the traffic problems that blight St Patrick St.

Its grandly titled Cork City Centre Movement Strategy has moved — albeit not strategically — over the years from a proposal for a partial 12.30pm to 6.30pm private car ban to the even more partial 3pm to 6.30pm prohibition that began yesterday.

Expectations of a “disaster”, as feared by some traders, might prove to be unduly pessimistic, although yesterday’s debut did little to avert a crescendo of grumbles.

If it’s the case, as the council argues, that most of the traffic is going to and from somewhere else, then footfall should not suffer… unless, of course, car drivers and their passengers are going to car parks convenient for shopping in St Patrick St. Critics are on stronger ground when they warn of confusion. Local drivers will get used to it, but visitors from elsewhere stand to get caught out.

Few would argue against changes that would help reduce city-centre pollution and make bus services more reliable and swifter.

This week’s change, however, will help to make buses more attractive for only three and a half hours a day.

It’s a small, nervous first step in the continuing search fora planning strategy that aims to protect the city centre environments, and its traders, from the threats posed by the convenience of internet and out-of-town shopping.