Time to hold our nerve on Bus Gate – Upton
Issued : Tuesday 3 November, 2009
Labour Councillor to vote against temporary suspension of College Green Bus Gate
Henry Upton, Labour member of Dublin City Council for Crumlin/Kimmage has appealed to his fellow Council members to ‘hold their nerve’ on Bus Gate, and not give in to complaints from city centre retailers. A proposal to temporality suspend the College Green bus gate will be voted on at the City Council meeting tonight, (02.11.09).
“The introduction of the College Green Bus Gate has been a huge success for Dublin. Commuting times from communities such as Crumlin, Terenure and Walkinstown to the City Centre have been reduced by as much as 30 minutes. Bus journeys from Parnell Square to Nassau Street have fallen from 40 minutes to 10 minutes. In tandem with the hugely successful Dublin Bikes scheme, the measure has resulted in a 64% increase. This is an outstanding success by any measure, and I am truly shocked that Councillors are considering rowing back on this progress”, says Henry.
According to the Labour Councillor, the fall in business in the City Centre is indicative of the current economic climate, and the pressure on working people to make ends meet.
“You don’t have to be an economist to know that people are spending much less. These are difficult times, and people are nervous about spending money. What we need is a targeted effort to work in partnership with city centre business to attract shoppers into the city centre. Making the city centre much easier to get into by public transport and making our city centre cycle friendly is a much more long term sustainable solution for city centre business”, he says.
Henry says that a lot of old and unproven figures are being used by the opponents of Bus Gate to support their arguments.
We have heard from those against the measure that business has fallen by up to 30%. I would like to see a full and proper analysis of these figures. Is it as high as 30%? What is the corresponding figure in other parts of the city? How much of the fall in business can be attributed to the bus gate, and how much to the simple fact that people don’t have as much money as before? I think to vote to suspend this measure in the absence of any such analysis would be nothing less than shamefull
“I have heard it said that to win the war, we must lose this battle. However, can we be guaranteed that those looking for the measure to be lifted will support it being implemented again in the new year? What will be their argument then? If we vote for Bus Gate to be lifted at our meeting tonight, we will have lost the war without even contesting the battle. I will be voting against this recommendation tonight, and I appeal to my Council colleagues to do likewise”, says Henry.
Cllr 
