LAST UPDATE | 9 May 2023

DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has announced that private cars will be banned from the College Green area of the city in three weeks time and that an enhancement project will commence at nearby Foster Place.

Current College Green bus corridor hours, which ban private cars from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, will be extended to a 24/7 bus corridor on 29 May as part of the College Green Pathfinder Project. 

The council has said that an average of more than half a million pedestrians and two million passengers on public transport go through College Green each week, compared to just 27,000 private vehicles.

However, “this small number of vehicles causes significant delays to public transport journey times in the area, particularly in the evenings and at weekends when there are no restrictions”.

These new traffic management measures will reallocate the road space exclusively to sustainable modes of transport which account for 97% of current journeys through College Green, today’s announcement said.

A rendering of Foster Place (in the background) and College Green (in the foreground) after work is completed. Dublin City Council Dublin City Council

Increased footpath space on Dame Street at Foster Place and in the median opposite it  will be installed and to provide the public with interim public seating and planters.

“This Pathfinder project will enhance the often overlooked area of Foster Place,” the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Caroline Conroy, said.

“The traffic management measures will improve public transport times, as well as creating a more relaxing and inviting environment to enjoy our historic city centre. This is in accordance with the objective for College Green in the development plan 2022 – 2028.” 

I proposed taking cars out of Foster Place in the 2016 Dev Plan. It's been a minute, but it's so great to see some progress on the pedestrianisation of #CollegeGreen. New measures include:
⭐️24/7 bus gate
⭐️decluttering of signs etc
⭐️build outs & seating
⭐️more care free events https://t.co/s3iBZnXgXm

— Cllr Claire Byrne (@CByrneGreen) May 8, 2023

Foster Place, which sits between the Bank of Ireland and the Irish Stock Exchange will have its taxi ranks reduced in favour of planters and public seating.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said that the removal of non-public transport traffic from College Green was “really good news”.

“It is only one of a series of development that are going to be needed for us to make the switch away from unsustainable gridlock traffic system to one that works for everyone,” Ryan said.

Green Party councillor for the South East Inner City, Claire Byrne, said that the move was a welcome step to fully pedestrianising the area.

“We have to stop looking at it as banning private cars and instead as the  pedestrianisation of a significant portion of the city center. That is the intention of the College Green Pathfinder project.”

“Developing a plaza in the middle of the city, like most other European cities have, is a really positive thing for the city,” she said.

Plans have been made to remove all vehicles from College Green but this has been delayed until the BusConnects programme has been redesigned.

“I’d certainly be asking for the National Transport Authority to make that a priority. So this is only an interim measure, we need to be moving towards the full thing as soon as possible,” Cllr Byrne said.

She added that she would like to see schemes like the College Green Pathfinder Project continue in the city, as well as the pedestrianisation of South William Street.