In the Galway county council meeting last week, I proposed: "That the council will work with the NTA and Galway City Council on the forthcoming Galway Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy towards a car-free city (relying primarily on public transport, walking, or cycling for transport within the urban areas), to meet the climate emergency and Climate Action Plan"
I gave examples of where "car free" cities are already working. "car free" meaning most do not use cars, but public transport; exceptions exist for taxis, disabled, but all is designed about being compact.
This matters from a rural perspective because we need to ramp up public transport from the outlying towns, villages. With good design.
3/ Public transport in rural Ireland is woeful, and needs heavy investment. This is starting now (hiring is a bottleneck).
The motion spoke of "towards a car-free city" because its a huge matter of better design, etc; it takes a lot of work, not banning cars.
And we as cllrs (and the general public) were to be excluded from the design of the new Galway city and county transport strategy.
@amckinstry as a former Galway resident it is exciting to see conversations like this taking place. Fewer cars would really enhance life in Galway.