Mixed reaction to Cork city’s first car-free day

THERE was a mixed reaction to Cork city’s first car-free day last Saturday with Patrick St, North Main St, Cornmarket St, Castle St, and Adelaide St closed to traffic from noon until 6.30pm.

Studies in Britain have shown that sales can increase when cities are pedestrianised, but the combination of the bad weather last weekend and the streets being closed to cars on Saturday had a negative impact on footfall and sales for many Cork retailers.

Heavy rain for most of Saturday afternoon made walking less desirable, with lots of shoppers saying they opted not to visit the city that day, choosing to visit shopping centres instead, and those that did said the streets were empty.

The Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy told The Echo: “It seemed to be a success”, but added that he had talked to a number of traders and “the overall sentiment is split”.

'Business just collapsed'

Tom Bradley, who owns Tom Bradley Bacon and Pork company at the English Market said: “Saturday is my day — if I don’t have a good day on a Saturday my week is a write off, and last weekend, my business just collapsed at 12.30pm”.

“It’s hard enough to get people into the city,” he added, explaining that there isn’t a big enough population of people living in the centre, so city retailers “rely on people coming into town, we need cars”.

“It’s fine if you’re a young person and you get the bus all the time, but you’re not going to get middle-aged and elderly people getting into a bus to town to get their provisions.

“These people aren’t going to all of a sudden leave their cars at home and get the bus, and they’re the people who are spending money”, he said, adding that university students don’t go to the English Market to buy bacon and pork.

Explaining that he was in favour of environmental initiatives, Tom suggested that trialling a car free day on a Monday, when people need to get into town for work, would do a better job of converting car users into bus users.

“If you want to actually change attitudes and change people’s views on things you’ve got to do it on a day that people actually have to go to the city.

“But doing it on a Saturday, you’re just killing the trade. I never saw as few people walking around as I did Saturday.”

More planning needed 

Wendy Murphy, owner of the Baby Boutique on Castle St experienced the same. She told The Echo: “Saturday is my busiest day because the kids are off school, parents need their cars for their buggies and bags and small kids”, adding, “a lot of people live in the country and they’re not in a position to get public transport”.

“We had a few customers in the morning, from lunchtime my Saturday just died, and Saturday is bread and butter for lots of businesses, we have an extra staff member on that day....Without anything to encourage them into the city people will just go to Mahon Point — the council didn’t follow the initiative through with a plan.”

Several people made use of taxis, with head of operations at leading taxi company FREENOW Fiona Brady, telling The Echo: “The number of taxi trips completed by FREENOW driver partners in Cork saw a 26% increase on Saturday compared to Friday September 22.”