A woman taking part in Belfast’s first citizens’ jury on car dependency says it was cheaper to drive there, than get the bus or train.
Twenty drivers from across the metropolitan area gathered at the MAC to come up with ideas to break our car habit in a “deliberative forum” led by Queen’s University experts.
Belfast is the most car-dependant city in the UK and its third most congested, with 68% of journeys made by one person in a car.
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Juror Jennifer Davies told us: “It’s cheaper for me to have a car sitting doing nothing most of the time for the occasional usage than it is to get public transport.”
The Whitehead woman did some sums to figure out her cheapest way into Belfast for the two-day event at the weekend.
Factoring in the cost of her car, tax, fuel, insurance and parking she estimated a 35.5p a mile cost by car, which made the 14 mile journey less expensive return (£9.94) than taking the train (£12.60) or bus (£12.80), which were less convenient and took longer.
Jennifer says parking was free at the weekend so commuters will pay more, but public transport didn’t get her there on time on Sunday either because of timetabling.
“There are other issues as well,” she added. “My son is a chef and was working in the city centre. He would finish work about 10 o’clock and he couldn’t get a bus or train ‘til gone 11 so he had to stand around for an hour at that time of night. That really prohibits him working in a city centre restaurant.”
QUB urban environment, health and planning experts joined forces with Belfast Healthy Cities and Involve to teach the randomly selected jurors about the issues around car dependency and come up with solutions.
Rebekah McCabe from Involve said: “They spent two days at the MAC learning about the issues... the history of Belfast and how it became car dependent.
“That was not an accident. Choices were made over the last 50-60 years that have led us [here] and they learned why it is so important this issue is addressed.
“Car dependency relates to peoples’ health, the environment... the quality of our physical environment but also climate change and equalities in the city as well.”
Potential solutions on the table included 15-minute neighbourhoods, pedestrianising the city centre, restricting car parking, reallocating road space, cycle lanes, better walkways, improving public transport and a congestion charge.
Michael Lorimer, from the Inclusive Mobility and Transport Advisory Committee (IMTAC), said the jury is “part of that wider debate we need to have about the impact of car dependency on our society and the inequalities that creates”.
While QUB professor, John Barry, dubbed it a “wonderful example” of how “solutions are often in the room”.
He said: “What I can gather from listening to the conversations is that Belfast is focusing on the wrong form of dominant mobility, which is car use.
“Nobody is anti-car but... we are subsidising car use in deaths, injuries on our roads, blighted communities..
“It’s working class communities that are breathing in filthy air, where mums can’t get by on the path because people are parking and it’s middle class affluent people who are the ones using cars.”
Fionntán Hargey, from the Market Development Association, said the area is “a sacrifice zone” for cars. “It’s their health and wellbeing that is sacrificed for the wider traffic network to operate,” he said of those who live there.
“I think it’s important for ordinary people to start taking ownership and think through the issues with experts and start drafting what the solutions would look like.”
The full QUB report on the citizens’ jury on Car Dependency in Belfast is due in November.
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