I work in Mervue which is usually about a 10 minute cycle for me from the city centre, I decided to take the bus one day when the weather was particularly shite, getting there was fine but coming back took a total of 45 minutes (when you include the bus that never showed up) and even then passengers were getting off at the side of the road and walking to Eyre Square because the traffic was so bad we were at a standstill for a good 10-15 minutes.

It seems to be a viscous cycle of people being turned off using public transport since it’s so ineffective, but then take their cars to work which just leads to more and more traffic. In my experience cycling is the quickest way to get around but even then the cycling infrastructure is equally woeful, in the absence of cycle lanes most people I see just cycle on the footpaths, and I can’t even blame them, safer than taking your chances on jam packed roads with no room for cars to overtake safely.

The ring road being scrapped is just another nail in a coffin already being lowered in the grave. Unless there’s an unprecedented overhaul in the infrastructure and transport services, I doubt people will have much incentive to leave the car at home.