Hi folks,
I’m a young man from the Northeastern United States who is frustrated and disappointed by the car dependent nature of American society. I grew up in a suburb of Boston that was so car dependent that it literally made *the average* American suburb look convenient and walkable. My heart sank every time I thought about suburbs that are just as loosely populated as mine, which had MBTA bus and commuter rail access. As I grew older, I began to watch youtubers like Not Just Bikes, RM Transit and City Nerd. It is safe to say that I have learned over-relying on cars is insanely bad for pedestrians and bicyclists, in addition to the climate crisis. After some careful thought, I decided that as an adult, I would like to leave North America and move elsewhere, like Not Just Bikes did to Amsterdam.
As I began my search for my new home, I went about asking redditors from other countries whether their home nations were walkable enough for a person like me to live there in the future. You can see my question for the Germans here:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAGerman/comments/1101sa7/comment/ja5fkwu/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAGerman/comments/1101sa7/comment/ja5fkwu/?context=3)
Eventually, I turned my investigations back to Wikipedia where I came up with a list of countries by number of vehicles per capita:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_countries\_by\_vehicles\_per\_capita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita)
One of the things that I noticed was that Ireland’s rate of vehicle ownership per capita is well below that of many places that I’ve dreamed of living in, yet it’s position on the Human Development Index is similar.
France: 668 cars per 1000, Germany 628 per 1000, United Kingdom 600, The Netherlands 588, Denmark 540, Ireland 535. This list alleges that Ireland has the lowest car ownership rate in all of Western Europe!
So, given your personal experience, is Ireland Walkable? Could a person live there without a car if they wanted to? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
29 comments
Ireland? No.
Dublin, yes. I assume by “walkable” you mean “walking and public transport and cycling” as just walking you could get around the city but getting to the further away suburbs would be tough. I have friends who have no intention of learning to drive because they don’t feel they need it in Dublin.
Though you should look up the visa requirements before you get your hopes up.
For me, the only time I lived without a car in Ireland was when I lived in a big city. It’s doable, just not massively convenient as public transport isn’t the best. If you were to be living in a rural area or a small town you’d be absolutely lost without a car.
Yes, i live in Cork and i dont drive, but it wouldn’t really be possible in more rural parts. The public transport is not very reliable and you have to be prepared for bad/unpredictable weathe Basically, get good boots and a good rainproof coat!
Cities and towns yes, along with a bike you can make it across most cities in 30mins to 1 hour. But very few bike lanes exist, you are going around medieval cities with traffic essentially. Most cities have shortcuts accessible to pedestrians and 99% of towns have pavement and are all walkable. But anywhere outside of these places you need a car as the roads are usually narrow with no space for civilians
Edit: I dont think people here would understand that [in some parts] (https://youtu.be/uNa35Fubm4Q) of America you cant actually walk 5 mins to the nearest coffee shop because there is no sidewalk and an industrial estate between you and the location. Just highways around your apartment building or suburban area
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Depends where. Cities are grand. Back arse of West Cork… not a hope
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It’s a lot better than what you’re used to in America anyway.
Our public transport is awful, disgraceful by European standards but it’s far better than what’s available in most American cities.
Is it doable? Well yes if you’re paying city center rents in Dublin and maybe Cork. Otherwise it’s extremely extremely extremely hard to do.
No not really. It’s possible but quite a hassle. It’s not like holland or the UK or whatever.
No, we’re actually extremely car dependent, even if you lived in Dublin City center, your job could very well be in an industrial estate on the outskirts.
Yes definitely, but only if you live in towns. People keep mentioning Dublin here but I’m in Kilkenny and I’m the odd one out amongst my cohort for owning a car. Admittedly they’re mostly animators who have moved from other countries to work year long contracts but the ones who have been here 5+ years don’t have cars either. Most of them just walk and don’t even use bikes. The only issue is there is nowhere to rent here so good luck finding some place to stay. Otherwise it’s a perfectly walkable city, and cycleable too if you don’t mind intermittent bike lanes and shit drivers
The reason for the low per Capita rate of ownership is the cripplingly high taxes (to buy) and insurance (to operate).
Compared continental Europe, Ireland is extremely car dependent. Compared to the US it is a pedestrian paradise.
Not really
I mean in the sense there are ussually pathways around all of a town/city – public transport to rural areas or even in general isn’t the best
Dublin is mostly walkable, fully traversable by rail bike and foot
Not at all unless you are in Dublin or a city. Public transport is shit as well.
If your job and accommodation is in the same urban area then most towns are walkable.
Car ownership per capita is a bad measure for this, it doesn’t correlate to walkability, public transport availability or quality, regional differences, urban/rural differences, not to mention impacts of costs associated with cars, demographics etc.
It really depends on where you live here. Even Dublin’s transit system would probably be worse than Boston’s in general, but Dublin has less suburban sprawl, so there aren’t really many suburbs that are completely disconnected from the city’s transit network (though there are certainly some places where transit options would be sparse and inconvenient).
Outside of Dublin, transit is very limited. The other cities have bus services, but they’re often more limited in terms of frequency and schedules than in Dublin. The other cities do benefit from being relatively compact, though; you could generally walk from one end of a city to the other in a couple hours or less.
Outside of the cities and a few of the largest towns, there is very little transit elsewhere. Rural buses linking towns and villages are usually very infrequent (like, we’re talking a few trips a day, and in some cases a few trips a *week*). If you lived in a decent-sized town or very large village that had enough amenities, you could probably get by without driving for a lot of your day to day needs, but if you did need to go somewhere outside of town, it would be a pain in the arse at best and downright impossible at worst without driving.
The other issue would be finding a place to live in the cities themselves; the rental crisis means that it’s extraordinarily difficult to find a rental in the actual cities, and if you do manage to find something and be the lucky one out of the hundreds of desperate applicants to get it, you’ll be paying an extortionate level of rent for what is most likely a very poor standard of accommodation.
Cycling here is possible, but not exactly easy. There’s very little dedicated cycling infrastructure, and much of what does exist isn’t fit for purpose. Cycling on the roads is dangerous both inside and outside the cities. Many people do it, of course, but it’s nothing like the Netherlands where there is infrastructure that’s actually designed and built to support it.
If the car ownership index is on a per capita basis, how can you take into account how many of every 1000 are children too young to drive? Or too old? Does the index factor in how many live in urban v rural environments with access to car alternatives like public transport & cycle paths?
Awareness of population age spread, population density, and infrastructure, across each of those countries, should help you start to understand why per capita data representation is too simplistic a view on a question such as yours that requires a nuanced answer.
Especially if you’re considering moving to one of those countries, don’t rely on that car ownership index. Other than a cursory glance it’s not worth any more of your time.
Not a chance
It is walkable – or more accurately cyclable – but it depends on where you live and what job you do.
If you’re near your work in Dublin cycling is definitely the best way to get around – particularly ebiking.
Public transport is a mixed bag – buses in Dublin are ok, but the Luas and Dart are great. Intercity trains are comfortable but slow.
Some of the smaller towns like Limerick actually have very good bus services.
There are some compromises to not having a car – you’ll probably have to get grocery deliveries etc. There are great pay as you go car rental services in Dublin too that you can use for small things.
Another thing that is a bit tangential to your question but I think is very important is that food quality in Ireland is really works class – and from my experience of the US and Canada much much better
Maybe if you live in Dublin but live anywhere else you’ll need a car
Irish people drive more than any other country in Europe, about 12,500 a year on average. Take a look on DoneDeal (our used car website) and you’ll see cars with biblical mileage.
You can get around Dublin on buses and bikes but I’m not sure you’d want to. Public transport is mediocre at best and non functional at worst and there’s a lack of cycle lanes, Dublin is fairly “hilly” as well which makes cycling a chore in my experience. Dublin also has the joint 10th worst traffic in the world for hours spent in traffic afaik.
I believe the reason there are less cars in Ireland per capita is because they are expensive to run. Road Tax is high, especially in petrols. The high tax on petrol has actually less to people driving diesels around Dublin which gives little children asthma (thanks Green Party).
Depends on the setting. In the suburbs, it is walkable in the sense that yes, nearly every street or road has a footpath (I know in America this isn’t always the case) but but many housing estates built from the 80s onwards typically consist of a lot of cul de sacs with no pedestrian shortcuts, so just getting from A to B in the suburbs can end up taking much longer than necessary. Many of us spent our youths climbing over and jumping off walls just to save ourselves 10 minutes of walking.
I live in Dublin, about 12km from city centre, I have a car, but don’t use it much as I bought an electric bike two years ago.
I’ve just realised I haven’t used the car in about three weeks…… I’d better check the battery ain’t flat.
Not exactly. You may get away with it in certain parts of Dublin but even then, you’d find it difficult to (reliably) get to particular places without headaches. Outside of Dublin, that problem is definitely more acute.
I find Ireland very poorly equipped public transport wise than some of our European neighbours.
Compared to the US, not as car dependent though.
I lived in a suburb of Boston for several years (commuter rail, bus, and T option to the town next to us) & did not own a car. Found the public transport excellent and everywhere had foot travel access. Ireland’s public transport is below par comparatively. If you live in a large town or city it’s walkable, however many suburbs & villages lack footpaths. In my town one of the largest employers has no footpath, no bus route to it. It employs hundreds of general workers & trades people.
Dublin is certainly very walkable. But nowhere else in Ireland is. We walk everywhere but find ourselves every few weekends desperate to rent a GoCar though for various things.
That pic remind me of Delhi.
It’s easier with a car in Ireland. But if you are determined to walk, you can. People still stop for hitchhikers if you get tired.