Luas line to UCD - Could it happen?

thisisadamh · 24-10-2012 12:44pm #1

This is just pure speculation, doubt it will ever happen. But do you think UCD could get a connection to the green line? The dart and the green line are both a 25 walk from the campus

It could spur off at Stillorgan. Up the N11 past the UCD main entrance though Donnybrook and reconnect at Ranelagh or Charlemont?

Eponymous · 24-10-2012 1:02pm

Why? The campus is served by a huge number of bus routes already, including the 47 which can take you from Sandyford & Stillorgan Luas stops to UCD (and also from Sydney Parade Dart to UCD). The work involved would be prohibitively expensive too.

One of the main drivers behind the green line was that it followed the old Harcourt St rail line.

markpb · 24-10-2012 1:36pm

I'd like to see it happening. A spur from Milltown could get most of the way to UCD along the river so it should be reasonably quick and segregated.

I think Luas could do quite well from a spur to UCD and it would also serve the thousands of people working in business parks along Clonskeagh road (like Paddy Power, Western Union, AIB, etc) whose only public transport now is the twice an hour 11.

The 47 runs an hour so no-one in their right mind is going to rely on it to connect to the Luas.

Tarabuses · 24-10-2012 1:51pm

Isn't this what the Blue Line bus rapid transit project is about?

http://www.thejournal.ie/new-rapid-transit-bus-for-south-dublin-proposed-32957-Oct2010/

Solair · 24-10-2012 4:21pm

While it would be nice in theory, I think you have to look at transport funding priorities and how little money is available.

That area of Dublin is extremely well served by the DART along the coast, exceptionally good bus routes like the 46A and a number of others and the Luas skirts through the area too.

What would make more sense would be integrated ticketing and a frequent bus linking the Dart, Luas and UCD.

Surely some route could be setup that would link say Sandymount Station with Vincents Hospital, UCD and then onwards to say Miltown or whatever. Your ticket should just be a single journey from anywhere on the Luas or Dart to UCD.

Irish public transport in general in Dublin, Cork and elsewhere suffers from being almost totally radial, even though our cities are actually heavily populated in the suburban areas and facilities like universities, business campuses, shopping centres etc are often also not in the centre.

There are other areas of Dublin that need more urgent attention.

On the southside : the whole area out towards Rathfarnham, Ballyboden and areas of Firhouse for example would be more of a priority for a new Luas line.

Blanchardstown + West Dublin desperately needs better public transport.

The Northside - would also be far more of a priority in terms of a new Luas link. Something feeding into DCU, Ballymun, Dublin Airport and Swords would seem like a much higher priority than yet another transit line in D2/4/6/Stillorgan/Dun L.

Priority at the moment should be getting more 'bang for buck' out of the existing infrastructure by adding bus feeders, shuttles, links to get people into the high-capacity segregated rail networks, trams and QBCs to avoid traffic jams.

The ticketing also has to be modernised. I cannot understand why Dublin's a special case and why European style 'through-ticketing' isn't implemented. Most cities let you continue on a full journey across multiple modes without having to pay umpteen times. From what I can see all Leap does is make paying easier, but you still have a fractured journey on the ticket made up of multiple charges. It's just a glorified debit card.

Integrated ticketing is a lot more than just providing people with a single card that they can pay with. That's just creating a virtual purse

Niles · 24-10-2012 8:31pm

Can't imagine it would be feasible, space and land being at a premium along the N11 corridor. Plus as pointed out UCD is already adequately served by a plethora of Dublin Bus services.

xper · 25-10-2012 11:43pm

Niles wrote: »

Can't imagine it would be feasible, space and land being at a premium along the N11 corridor. Plus as pointed out UCD is already adequately served by a plethora of Dublin Bus services.

If you wanted to run a tram from the Green Line to the DART via UCD then the easiest route is from the Kilmacud LUAS stop to Booterstown via the eastern bypass land reservation. Anywhere else is compulsory purchase order hell. The problem with this short route alone is that, apart from UCD, its a relatively low density catchment area. I don't think for a second that the traffic generated would justify the expense of a tramline, even with the space available along most of the route.

The Blue Line BRT proposal, which would also use the bypass reservation between Kilmacud and UCD and hit more traffic generators like RTE and St Vincents, was far more feasible and it didn't seem to get much further than a website (now gone) and a brochure.

There was also a plan of some sort knocking around at the height of the boom to have a LUAS line from the city centre via Ballsbridge up to UCD. I think this was envisaged as either an extension of the planned Luas line from Lucan to College Green or of the Red line southwards over the Liffey. I think the whole idea, though it had DCC's stamp on it, was heavily influenced by the developers who were buying up hotels and other sites in Ballsbridge. And we all know where that went.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, DLR Co Co are about to develop a bike route from Windy Arbour LUAS stop to Booterstown DART via the UCD Belfield campus. Its at public consultation stage. Note that the plans only detail works on the public roads sections, there appears to be nothing happening in Belfield itself which, remarkably for the number of cyclists there, has few cycling lanes or tracks. Its all narrow roads and areas shared with (lots of) pedestrians.

Anyway, if you want to use the LUAS to get to UCD, get a foldable bike!

Luas line to UCD - Could it happen?

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