[Article] Bus lanes to stay open until 8pm for rush-hour stretch

markpb

Operational hours for bus lanes could be extended by an hour as Dublin's peak time traffic lasts longer into the evening.

And the Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs) will also be in force on Sundays to cope with "horrendous" weekend congestion if the new proposals are adopted.

The suggested changes come before Dublin City Council's influential Transportation and Traffic Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) this week.

A motion tabled by Labour's Andrew Montague states: "That the manager extend the hours of operation of bus lanes to 8 pm on those lanes that cease at 7pm and to extend the days of operation to include Sundays on those bus lanes that don't operate on a Sunday."

linky

I meant to post this last week but forgot. It was discussed last Thursday but the council said they didn't have enough information on traffic levels at 8pm to sanction it right now. They've agreed to start a study and discuss it later. Shockingly enough, several councillors voted against any such plan.

steve-o

I'm not sure that this would be effective. Many people postpone car journeys to 7pm until after the bus lanes finish, because that's when traffic usually clears (simply because car capacity doubles). Prolonging the car congestion will mean that there's no incentive to postpone a car journey until after the rush, causing more traffic at the peak (yes, some journeys require a car!)

If there are some specific post-7pm congestion areas, then the hours should be extended there, but I think a blanket change is unwarranted.

AlekSmart

WHAT !!!!....:eek: :eek:.

"They Don`t have enough Information on Traffic levels at 8pm to sanction it right now"

Am I missing something here..... :mad: ?

Do the City Council Cameras switch off at 1700 hrs ?
Do the Traffic Control Room staff rush home for their tea of an evening ?

Exactly who in DCC is`nt aware of the après 2000 hrs situation in Àn Làr...?
What Information EXACTLY do they require....Is the complete absense of public lighting along Nassau St preventing the extensive CCTV system from operating ?

For crying out loud this is akin to serial imbicility on a massive scale...how dare ANY member of DCC publicly state at this point in the 21St Century that they dont have ENOUGH information on Traffic after 2000 hrs...it`s tacit admission of their lack of ANY administrative acumen and reason enough for a Minister of the Environment to Abolish the entire creaking ediface and replace them with Senator David Norris,who at least is passionate about HIS city and what goes on within it !!!

Jesu Cristo..but this jinnetry puts all this Transport 21 claptrap into stark perspective....€34 Billion will NEVER cover the cost of making up for this kind of vacuum at the Top.

God Save Ireland

monument

steve-o wrote: »

(yes, some journeys require a car!)

Some do. But the bulk of car journeys are likely to be unnecessary with viable other means (bus, tram, train, walking, cycling etc).

Victor

steve-o wrote: »

simply because car capacity doubles

This is wrong. Many pinch points are single lane, so won't be changed anyway.

AlekSmart, I have the lighting department on notice about Nassau St and College Green.

steve-o

Victor wrote: »

This is wrong. Many pinch points are single lane, so won't be changed anyway.

While some roads have pinch points, many to not and on those roads the congestion usually evaporates soon after 7pm when the bus lanes finish. Where there are pinch points, the proposal makes sense.

KC61

Steve-o I think that you're missing the point here.

The whole focus of government policy is to get people to use public transport rather than their cars. While some people do need their car, I do not in any way believe that the majority of people driving to/from the city are in this group.

Dublin Bus are finding that traffic congestion is disrupting their schedules later into the evening. The idea that the evening rush finishes at 7pm is a nonsense, as most QBC routes are suffering from congestion right up to 8pm. I certainly haven't noticed the traffic evaporating at 7pm. This would be a very welcome move, as it would certainly deliver improved journey times for buses, thereby improving fleet and driver utilisation.

The bottom line is that government policy is to encourage people to use public transport full stop, and not just at peak time. Hence we're seeing the development of a new network of direct bus routes to/from the city along QBC routes that are high frequency and do not deviate from the QBC. While this might inconvenience yourself, it might just persuade others to leave their car behind.

Hopefully the City Council and their two neighbours will see the strong merits of such a proposal.

Carawaystick

Alek, I'd say the sorry truth is yes to most of your questions....

maybe the world class traffic system is on a work to rule and clocks out at 1900 on the dot

AlekSmart

Oddly enough and very apposite to the City Managers apparent self-belief it`s worth moting developments along the Rock Road QBC,oft touted as a feather in the cap of the City Council`s Quality Bus Network Office.

One wonders were the City Managers words ringing in the ears of whatever functionary took the decision to SUSPEND a very strategic section of Bus Lane along Pearse St adjacent to the Naughten Institute TCD development.

Now in addition to a modification in the Clearway/Buslane operation hours from Merrion Square inwards we see our Public Transport focused Local Authority taking a decision to impose a seriously negative and restrictive new delay on those Tallaght and West Dublin bound Bus routes the same council had effectively run-out-of-town in recent months.

One of the factors which facilitated the relocation of a large number of Bus Routes to the Ringsend Road area was the completition of the Pearse St stretch of QBC.

This deal has now been renaged on in a massive way by DCC with presumably the full approval of Mr (Best Traffic Management in the World) Phillips.

Even odder is how the Pearse St Bus Lane need not be suspended at all as there exists a full spare lane on the opposite side currently reserved for approximately a dozen Pay N Display private car parking spaces.

Suspending these spaces and simply realigning the 2 General Traffic + 1 QBC lane would have maintained the status-quo and eliminated any disruption consequent upon the civil works at this location.

Quite why DCC would embark upon such a crusade against Public Transport users is a very interesting issue in itself,ignorance,insensitivity,incompetence...pick any one from three I suppose ?
Have a Peep......

John R

AlekSmart wrote: »

Quite why DCC would embark upon such a crusade against Public Transport users is a very interesting issue in itself,ignorance,insensitivity,incompetence...pick any one from three I suppose ?
Have a Peep......

Only one? How about all three and add in a big dollop of greed while we're at it.

Presumably this is the same thinking behind their refusal to remove the dozen nose to kerb spaces from Stephen's Green North that make the heavily used bus stop there impossible to access properly and dangerous to rejoin the traffic flow from.

For these people to claim that anything within their remit is done to "World Class" standards is a joke. They are a disgrace, plain and simple.

BostonB

monument wrote: »

Some do. But the bulk of car journeys are likely to be unnecessary with viable other means (bus, tram, train, walking, cycling etc).

I think that would depend on your definition of viable.

I would say if most people have a better alternative to the car they would take it. Very few would choose sitting in a car in gridlock.

Bus lanes make very little difference to me, there's very few on my route across Dublin City anyway.

_Kaiser_

BostonB wrote: »

I think that would depend on your definition of viable.

I would say if most people have a better alternative to the car they would take it. Very few would choose sitting in a car in gridlock.

Bus lanes make very little difference to me, there's very few on my route across Dublin City anyway.

+1

As I've stated here before, we are far from the public trasport Utopia that some posters think we live in - especially outside Dublin (yes places outside Dublin have a rush-hour too! :rolleyes:)

Some people may think a 20-30 minute walk in variable (very variable lately) weather conditions to be "viable" - I wouldn't be one of those people unfortunately!

BostonB

20-30 minute walk is fine if you're fit and uninjured. Not everyone is in that position.

godtabh

Victor wrote: »

This is wrong. Many pinch points are single lane, so won't be changed anyway.

Its not as simple as that either.

Capacity is affected by man things such as

• speed
• lane width
• verge construction
• sight distances
• forward visability

If conditions were right (or wrong) a single wide lane could have more capacity to a narrow two lane carriage way (extreme but possible)

BostonB

Lets plan for that rare possibility then...