College Green - the post mortem

markpb

I passed through College Green this morning at 8.35 was well impressed at the difference the bus gate made. Buses were flowing properly, they could pull up to the bus stops properly, pedestrians could cross with ease, taxi drivers were behaving themselves and there were no delivery trucks blocking the road.

I was previously pessimistic about the impact this would have but it seems to have done the trick. College Green is actually a nice place to be now. I guess long term it depends on the level of enforcement from the Gardai. Fitting a few street lights so it doesn't feel like a dark alley at night would be a big help but one thing at a time.

techdiver

I echo the comments of the OP. The busses breezed through today which is very welcome. Suppose the big test is this evening when traffic is often worse.

Riskymove

I needed to drive in today and found it extremely light, not sure if people are simply avoiding today!

I drove right in to d'olier street to have a look...college green basically empty, will be great for buses

my usual 67 can take a long time just to get from college green to westmoreland street! This will make a huge improvement.

Riskymove

techdiver wrote: »

Suppose the big test is this evening when traffic is often worse.

and add in U2 at Croker tonight!!

furtzy

Would work a lot better if Dublin Bus didn't park up and block access to Townsend Street. Its a joke they get away with this

markpb

furtzy wrote: »

Would work a lot better if Dublin Bus didn't park up and block access to Townsend Street. Its a joke they get away with this

??

Do you mean Hawkins st or Marlborough St? I've never seen many buses on Townsend St.

furtzy

markpb wrote: »

??

Do you mean Hawkins st or Marlborough St? I've never seen many buses on Townsend St.

No. They are parked up on the left hand lane on D'Olier street therefore making it very difficult to turn onto Townsend Street as you have to cut in front of buses pulling out. Its an accident waiting to happen

dmeehan

is there much traffic on westmoreland st now as a result of this bus gate?
would it be feasible to put in a traffic island for busstops down the middle of the street as i remember this being chaotic with busses pulling in around other busses trying to pull out etc. (was a long time ago though)

lucernarian

The 3 goes down Townsend St usually, doesn't it? And some of the Balinteer buses, not sure if it was the 48A or one of the 44s.

spacetweek

furtzy wrote: »

No. They are parked up on the left hand lane on D'Olier street therefore making it very difficult to turn onto Townsend Street as you have to cut in front of buses pulling out. Its an accident waiting to happen

Buses have priority on all city centre streets. As a motorist you don't have any particular rights here. You're in their way, not the other way around.

Keep this in mind when you complain about a bus being in your way when it's pulling in to drop off/let on passengers, and otherwise going about its business.

furtzy

spacetweek wrote: »

Buses have priority on all city centre streets. As a motorist you don't have any particular rights here. You're in their way, not the other way around.

Keep this in mind when you complain about a bus being in your way when it's pulling in to drop off/let on passengers, and otherwise going about its business.

They are parked up with the drivers out having a chat. Surely they could pick somewhere else to do this instead of blocking the only lane that cars will be using now on D'Olier street during the bus gate hours. There is going to be a serious smack some morning if today is anything to go by

Riskymove

furtzy wrote: »

They are parked up with the drivers out having a chat. Surely they could pick somewhere else to do this instead of blocking the only lane that cars will be using now on D'Olier street during the bus gate hours. There is going to be a serious smack some morning if today is anything to go by

er..they are parked.....so use the next lane and then move into left lane at top of row of parked buses?

I went through this morning with no issues

furtzy

Riskymove wrote: »

er..they are parked.....so use the next lane and then move into left lane at top of row of parked buses?

I went through this morning with no issues

That wouldn't be a problem if they stayed parked and didn't pull out cutting across people turning down Townsend Street from the next lane,. If they just parked up on the now restricted area it would cure the problem leaving the left hand lane on D'Olier street for all the cars now forced down Townsend street

dereko1969

furtzy wrote: »

That wouldn't be a problem if they stayed parked and didn't pull out cutting across people turning down Townsend Street from the next lane,. If they just parked up on the now restricted area it would cure the problem leaving the left hand lane on D'Olier street for all the cars now forced down Townsend street

yep park in the restricted area, that'll really help the buses move through quickly and safely, great suggestion!

furtzy

dereko1969 wrote: »

yep park in the restricted area, that'll really help the buses move through quickly and safely, great suggestion!

As opposed to parking on D'Olier street....that really helps the traffic. Its not a restricted area for buses is it????????

bazzer

furtzy wrote: »

Would work a lot better if Dublin Bus didn't park up and block access to Townsend Street. Its a joke they get away with this

The only bus I've ever seen parked on D'Olier Street is the Vodafone staff shuttle - and that's nothing to do with Dublin Bus. Except for a couple of evening services which start from there, DB do not park buses on that street.

Riskymove

furtzy wrote: »

As opposed to parking on D'Olier street....that really helps the traffic. Its not a restricted area for buses is it????????

there are bus stops the length of d'olier including the first pick-up points for a few...I presume that's why they are there..

...other buses pull in to pick-up/drop-off and then have to pull out again!!

I don't see the issue

Cookie_Monster

There are a few rush hours busses as far as i can remember that park on D'olier St, namely those additional 46a/c/e/145/"mystery 3 from bray" that only run to Westmoreland St and swing around to D'olier to await a start there as another service.

KC61

furtzy wrote: »

As opposed to parking on D'Olier street....that really helps the traffic. Its not a restricted area for buses is it????????

There are no termini in D'Olier Street only regular bus stops. If there are to be no bus stops on that street where do you suggest that they relocate to, especially since Dublin Bus have already lost space on Lower O'Connell Street?

There are a small number of Stillorgan QBC services that terminate there and are then at the inspector's call, but everything else just stops to set down/pick up.

With the high volume of routes stopping there (all the Stillorgan and Lucan QBC routes serve it in addition to many cross-city routes) there are bound to be very large numbers of buses stopped to set down/pick up in the morning and evening rush hours.

markpb

KC61 wrote: »

There are no termini in D'Olier Street only regular bus stops.

Perhaps he means when inspectors regulate the 46A route by holding buses there and blocking other buses from getting to the bus stops. Likewise the way they hold the 123 on O'Connell St and reduce one of the busiest streets in the country to a single lane and block all the other buses trying to get off the bridge. I guess while I'm on a rant, I could point out that DB also use Hawkins St to park buses and actually block the street from being used by active buses like the 27X. They really are their own worst enemy sometimes.

KC61 wrote: »

With the high volume of routes stopping there (all the Stillorgan and Lucan QBC routes serve it in addition to many cross-city routes) there are bound to be very large numbers of buses stopped to set down/pick up in the morning and evening rush hours.

The northside termini should be moved to Summerhill or Broadstone and the southside termini be moved to Ringend. All are easily accessible from the city centre and should be used instead of on-street stops for layovers.

Dublin Bus' refusal to use middle doors, articulated buses with *at least* three sets of doors and off bus ticket sales all cause huge delays at bus stops, affecting their own service.

Carawaystick

33n and 41n have their terminus on D'Olier St. And others but they don't go my way.

faceman

There should be no bus terminus in the city centre whatsoever. It makes no sense.

You cant judge the affair a success yet as the builders and schools are on holidays. Traffic is light at the mo anyway.

First of all you need to define success first.

If success is that buses journeys are improved but at a cost of increasing journey times for other road users as well as inhibiting businesses that require people to be on the road (such as delivery people, couriers etc), then that IMO is a failure.

KC61

Carawaystick wrote: »

33n and 41n have their terminus on D'Olier St. And others but they don't go my way.

I was referring to normal daytime bus routes.

KC61

markpb wrote: »

Perhaps he means when inspectors regulate the 46A route by holding buses there and blocking other buses from getting to the bus stops. Likewise the way they hold the 123 on O'Connell St and reduce one of the busiest streets in the country to a single lane and block all the other buses trying to get off the bridge. I guess while I'm on a rant, I could point out that DB also use Hawkins St to park buses and actually block the street from being used by active buses like the 27X. They really are their own worst enemy sometimes.

The northside termini should be moved to Summerhill or Broadstone and the southside termini be moved to Ringend. All are easily accessible from the city centre and should be used instead of on-street stops for layovers.

Dublin Bus' refusal to use middle doors, articulated buses with *at least* three sets of doors and off bus ticket sales all cause huge delays at bus stops, affecting their own service.

With a bit of luck the need for regulation will diminish as the results of the bus gate take off.

To be fair to Dublin Bus they have lost Middle Abbey Street, Lower Abbey Street (south side), Burgh Quay, Wellington Quay and College Street as bus termini.

That is a hell of a lot of space.

If you route everything to Broadstone/Ringsend/Summerhill then you end up with far too many vehicles operating on the approach roads to those locations. There is still a need for some termini in the city centre, but I would think that certainly some of the buses terminating at Parnell Square could go onto Broadstone.

Cookie_Monster

Parnell Sq could reasonably easily be redesigned to allow for a proper bus terminal to be put in place.

One with islands something like this: L is a normal traffic lane

|L|\|L|
|L|\|L|
|L|\|L|
|L|\|L|
|L|\|L|

Similar could be done on Merrion Sq where vast amounts of space are wasted at tthe moment. But that would spoil Brian's view of the park :P

meanmachine3

markpb wrote: »

Likewise the way they hold the 123 on O'Connell St and reduce one of the busiest streets in the country to a single lane and block all the other buses trying to get off the bridge. I guess while I'm on a rant, I could point out that DB also use Hawkins St to park buses and actually block the street from being used by active buses like the 27X. They really are their own worst enemy sometimes.

firstly the 123 issue is/was being dealt with ,it was pointed out to management that what was being done was illgeal. but then most of the stuff that goes on in o'connell street is illegal anyway.
123 issue, tour buses ,taxi's that park half on the path and half on the outside lane by the way ,this has more of a knock on affect than anything else illegal in o'connel street, that being traffic backed up as far as blessington street then as soon as you get past these taxi's it's plain sailing all the way down o'connell street. so in essence one car blocks up the whole ****ing place.( no word about this being mentioned.)
the 27X should not be using hawkins street in the first place as they would be going off route.
look it if the rules of the road had been enforced from day one we wouldn't be in this mess and most likey wouldn't need the bus corridor. entrance to pearse street garda stn: been a bus lane there for many years but it has never been enforced? NO
fleet street: buses and access only. wheres the enforcement? NON EXISTANT
left hand turn from westmoreland street onto aston quay: wheres the enforcement? NON EXISTANT
same junction, single lane being made into two, three lanes: wheres the enforcement? NON EXISTANT
F.F.S. i have just mentioned a number of areas basically right beside each other and the law has never been enforced here.

Riskymove

KC61 wrote: »

There are no termini in D'Olier Street only regular bus stops.

but some bus routes start from there, hence they may be parked there before starting

gurramok

Just got back from Amiens st southbound(passing thru at about 5:40pm), it was blocked all the way up to the Five Lamps and passed it, first time in many months. I couldn't pinpoint why, no obvious reason.
Last time this happened was when one of the quays was blocked due to a tragic accident, a once off.

I just hope firstly its not due to the bus gate and secondly its not a sign of things to come regularly!

gurramok

Riskymove wrote: »

but some bus routes start from there, hence they may be parked there before starting

I concur with furtzy, some buses do rest there for long periods for whatever reason, day or night. Its a guessing game as to whether buses are going to pull out or not as they do not have their hazards on and sometimes never indicate.

The result is that 2 lanes are taken up for traffic turning left onto Dolier st which is ridiculous. (might be better now that the bus gate prevents the other lanes been used by cars!)

J_Dublin15

O'Connell Street Nortbound was pretty heavy half 5 tonight, possibly the worst I've seen it to be honest, Soutbound it was pretty good however.

The issue at D'Olier street often is a 46A goes from Mountjoy Square with pax on, the inspector there gets on and hold the bus from anywhere between 5-10 minutes on occasions.

KC61

Riskymove wrote: »

but some bus routes start from there, hence they may be parked there before starting

No daytime bus routes start in D'Olier Street, only Nitelinks.