What is Dublin missing??

Boom Boom

I'm throwing the floor open here to other boardsies to see, after the celtic tiger the big development era. We have a tram system, a convention centre etc. but is there anything that they missed?

What business, enterprise or venue would you like to see on our streets?

you may have seen it on your travels in another city or place.

(now giving that this is AH, please do not answer brothels, hash cafes and other illegal activities)

I would like to see the likes of a Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston. I think that place was deadly.

aidan_walsh

Its own forum.

GLaDOS

Boom Boom wrote: »

We have a tram system

For half of the city

gandhi123

A decent nightclub -not full of kids or scumbags

A clean safe public transport system

Begger free streets..

Come to think of it, there's a lot...... but still better then livin' in the BOG!!!!!

TheZohanS

aidan_walsh wrote: »

Its own forum.

I found one!

Moved to Dublin Forum.

Michellenman

A thread in AH.... soon

Wishbone Ash

Ah lads, this has been done to death in the Dublin Forum!!

Throw it back to the peasants in AH!

ollaetta

gandhi123 wrote: »

A clean safe public transport system

A Luas network covering most areas would be fantastic. Should have had it years ago but it just isn't going to happen now or probably ever. Pity.

a5y

24 hour public transport
Nightlife that doesn't involve alcohol
Safe routes to cycle
Sexy uniforms for the Gardaí. (Yes I'm serious.)

Piriz

gandhi123 wrote: »

A decent nightclub -not full of kids or scumbags

A clean safe public transport system

Begger free streets..

Come to thin of it, there's a lot but still better then the fudging BOG!!!!!

you serious?

there is so many nightclubs in town which are not full of scumbags or kids...im surprised you can't find one or many you like...
i'll also add i don't find there are many scumbags in clubs in town in general.....in fact i always find town to be trouble free..think you might be too uptight or sensitive around common folk or something..

anyway, i like Dublin but think sunshine is whats missing most.
im looking forward to the city getting its Dublin Eye...c'mon Mr. Crosbie get it sorted..
Also disgusted the U2 tower is not going ahead (was a very impressive building/design).
Dublin needs jobs too!!
And lastly Dublin needs a 20-40% reduction in alcohol prices in the bars and clubs! the boom is over lads chill out on the €6 pints ffs

oh one more...infrastructure to support electric cars!

tfak85

a5y wrote: »

24 hour public transport
Nightlife that doesn't involve alcohol

i totally agree with these but i think that that is a culture shift that is beginning to happen - the nightlife that is, not the transport....

i would like to see a great big photo gallery here, like the national portrait gallery in london... or a really big modern art space like the turbine hall in the tate modern...

dimejinky99

We need a consistent style and sense of architecture in balance with whats there already. Whats the point in sticking preservation orders on everyhting but then allowing incongruous glass and steel ugliness to sprout up right beside it?? makes no sense whatsoever. and a new government. badly.

Victor

http://www.clker.com/cliparts/a/a/f/7/1197090939755164268carlitos_Mr._Sun.svg.med.png

mikemac

tfak85 wrote: »

i would like to see a great big photo gallery here, like the national portrait gallery in london... or a really big modern art space like the turbine hall in the tate modern...

One thing Dublin does not lack is galleries.
There are almost 50 of them.

I think it's a bit unfair to compare London to Dublin

How Strange

A food market selling meat, fish, fruit, vegetables like the English market in Cork or most European countries have had for centuries.
AND it shouldn't be a psuedo posh market with rip off prices. It has to be affordable for everyone. Maybe something organised around Moore St seeing as we have fuit, veg and sometimes fish there.

tfak85

mikemac wrote: »

One thing Dublin does not lack is galleries.
There are almost 50 of them.

I think it's a bit unfair to compare London to Dublin

just my opinion....

i would like to see some more photo exhibits although the recent david la chapelle and the current picturing new york are both great...

electrogrimey

gandhi123 wrote: »

A decent nightclub -not full of kids or scumbags

A clean safe public transport system

Begger free streets..

Come to think of it, there's a lot...... but still better then livin' in the BOG!!!!!

Whole post seems quite working class-phobic to me. We have plenty of good clubs - clubs are the same everywhere in the world. Just the ones in London/Berlin are bigger, so they have more "kids and scumbags".

a5y wrote: »

24 hour public transport
Safe routes to cycle

Definitely both of these.

a5y wrote: »

Nightlife that doesn't involve alcohol

National Concert Hall? Project Arts Centre? No?

Piriz wrote: »

Also disgusted the U2 tower is not going ahead

In fairness, they were trying to destroy a load of listed buildings.

Piriz wrote: »

And lastly Dublin needs a 20-40% reduction in alcohol prices in the bars and clubs! the boom is over lads chill out on the €6 pints ffs

Most clubs have €3.50 or lower pints on a lot of nights of the week, just don't give the expensive places your custom.

I don't really know how it could be achieved, but the one thing that more or less every city has that Dublin hasn't got is a main square. The focal point of nearly every city is the main square, but Dublin hasn't really got a focal point.

tfak85

i would like to see some west end shows coming to the new theatre, i think it's something we've missed out on for a while as we have no real medium sized venue.....until now!

lightening

electrogrimey wrote: »

The focal point of nearly every city is the main square, but Dublin hasn't really got a focal point.

That's really interesting, can you give us an example?

Are you talking about a huge square, stalls, markets, good food, art, books, music, permanent overhead canopies, coffee area, beer house? If so, it sounds good.

electrogrimey

lightening wrote: »

That's really interesting, can you give us an example?

Are you talking about a huge square, stalls, markets, good food, art, books, music, permanent overhead canopies, coffee area, beer house? If so, it sounds good.

If this was AH I'd be offended by the sarcasm... but since this is Dublin I don't know whether you're being sincere or not...but:

Prague: Old Town Square
London: Trafalgar Square
Venice: St. Mark's Square
Krakow: Main Market Square
Berlin: Alexanderplatz

etc.

jdivision

electrogrimey wrote: »

In fairness, they were trying to destroy a load of listed buildings.

That was the Clarence, not the U2 tower

artanevilla

A huge roller coaster!

LaLucy

Dublin needs a good wash! The place is absolutely filthy. Honestly when I spend a day in Dublin I feel so dirty after it. Needs a big hose taken to the streets and buildings. Or just loads of people scrub the place for a week and re-paint as many buildings as possible. It's just grey in Dublin!

Brian CivilEng

How Strange wrote: »

A food market selling meat, fish, fruit, vegetables like the English market in Cork or most European countries have had for centuries.
AND it shouldn't be a psuedo posh market with rip off prices. It has to be affordable for everyone. Maybe something organised around Moore St seeing as we have fuit, veg and sometimes fish there.

The old fruit market on St. Michans Street would be perfect for this.

Crania

An efficient, easy to use and understand, clean, fast and cheap Underground network or at least trams that go to most places. More joined up public transport too. And 24 hours. The public transport system in Dublin really is quite shoddy, absolute nightmare if you want to interchange and use different modes of transport.

Better Cycle lanes and routes.

Make better use of Dublin Bay, e.g. places like Poolbeg Lighthouse and Bull Island should be better promoted. The Sandycove to Sutton (S2S) is a great idea and I would love to see it come to fruition.

More urban parks, perfect example would be the huge plots of land bought in the Celtic Tiger that have long since lost their value and won't be built on for a long time and they will soon be brought into the hands of Nama, e.g. between Spencer Dock and the Point, Irish Glass Bottle site, the old Vetinary College site that now serves as a part-time car park, etc.

More pedestrian-friendly traffic lights. It can be very hard to cross the raods and streets around the city as a pedestrian, lights change very quickly and cars are given preference.

Congestion Charge, obvious place is within the two canals. We simply have to discourage people from driving into work on their own in the car.

More high-rise development. We gotta build up rather than forcing people to move to Navan and Gorey. Missed opportunity in the Docklands, we should have built 20+ stories along the Docklands rather than the 6-8 we have.

More family-friendly apartments. The city is littered with small 1 and 2 bedroom apartments and a few 3 beds. There is not enough room for a family with kids especially storage wise. We should encouage people to live in the city centre, or at least give them the option to do so anyway.

Cheaper prices. While the market is correcting itself here anyway, the city is still too darn expensive.

Stop allowing taxis use the bus lanes. Large amounts of single vehicle usually only carrying one person are clogging up our bus lanes and simply should not be allowed use them. Only in Ireland would taxis be considered public transport.

Move Dublin Port up-stream to somewhere like Balbriggan. No need for it to be in the city centre, only encouraging heavy vehicles and it's quite an eye-sore. Could be a great location for a new high-rise sustainable urban village in the city centre. Would render the Port Tunnel quite pointless though.

Regenerate beautiful Georgian areas of the city such as Mountjoy Square. It really is so architectually beautiful up around there but the area has been neglected very badly.

Improve O'Connell Street, one of our truly magnificent thouroughfares. While I know efforts have been made and they have improved the street such as the new paving and trees but serious improvements still need to be done especially in regard to the amount of vacant and delipidated buildings and the large amount of fast food restaurants.

Remove the greatest eye-sore in the city, the Railway Loop Line, and put it underground instead.

Remove one lane of traffic from both the North and South Quays, thereby continuing the brilliant walkway/cyclepath along the quays in the Docklands. While I know it would seriosuly worsen traffic at an already very busy area, I think we've got to stop putting cars first and start thinking about the people of this city and making the city the best we can and that includes opening up one of our most beautiful amenities, the Liffey, and having a walkway with trees and cyclepaths the whole way along for people to enjoy.

Make the bus corridor permanent, 24-7.

Quite a wish-list of items I think...!

Oh yeah, and better weather, year-long sunshine would be really great! I think there's actually more chance of getting year-round sunshine in Dublin than most of the things I suggested in this post!

phasers

I think the number one thing that needs to be fixed is Dublin's public transport system. Dublin Bus is a joke and the luas only serves half the city. No buses after 11.30 pm? What kind of large city has no buses after 11.30 pm?

RandolphEsq

Crania wrote: »

A
More high-rise development. We gotta build up rather than forcing people to move to Navan and Gorey. Missed opportunity in the Docklands, we should have built 20+ stories along the Docklands rather than the 6-8 we have.

More family-friendly apartments. The city is littered with small 1 and 2 bedroom apartments and a few 3 beds. There is not enough room for a family with kids especially storage wise. We should encouage people to live in the city centre, or at least give them the option to do so anyway.

+1
Both of these should go hand in hand. People should not be so desperate to own a house no matter how far from the city it is when apartments do a far better job as they are actually in the city, and are far cheaper.

grundie

Dublin needs to make better use of its investments. E.G. The board walk should be developed further or at least maintained better and kept free of crime. Ditto, the new paving on O'Connell street and the plans for kiosks.

It also needs one world class 'thing', that isn't Irish themed. For example Bilbao has the Guggenheim and Rotherham has Magma. The 'thing' should be a major centre dedicated to education and research in to its subject matter. I think some kind of new technology centre would be ideal.

Dublin needs to pick one method of fast urban transit and stick to it. We either go all DART, all Luas or all Metro. If we mix and match systems we will be paying for it for many decades to come.

We need a better telecoms infrastructure, particularly for broadband, but that's more of a national issue.

Dublin also needs to spread out development in the city centre. There shouldn't be so many derelict and abandoned buildings within the Luas central zone.

And lastly, Dublin needs a second airport that caters to UK and European traffic to take the strain off the current airport.

mailforkev

Dublin needs:

An awful lot less skangers;
Decent taxi service (ie. certain size of car, less than 5 yrs old etc.);
An Apple Store.

panda100

A modern,nice public swimming pool in the city centre with sauna, steamroom and jacuzzi. All the inner city swimmming pools are just disgusting. I say they havent been renovated since the 70's.

electrogrimey

I think some integrated method of payment that incorporates Dublin Bus, the Dart, the Luas and the Commuter trains is a must, and there's no reason they can't have one right now. The only way you can save money with those rambler passes if you ONLY get the bus, OR the luas etc, whereas I could save a bundle with a pass that covers all 4.

Crania

electrogrimey wrote: »

I think some integrated method of payment that incorporates Dublin Bus, the Dart, the Luas and the Commuter trains is a must, and there's no reason they can't have one right now. The only way you can save money with those rambler passes if you ONLY get the bus, OR the luas etc, whereas I could save a bundle with a pass that covers all 4.

+1
Integrated Ticketing is badly needed, makes interchanging even harder in Dublin. We really need a system similar to the Oyster Card in London and the Octopus Card in Hong Kong where you top up your card and you can use the card on most forms of public transport, that would be really great in Dublin, none of this stupid looking for change all the time and delayed buses waiting for grannies to count their change.

humberklog

panda100 wrote: »

A modern,nice public swimming pool in the city centre with sauna, steamroom and jacuzzi. All the inner city swimmming pools are just disgusting. I say they havent been renovated since the 70's.

Y'know I thought that too until I visited the Markevich on Tara St. and was really surprised. Clean, simple and inexpensive. You can stay as long as you like for about 7snoots. The place is well run, hygenic and has a pay as you go gym too. I was expecting the worst and was really surprised. Clientele and staff are all bang on. It's free in on Monday for the unemployed too.

Chucky the tree

phasers wrote: »

I think the number one thing that needs to be fixed is Dublin's public transport system. Dublin Bus is a joke and the luas only serves half the city. No buses after 11.30 pm? What kind of large city has no buses after 11.30 pm?

What city with a 4million population does? Anytime during the week I used to get a nitelink it was empty, having a 24hr public transport system would just be pissing money down the toilet in a time when we can't afford to do that.

hem

Bus drivers that can read time would be great for starters. And timetables that tell you when a bus is going to arrive at a stop- not depart from some unknown terminus point. And a Bus Regulator that you can take complaints to and have them followed up.

It fact, just get rid of Dublin Bus and put all the routes up for auction to private companies.

Chucky the tree

Mr.S wrote: »

Mabye not 24hours, but a reduced serve throughout the night would be nice, like every 30mins or so.

It still wouldn't make any money though. Even the last 11:30 buses are usually fairly empty.

bobzee

Like one previous poster said Dublin really needs a central focal point. O'Connell street looks really nice now, but its never really going to be Dublins focal point again.

I think if College Green was pedestrianised we would have a fantastic city square...obviously get rid of the traffic islands there. The buildings around there look great, and it is really the heart of the city. (Bill Clinton used this location for his Dublin address when he visited)

A previous poster mentioned fresh food markets, the Temple Bar market is really good, but we could also use the new College Green Square for markets too. I know it would cause serious traffic problems, but I hope they could be dealt with somehow.

other items:
real time bus info...and integrating ticketing. As far as am I aware these things have been in the pipeline for years but it seems really difficult to get new practices implemented in Dublin Bus..have no idea why

More parks...the new grand canal plaza and spencer dock areas of the docklands have received a lot of plaudits ..however they really lack green areas for people to meet in

Chucky the tree

hem wrote: »

Bus drivers that can read time would be great for starters. And timetables that tell you when a bus is going to arrive at a stop- not depart from some unknown terminus point. And a Bus Regulator that you can take complaints to and have them followed up.

It fact, just get rid of Dublin Bus and put all the routes up for auction to private companies.

so we can have no bus service on the majority of routes?

hem

Chucky the tree wrote: »

so we can have no bus service on the majority of routes?

So no difference from now then.

adamski8

Chucky the tree wrote: »

It still wouldn't make any money though. Even the last 11:30 buses are usually fairly empty.

why does it have to make money? it is very annoying buses finish so late, something like going to see a film in the city in the evening and you then have to rush to your stop and count yourself lucky if you manage to catch the last bus is ridiculus

Chucky the tree

hem wrote: »

So no difference from now then.

what route has no bus service? stop making bull**** up.

adamski8 wrote: »

why does it have to make money? it is very annoying buses finish so late, something like going to see a film in the city in the evening and you then have to rush to your stop and count yourself lucky if you manage to catch the last bus is ridiculus

Lol, what private company is going to set up a bus service that won't make money? Go to the cinema earlier. What ridiculous is the government funding a non essential unprofitable bus service in the middle of a recession.

electrogrimey

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Lol, what private company is going to set up a bus service that won't make money? Go to the cinema earlier. What ridiculous is the government funding a non essential unprofitable bus service in the middle of a recession.

Since when is public transport non-essential? In most people's opinions it's one of the most essential services provided by the state.

sock puppet

hem wrote: »

Bus drivers that can read time would be great for starters. And timetables that tell you when a bus is going to arrive at a stop- not depart from some unknown terminus point. And a Bus Regulator that you can take complaints to and have them followed up.

It fact, just get rid of Dublin Bus and put all the routes up for auction to private companies.

That wouldn't work at all. What if there's heavy traffic? Traffic in July for example is usually lighter than in December. Do Dublin Bus publish a new timetable (that still wouldn't be remotely accurate) every few weeks?

Also I live by a terminus so I feel I'm qualified to comment on timekeeping. Buses on my route leave bang on time. The only time where a bus would leave late is if it arrives at the terminus late. Of course there are also buses that just never show up too. The company must surely know which buses have broken down etc. I'd like to see some sort of text service you can subscribe to, where they'll inform you which buses aren't going to run.

Cadiz

Chucky the tree wrote: »

What city with a 4million population does? Anytime during the week I used to get a nitelink it was empty, having a 24hr public transport system would just be pissing money down the toilet in a time when we can't afford to do that.

It's 1 mil or so in Dublin I think. Geneva, Amsterdam, Munich, Glasgow, and more..

sock puppet

Cadiz wrote: »

It's 1 mil or so in Dublin I think. Geneva, Amsterdam, Munich, Glasgow, and more..

Does anyone have comparisons for the population densities and how much the state pays in these cities. I've no idea. I'm just wondering how our service stacks up against other European cities.

Cadiz

^ yeah good question. Any small city I've ever been to in Western Europe seems to have a better transport system than ours but perhaps its not entirely fair comparison re population densities etc. I don't know.

rednik

A good theme park so I can stop going to the usual suspects like the zoo, cinema and poxy funderland at Christmas.

Chucky the tree

electrogrimey wrote: »

Since when is public transport non-essential? In most people's opinions it's one of the most essential services provided by the state.

Public transport at 1am in the morning is non-essential.

Cadiz wrote: »

It's 1 mil or so in Dublin I think. Geneva, Amsterdam, Munich, Glasgow, and more..

All places in mainland europe that have major train stations so it's not that surprising they have night buses. I'm surprised Glasgow have it though, and wonder how many other British cities do, only information I can find on Glasgow says it runs weekends.

Cadiz

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Public transport at 1am in the morning is non-essential.

All places in mainland europe that have major train stations so it's not that surprising they have night buses. I'm surprised Glasgow have it though, and wonder how many other British cities do, only information I can find on Glasgow says it runs weekends.

We have two major train stations in Dublin.

I didn't specifically mean just buses by the way, I meant decent regular late night transport of any sort.

slowly horse

Even an extra hour on the end of the bus service would be great, 11:30 is very early for a large city. In Toronto the bus/subway/trams run until 1:45 with some 24 hour routes, and even though it's a large city those later services tend to be pretty empty, but I guess the profit during the day balances that out. The difference between Dublin and other cities is that the convenience of the public tends to be put first.

All public transport stops in Toronto are timetabled to show when the bus (or whatever) will arrive - it works there even with a much larger network and similar levels of traffic congestion.

sock puppet

slowly horse wrote: »

Even an extra hour on the end of the bus service would be great, 11:30 is very early for a large city. In Toronto the bus/subway/trams run until 1:45 with some 24 hour routes, and even though it's a large city those later services tend to be pretty empty, but I guess the profit during the day balances that out. The difference between Dublin and other cities is that the convenience of the public tends to be put first.

All public transport stops in Toronto are timetabled to show when the bus (or whatever) will arrive - it works there even with a much larger network and similar levels of traffic congestion.

That's interesting. Is it a printed timetable or electronic? Dublin bus do provide rough guidelines for how long a journey will take.