99 Ways...

Del Amitri

Howdy!

I have had a bee in my bonnet for years about all the ways that Dublin's traffic hell could be improved and I thought this is as good a place as any to vent them. I'd also like to hear your ideas.

I don't think there is any single silver bullet that is going to get Dublin moving, but instead there are about 99 small changes that could all add up to a well moving city.

Anyway, feel free to post your simple changes that you think would make a big difference, and it would be interesting to see if we could collectively get a list of 99 ways to get Dublin moving.

Here goes:

• Take all council traffic off the road between 7-10 and 4-7 (Bin Lorries, for example)
• In "Tight" areas where cars can't pass on the left, ban right-turns (e.g. in Rathmines, Ranelagh etc)
• Make it a by-law that all rental cars must be fitted with a sat nav
• Offer a tax incentive for people to buy sat navs
• Get companies to offer Flexi time to cut the number of employees starting at 9 and ending at 5:30
• Integrated Ticketing on Bus/Dart/Luas
• Cars with 4 passengers should be allowed to use the bus lane
• Make the one lane each way on the M50 a HOV lane
• Public service advertisements to tell people to "Pull off the road in the event of a non-serious collision"
• Ban anyone giving out flyers/washing windows/begging/collecting for charity at junctions or signals
• Ban radio stations from having 3 identical cars travelling in convoy (pulling over until the others catch up for example)
• Make all schools a no-stopping zone for 1 mile. If there is no car park, then the kids should walk.
• Ban Gardai from talking on their mobiles while driving
• Draconian fines for anyone driving up in an empty lane, only to jump into the busy lane at the front of the queue

Right, that's my list for now. What are your ideas?

Telchak

Del Amitri wrote: »

Howdy!Take all council traffic off the road between 7-10 and 4-7 (Bin Lorries, for example)

I don't think there's enough to make a difference.

In "Tight" areas where cars can't pass on the left, ban right-turns (e.g. in Rathmines, Ranelagh etc)

Surely that's already something that is done at junctions where it's justified?

Make it a by-law that all rental cars must be fitted with a sat nav

Why?

Offer a tax incentive for people to buy sat navs

There isn't that many lost people on the roads at commuting hours.

Get companies to offer Flexi time to cut the number of employees starting at 9 and ending at 5:30

I'm sure that idea isn't so simple.

Integrated Ticketing on Bus/Dart/Luas

That's the plan

Cars with 4 passengers should be allowed to use the bus lane

Would result in too many more people chancing driving in the bus lane.

Make the one lane each way on the M50 a HOV lane

Is the traffic bad enough on the M50 since upgrade?

Public service advertisements to tell people to "Pull off the road in the event of a non-serious collision"

Good idea, this one really annoys me (:

Ban anyone giving out flyers/washing windows/begging/collecting for charity at junctions or signals

They don't really get in the way, at least not that I've noticed.

Ban radio stations from having 3 identical cars travelling in convoy (pulling over until the others catch up for example)

Doesn't seem like something you can specifically regulate.

Make all schools a no-stopping zone for 1 mile. If there is no car park, then the kids should walk.

Bit harsh, perhaps they should make more drop areas around schools

Ban Gardai from talking on their mobiles while driving

How would this help traffic?

Draconian fines for anyone driving up in an empty lane, only to jump into the busy lane at the front of the queue

Again, doesn't seem like something that you can specifically make illegal, as it's essentially just changing lanes

Del Amitri

Telchak wrote: »

I don't think there's enough to make a difference.

Agreed, but as I said - I don't think there is a single one thing that would make a huge difference, but I think there are a load of tiny changes that could add up...

loyatemu

none of this solves the problem of too many cars on not enough road at the same time (well the car-pooling might but its fiendishly difficult to enforce)... so:

• Congestion charge.

mgmt

loyatemu wrote: »

none of this solves the problem of too many cars on not enough road at the same time (well the car-pooling might but its fiendishly difficult to enforce)... so:

• Congestion charge.

A congestion charge like in London would be too expensive to implement in Dublin. A large tax on car parking in the city centre would have the same benefits.

antoinolachtnai

Why would it be expensive to implement?

A tax on parking is pretty complex to implement in practice too. The problem is there are different types of parking, some of which are good (people coming in for short trips off-peak to buy stuff) and some of which are bad (commuter parking).

What if a person owns a parking space and decides they don't want to pay the tax and so decide to forego the parking space. What do they do with the space? How do you know for sure they aren't quietly continuing to use it as a parking space?

I think a congestion charge like London's could now be done much more inexpensively now. The problem is where you would apply it to. Between the canals might seem like a good idea, but in fact, a lot of the congestion is in the area outside the canals and a congestion charge might make it worse.

One thing that could be done is to extend the M50 toll around the entire M50. Again, this has drawbacks, but not too many.

For any of these things to be in any way equitable, you need massive change in the public transport system.

My own feeling is that when integrated ticketing eventually gets going, which now looks like being around 2012-2013, it will make a massive difference to congestion in the city centre in the evenings and a smaller but significant difference in the morning in the suburbs, as a result of reducing bus dwell time. However, this will only work if you martial the buses properly.

mgmt

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Why would it be expensive to implement?

For the same reason it costs €26m to run the cameras at the M50 bridge.

Terrontress

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Why would it be expensive to implement?

A tax on parking is pretty complex to implement in practice too. The problem is there are different types of parking, some of which are good (people coming in for short trips off-peak to buy stuff) and some of which are bad (commuter parking).

What if a person owns a parking space and decides they don't want to pay the tax and so decide to forego the parking space. What do they do with the space? How do you know for sure they aren't quietly continuing to use it as a parking space?

I think a congestion charge like London's could now be done much more inexpensively now. The problem is where you would apply it to. Between the canals might seem like a good idea, but in fact, a lot of the congestion is in the area outside the canals and a congestion charge might make it worse.

One thing that could be done is to extend the M50 toll around the entire M50. Again, this has drawbacks, but not too many.

For any of these things to be in any way equitable, you need massive change in the public transport system.

My own feeling is that when integrated ticketing eventually gets going, which now looks like being around 2012-2013, it will make a massive difference to congestion in the city centre in the evenings and a smaller but significant difference in the morning in the suburbs, as a result of reducing bus dwell time. However, this will only work if you martial the buses properly.

Is extending the M50 toll going to cut congestion? I thought it would probably increase it with people not taking the motorway who currently do.

Congestion charge is a non-runner as the trains run at capacity at peak, the bus is unreliable and the Luas has such minimal coverage. You cannot tax people for using the roads, which they have already paid for, if there is no alternative.