Claregalway buslanes - what's the point?

Mint Sauce

Apart from the obvious, allowing buses to get through.

But everytime I have gone through there, granted it hasn't been many, I have been sitting in traffic for up to 20 to 30 minutes whilst there has been an empty lane to my left which cannot be used by any vecheal barr buses anytime of the day or night. On each of these occasions, mid week morning and afternoon, a saturday afternoon (both directions), and sunday evening, I had no more than one bus pass me using it.

So I ask my self, is it justifable to have a dedicated lane that is used so little often, and have all the other traffic pushed into one lane, when they could have two. Or at least review the hours of its use.

Shakti

If I start ranting about it I may have an embolism so I wont but there is a couple of back roads you can take around it,

confuseddotcom

It may look like that because some Bus Companies serve routes at the same time then there could be about a 5 hour gap with no-one offering a bus service! :rolleyes: May be the norm or may be a sign of the tough times we now live in that it's effectively competing against each other rather than thinking of the Customer! :rolleyes: I do see what you're saying and maybe set times only for use as a Bus-Lane would be a good idea, but in the same breath I wouldn't like to think that reduced services due to a downturn in trade would be a just cause to get rid of or re-jig the Bus Lane. Maybe it was a waste of good money needed badly elsewhere putting it in in the first place! But it's anyone's guess what would be done to "save face" or right itself......

Was a bit shocked to read of notions about making the country "bus-friendly" giving buses a full right-of-passage to merge with traffic. Just because it's a bus doesn't give it any royalty to automatically merge in with car traffic i.m.o! If that's the case what's stopping any car thinking they have a higher right over any bus and merge with the buses lol?!? But that's a thread for another day.

dinneenp

I think they should have the rule 'if you have 3 or more people in a car you're allowed use the bus lane'. Similar to some places in the USA etc.

Sponge Bob

4 adults in a car should qualify.

Proxy

dinneenp wrote: »

I think they should have the rule 'if you have 3 or more people in a car you're allowed use the bus lane'. Similar to some places in the USA etc.

True, but then every cheeky sod would be chancing it

Case in point, we have fantastic motorways now, but on high-volume days such as just yesterday (All Ireland Hurling Final day), the right hand lane (or "fast lane" as it's referred to) was chock-a-block while the left lane ("slow lane") was empty. Many times the left lane was passing the right, which is completely the opposite of what the purpose is.

Anyway I'm digressing a bit. The bus lane is there for the many bus routes that converge after Tuam/Loughgeorge/Claregalway. If you spent a half hour in Claregalway you'll see how many there really are (Bus Eireann from Mayo/Roscommon/Sligo/Leitrim, Feda Donegal and Sligo buses, Burke's of Tuam, GoBus, the Drumshambo bus that I forget the name of now). There's also a surprising volume of taxi service inbetween Tuam>Corofin>Claregalway>Galway. By allowing cars on this under "certain conditions" leaves it open to abuse, and with the recent Garda roster changes, stepping up presence to monitor is just not feasible, every on the short-term.

8kvscdpglqnyr4

OP - you really are missing the point. There is one 1 lane through Claregalway village, so allowing all car to drive in the bus lane won't make traffic move any quicker. Instead of having 1 lane backed up for 2km, you'll have 2 lanes backed up for 1km. It's still going to take the same length of time to get through Claregalway. However, for the few buses that use the road, they get to avoid the tail back and get a quick route into the village

konman

sorry its off topic but i have to go through claregalway every monday evening at 6pm and today the traffic lights were out and much to my suprise there were no tailbacks in any direction with traffic flowing freely. a fortnight ago the tailback on galway side was almost backed up to corinthians r.f.c and last week half way between corinthians and the start of bus lane. i wonder if lights were turned off permanately would it ease the congestion in all directions or was today just a fluke?

Proxy

konman wrote:

i wonder if lights were turned off permanately would it ease the congestion in all directions

Are you serious??

konman

well proxy on yesterdays evidence it was working!!!

Mr Keek

+1 to turning off the lights; well not switching them off, but investigating new sequence patterns at least, huge improvement to traffic flow on both inbound and outbound from Tuam/Galway the last 2 days with them off.

I sincerely hope this hasn't gone unnoticed by the relevant authorities.

Proxy

Well in terms of sequence improvement (as opposed to turning lights off:rolleyes:), the window from Carnmore side is very narrow. I'm not sure how short it is from the N17 perspective from/to Galway.

Mr Keek

A flashing amber before green would really give some people a head start to get ready to go again. Far to many people are way to slow to get going again at those lights...Not expecting a F1 Grand Prix take off, but alot of people just aren't ready for the lights to go green again.

I think the big problem with that junction, especially comming from Tuam to Galway is people not making good progress when they get to Claregalway, and leave massive gaps even when the traffic is moving. After you pass the castle, traffic does usually get moving again And the fact that you have to change and get into lane....., to continue going straight has always baffled me. Most junctions have a Left & Straight Lane and a Right Only lane, not Claregalway though.

If these lights are 'Smart Lights' then bad driver behaviour i.e not making progress is fooling the lights in thinking no traffic is waiting and therefore go red. Maybe thy could trial simple, 'Dumb' timer sequences for a short period and take notes could help?