Dublin city centre bus/coach parking/stops

KD345

The reason the positioning of the stops is to do with traffic flow. The left lane of Westmoreland Street is for left turning traffic only, which is why those stops closest to the corner are for buses turning onto Aston Quay. While there might appear to be free space around the metal barriers, the road is normally occupied by traffic queuing to turn left. If there was a bus stop here it would affect traffic flowing straight onto O'Connell Bridge.

Any bus routes traveling over O'Connell Bridge could not stop any further beyond stop 319 as getting into the correct lane would be very difficult.

Maybe a solution would be to relocate buses stopping at stop 317 to Crampton Quay at the old 39/a stop, meaning the 26, 66 and 67 would stop at Pearse Steeet and then Crampton Quay. Not too far a distance. Then stop 317 could be used for coaches turning up the quay (Dublin Coach and Gobe).

I wouldn't see the 16 and Aircoach stopping together as a bad thing. It gives choice to passengers traveling to the airport. What I would like to see happen is a big clean up of street furniture at this stop to have one bus stop for all services stopping here. At the moment it's cluttered and confusing.

devnull

GoBE don't stop at Westmoreland Street, but the Aircoach Cork service does. That GoBE sign there is advertising.

AlekSmart

bk wrote: »

Hmm, passing Westmoreland St again today and frankly Dublin Bus have some big questions to answer here.

First you have stop No 320, which is right on top of the Aircoach/Dublin Coach stops.
This stop has a large number of very frequent routes on it: 11, 16, 46 and 7

Next close by you have stop no 319 which is also very busy with the following services operating on it: 1, 13, 140, 40, 44, 83, 9

Then you have stop no 318, which only has the 25x, 66x and 67x on it, all of which there are only one or two buses a day and for instance right now (4pm on Sunday there are no buses scheduled to use it according to the RTPI!!!!

Next you have stop no 317, which is a relatively lightly used stop with the 26, 66 and 67 operating out of it.

Then you have metal barriers along the rest of Westmoreland St, if you were to take away this barrier, you could easily fit at least one extra bus stop, if not two along there.

So there is really no reason for the dangerous situation at stop No 320. All the services at stop no 320 should be moved up to stop 318.

Ideally a new stop should be built further up the street and move services from the 319 there. Even better rebalance the services between these stops further up Westmoreland St.

Then there would be plenty of space for the Aircoach and Dublin Coach services to operate safely from their stops.

To be honest looking at the space on the street, I've no idea why DB are using stop no 320 and not using the significant free space further up the street, in particular at stop 318?

I can only think of two reasons:

1) Incompetence, they simply put the services there without thinking it through.

2) They want to make life hard for the Aircoach services, in particular having the 16 close to the competing Aircoach service.

I'd be glad to hear any other reasons?

Good post bk,but I'd have to call you on both of your "reasons".

It's worth noting that Stops 319 and 320 prexist the Coach Services by decades and their placement and allocation involved exactly the "thinking it through" now being called for.

However,in the interim,the Authorities felt it expedient to keep allocating inappropriate types of service to an already heavily served location.

Stop 320 and 319's route allocations are in the main those routes which then must position to cross O Connell Bridge Northbound.

317 and 318's allocations are routes,in the main Westbound, turning left onto Aston Quay.

A further complication,and an equally irresponsible Safety Compromise,is the left-turn into Fleet Street,which, significantly,is maintained mainly to facilitate a Multi Storey Car-Park.

When assessing the performance of these Stops,one must take a step back and observe from a little further than the BusStop area itself.

If,for example,one stands on the Island (Former Public Toilet Block) then a very clear appreciation of the level of difficulty faced by Bus & Coach Drivers alike can be gained.(Presuming,that is,one is open to such thing)

Note for example,the speed and unpredictability of general traffic exiting College St, making last minute acute directional changes (at speed) to get across FOUR traffic lanes,into Fleet St,often simply becaused the driver has glimpsed the Blue P car park sign.

(Remember that such traffic is coming from a significant blind-spot behind the Busdrivers right ear,not covered by mirrors and only visible when actively scanned)

I feel that any suggestion to move North Bound BAC Services any further North along Westmoreland St is unsustainable,both from on operational and safety perspective.

However,I do accept that those Westbound BAC Routes should not be stopping on Westmoreland St at all,but should instead utilize the current Pearse St/College St Stop as their main CC Loading point.

This would indeed allow ALL of the Coach Services to move Northwards,which as most of them turn left onto Aston Quay,would appear to be Common Sense ?

It should also be borne in mind,that whilst Bus & Coach Stop allocation remains a function of a Traffic Sub-Committee,the final call is with the Gardai,which makes the current long-running situation all the more shameful.

I would have to reiterate that Both of bk's "conclusions" are incorrect,particularly the 16A vs Aircoach comparison,just not happening I'm afraid,two Completely different customer bases....:)

However,as the entire issue of Westmoreland St will soon become moot due to LUAS BXD works,I'm far more curious as to what the "Experts" have lined up for us in that respect ?