Dublin transport map

caff

Sorry if this was already posted, its an old article butI found no mention of it here before. I did a search for the article and the name Venetikidis but didn't find any matches for it. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/10/confusing-and-nonsensical-grandeur-dublin-transport/3657/

The article outlines Venetikidis attempts to map bus routes in Dublin and his proposal for a rapid bus system to replace them. His proposed map is well worth a look for its qutie sane apporach. He seems quite realistic about how it will probably not happen any time soon due to local politics.

carlmango11

If I remember correctly it's been brought up before.

Firstly, I love the map - even just on an artistic basis. It baffles me that DB can't come up with something like this. Dublin public transport is impossible unless you're a local.

With regard to the routes he proposes in his full map - I, again, agree. Dublin Bus has a million billion routes, most of which run at >20 minutes intervals and overlap with the other routes but then go to local areas. What we need are buses that run *at least* every 10 minutes and run along the main arterial routes with no overlap. Don't worry about poor Mrs. McCarthy who's been getting the Number Whatever to her doorstop for the last 15 years. What we need are frequent, quick buses that run along the city-centre-bound roads and then also some routes that connect with these routes by going circularly around the city. Like a spider web. Also we need *far* less stops. It's actually a little bit incredible how close stops are in some areas.

I also think we should have express buses that stop at the main stops (like trains) and then local services. I suspect the majority of people would prefer the express that will arrive quick and take them right where they need to go rather than a bus that stops every 2 minutes. I know there are Xpressos but they need to be the same price and run as frequently, if not more, than the regular services.

If people could walk out and grab a bus to the CC which would arrive quickly and wouldn't stop on every single f*cking corner then maybe the bus might become an alternative to cars.

etchyed

That guy had a TEDx talk. He set out to map current public transport services, realised they didn't look very aesthetically pleasing on a map, and then created an imaginary network which did. He did so without any regard to demand, commercial viability or social need. It was a crayons on a map exercise, and while it might look attractive, it's just stupid.

FYI both Dublin Bus and the NTA have network maps of frequent services:

http://www.dublinbus.ie/PageFiles/9706/Core%20Dublin%20Bus%20Routes%2012.02.2012.pdf
http://transportforireland.ie/maps/

Both have their flaws but at least they attempt to represent the network we have now. Hopefully, as the NTA take over the bus stops, their map will become commonplace.

EDIT: Here's the TED talk. The guy seems quite interesting and impressive at first, until you get to the end, where he rather brushes over the part of the process where he decided to make a map of a network that doesn't exist.

Aard

I think it's important to note that this is primarily a graphic design exercise, and that the creator has no experience with transport planning.

noelfirl

Aard wrote: »

I think it's important to note that this is primarily a graphic design exercise, and that the creator has no experience with transport planning.

The problem really at the time being the way the media reported the project. I specifically remember hearing an as-per-the-norm shoddy Marian Finucane program where various public representatives were in agreement that Venetikidis' network represented an economical, viable alternative to the then majorly reported (expensive) plans for future rail solutions.

I'd rail back on being negative towards him as much as saying there was an enormous failure on the part of the media that covered the maps to actually do basic questioning of costs and feasibility for introducing that much BRT into Dublin.

etchyed

Aard wrote: »

I think it's important to note that this is primarily a graphic design exercise, and that the creator has no experience with transport planning.

And a very interesting graphic design exercise it could have been too, if the creator had found a way of displaying Dublin's labyrinthine bus network on an easy-to-read network diagram. That would have been an interesting challenge.

Maybe my reference to demand etc. above made it seem like I was criticising this project from a transport planning perspective. I'm not. From a graphic design perspective, it's completely ridiculous. He set out to represent the Dublin Bus network diagramatically, and in this he failed. His solution to his difficulty in representing reality in a diagram was to change reality.

Aard

I'm not defending it. I was merely pointing out to those who mightn't be familiar with it that the maps are in no way meant to represent any type of proposals. It fails on two counts: firstly, as you point out, that it does not represent reality. Secondly, if it is meant to represent a fantasy network it fails too imo as it is largely illegible and impractical (were that fantasy to become reality).

Again as you say, a more interesting project in terms of graphic design would be to represent the actual DB network faithfully. Very difficult though, I would imagine.

Banjoxed

Well there does seem to have been a lot of crayons and a lot of wishful thinking with no bottom to it over the last thirty years.

The glacially slow nature of infrastructure planning and implementation, snouteens looking for troughs, false flag alternatives and whatnot means that it is a minor miracle for us to have what we have got at the moment.