Greenwave

LeinsterDub

http://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-city-centre-cycling-greenwave-new-traffic-light-system-2157110-Jun2015/

Anyone have experience with this in Sweden?

omri

LeinsterDub wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-city-centre-cycling-greenwave-new-traffic-light-system-2157110-Jun2015/

Anyone have experience with this in Sweden?

what are these lights suppose to do block car traffic or just show green path on the road for cyclists to see better? and how is this to make the trip faster?

galwaycyclist

omri wrote: »

what are these lights suppose to do block car traffic or just show green path on the road for cyclists to see better? and how is this to make the trip faster?

If you cycle at the indicated speed then in theory the traffic lights should be green for you as you arrive at them.

It has been done for motorists for years, traffic engineers assume a speed of 50km/h on a particular corridor and adjust traffic lights so that if you pass a green light doing 50 and stay at that speed then the next light should be green and so on.

This is a " green wave" (for cars)

A side effect of this is that vehicles travelling at lower speeds (cyclists) end up encountering a "red wave" where every traffic light is red.

The classic "green wave" is one of the methods state agencies use that train cyclists to ignore traffic lights.

Carawaystick

I got that green wave from Whitehall Church down to Quinns pub on Tuesday. I was going closer to 50 than 20 though, school holidays are great.

eeeee

20kph? Aww

check_six

gadetra wrote: »

20kph? Aww

If I wanted to go at 20kph in town I could stay in the car (when it's not busy).

buffalo

If you go at exactly 40kph, will it still work?

LeinsterDub

buffalo wrote: »

If you go at exactly 40kph, will it still work?

If you got any speed over 20kph it will work . I suppose if you where to go 80kph you might get to the light too soon

mcgratheoin

buffalo wrote: »

If you go at exactly 40kph, will it still work?

maybe if there's an equal time allotted to both sets of lights at the intersection? I could see these green lights being like a mini peleton - chasing to get on the back and then cruising the rest of the way!

Carawaystick

buffalo wrote: »

If you go at exactly 40kph, will it still work?

yes, but the bomb arms, and if you slow below 20 it detonates.

recedite

LeinsterDub wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-city-centre-cycling-greenwave-new-traffic-light-system-2157110-Jun2015/

Anyone have experience with this in Sweden?

Copenhagen is in Denmark. Just saying
But it looks like an interesting system. The LEDs are built into the ground and will tell you if you are going at sufficient speed to make the next set of green lights.

recedite

Another thing this could do is encourage rush hour cyclists to travel at the same speed. Lets say you had long lines of cyclists travelling at 20kph, there would be less overtaking and jockeying for space, which would allow all to travel more smoothly.

I drove a car in USA on highways where 90% of motorists had "cruise control" set to 60mph. Its a lot more relaxing than driving on the M50 here because once you're in that line of cars, there's no overtaking or braking required.
The odd guy who is in a mad hurry can still use another lane.

eeeee

recedite wrote: »

Another thing this could do is encourage rush hour cyclists to travel at the same speed. Lets say you had long lines of cyclists travelling at 20kph, there would be less overtaking and jockeying for space, which would allow all to travel more smoothly.
.

Yeah but 20kph is a pain in the hole on a straight flat road! I think it should be 20kph+ :P

LeinsterDub

recedite wrote: »

Copenhagen is in Denmark. Just saying
But it looks like an interesting system. The LEDs are built into the ground and will tell you if you are going at sufficient speed to make the next set of green lights.

It is? Awh crap my summer holidays to Sweden is ruined

onimpulse

I'm finding it hard to understand how this will improve things on the quays which is one of the suggested routes where you can get from park gate st to the 3 arena in 12 minutes?

Try getting through bachelors walk at all around 8.30am and it's completely blocked with busses sitting diagonally across the bus/cycle lane as they try to pull out of a bus stop and need to get into the right lanes of traffic to turn across O'Connell bridge.

Actually from the Four Courts up to the Customs house is a absolute nightmare on the bike in the mornings and no green wave can possible improve it.

guile4582

great idea, but won't stop pedestrians stepping out and that's a major issue

DaithiMC

gadetra wrote: »

Yeah but 20kph is a pain in the hole on a straight flat road! I think it should be 20kph+ :P

Not sure if it is in these systems but the principles of simple harmonic oscillation worked in earlier greenwave systems, so by doing a multiple of the set speed it should also work, i.e., 40kph, 60kph...etc. So in a car if a greenwave is programmed at 30 kph, 60, 90, 120, and 150kph should also work!

recedite

DaithiMC wrote: »

so by doing a multiple of the set speed it should also work, i.e., 40kph, 60kph...

Now there's a challenge. 40Kph might be do-able.
For a short while anyway

check_six

recedite wrote: »

Now there's a challenge. 40Kph might be do-able.
For a short while anyway

Ach, you probably have to do the square of the speed to get it to work properly!

cython

DaithiMC wrote: »

Not sure if it is in these systems but the principles of simple harmonic oscillation worked in earlier greenwave systems, so by doing a multiple of the set speed it should also work, i.e., 40kph, 60kph...etc. So in a car if a greenwave is programmed at 30 kph, 60, 90, 120, and 150kph should also work!

I suspect that only applies with a minimum distance between light sets sufficient that they would complete more than once cycle in the time taken to travel there - I can't see higher speeds working for the driver/cyclist if the lights will only complete a single cycle in the time allocated for the distance between them to be covered, as would likely be the case on a lot of the quays - you'll just have to spend half the time driving and half waiting in that scenario!

guile4582

greenwave is needed on the canal bike lane. I avoid it due to the stop start nature of it

recedite

I see they are planning to install the Green Wave at College Green. This would be in conjunction with the major overhaul planned there; cars out and the Luas in.
Won't be until next year at least, though.
http://www.thejournal.ie/greenwave-college-green-2544746-Jan2016/

brocbrocach

recedite wrote: »

I see they are planning to install the Green Wave at College Green. This would be in conjunction with the major overhaul planned there; cars out and the Luas in.
Won't be until next year at least, though.
http://www.thejournal.ie/greenwave-college-green-2544746-Jan2016/

Going OT here but just on that stretch of road at College Green, is it just my negativity or is it going to be carnage with cyclists going into Luas tracks? Especially with a tightish turn from the inside track onto Dame street and also if you factor in all the pedestrians that'll be skipping across it now.

recedite

If you ever ride the Luas between Connolly and Smithfield, where its ploughing through pedestrian areas, its amazing how people get out of the way when they hear the bell.
I'd imagine the Green wave might be a bit like that, ie if someone is walking on the cycle lane and they see the green lights come on under their feet, they would step off it pronto, knowing the peloton is on its way!

As for bikes and tramlines, well its a steep learning curve. After one or two cashes, cyclists learn pretty quickly to go at them at an angle. Cyclists were crossing tramlines 100 years ago in Dublin, so its not a new hazard really.