Harold's Cross Bus Lane - New Enforcement

spockety

I see they have put some new bollards separating the bus lane from the driving lane on the city bound approach to Harold's Cross bridge. This bus lane has been a joke for years, with cars merging into it as far back as the Hospice.

The light sequence at the bridge has been changed to allow vehicles turning right onto the canal to go first before outbound traffic from the city gets green lit to go towards Harold's Cross too. This should ensure the driving lane isn't blocked by right turning cars waiting at the bridge.

Gardai were out this morning issuing bus lane fines just before the bus stop on the left.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3285114,-6.2763287,3a,75y,20h,71.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJBi8oIWmbyIoxl4l4Qgucw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

CatInABox

spockety wrote: »

I see they have put some new bollards separating the bus lane from the driving lane on the city bound approach to Harold's Cross bridge. This bus lane has been a joke for years, with cars merging into it as far back as the Hospice.

The light sequence at the bridge has been changed to allow vehicles turning right onto the canal to go first before outbound traffic from the city gets green lit to go towards Harold's Cross too. This should ensure the driving lane isn't blocked by right turning cars waiting at the bridge.

Gardai were out this morning issuing bus lane fines just before the bus stop on the left.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3285114,-6.2763287,3a,75y,20h,71.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJBi8oIWmbyIoxl4l4Qgucw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I think we're going to see more and more of these bollards being placed to protect bus lanes, they've definitely made a difference at Whitehall.

cgcsb

Good to hear. There's still car drivers who think they are bus drivers on the Bachelor's walk 24/7 bus lane. City Centre is a mess right now and everything kind of looks 'temporary' like there's too many projects on the go for any decisions to be made.

LXFlyer

cgcsb wrote: »

Good to hear. There's still car drivers who think they are bus drivers on the Bachelor's walk 24/7 bus lane. City Centre is a mess right now and everything kind of looks 'temporary' like there's too many projects on the go for any decisions to be made.

Bachelor’s Walk is not helped by the bus lane leading into it on Lower Ormond Quay between Capel St and Liffey St being operational only on Mon-Sat 07:00-19:00 and not 24/7 - that means that any traffic in it outside of those hours should then pull out into the outer lane at Liffey St which no one does.

Utterly ludicrous design.

Surely they should both have the same hours of operation?

punisher5112

Simple and easy way to police this is cameras.

If you go between 2 points then you get a fine.

This would change things over night.

Any photos of these bollards.

LXFlyer

punisher5112 wrote: »

Simple and easy way to police this is cameras.

If you go between 2 points then you get a fine.

This would change things over night.

That apparently requires new legislation which hopefully will be pursued by the NTA.

Heartbreak Hank

LXFlyer wrote: »

Bachelor’s Walk is not helped by the bus lane leading into it on Lower Ormond Quay between Capel St and Liffey St being operational only on Mon-Sat 07:00-19:00 and not 24/7 - that means that any traffic in it outside of those hours should then pull out into the outer lane at Liffey St which no one does.

Utterly ludicrous design.

Surely they should both have the same hours of operation?

Why aren't all bus lanes 24/7? Why should a road's private car capacity be increased at off peak times when the number of private cars is decreased?

Alkers

Heartbreak Hank wrote:

Why aren't all bus lanes 24/7? Why should a road's private car capacity be increased at off peak times when the number of private cars is decreased?

Agreed and it makes the management of it so much more complicated for everyone. There are some lanes which permit parking when not in use though

Bigus

punisher5112 wrote: »

Simple and easy way to police this is cameras.

If you go between 2 points then you get a fine.

This would change things over night.

Any photos of these bollards.

Yeah like in the UK where innocent people are fined for letting ambulances go, by pulling ever so slighty into a bus lanes .
If you go down this cctv road, eventually you end up at something like Brexit, no thanks . Over policing of minor stuff and harassment of law abiding citizens in the UK has led to a breakdown in society.

cgcsb

LXFlyer wrote: »

Bachelor’s Walk is not helped by the bus lane leading into it on Lower Ormond Quay between Capel St and Liffey St being operational only on Mon-Sat 07:00-19:00 and not 24/7 - that means that any traffic in it outside of those hours should then pull out into the outer lane at Liffey St which no one does.

Utterly ludicrous design.

Surely they should both have the same hours of operation?

Agreed, 24 hour operation needs to be extended to at least the Blackhall place junction.

LXFlyer

cgcsb wrote: »

Agreed, 24 hour operation needs to be extended to at least the Blackhall place junction.

Well it should be 24 hours from Capel Street Bridge in any case.

Not sure it’s needed all the way back to Blackhall Place.

cgcsb

LXFlyer wrote: »

Well it should be 24 hours from Capel Street Bridge in any case.

Not sure it’s needed all the way back to Blackhall Place.

To be fair if the entire thing was 07:00 to 19:00 and actually ENFORCED. Then nobody would be bothered with the 24hr concept.

The Quays is a critical route for buses. Enforcement needs to be swift, brutal and operated by an unsympathetic AI.

spockety

spockety wrote: »

I see they have put some new bollards separating the bus lane from the driving lane on the city bound approach to Harold's Cross bridge. This bus lane has been a joke for years, with cars merging into it as far back as the Hospice.

The light sequence at the bridge has been changed to allow vehicles turning right onto the canal to go first before outbound traffic from the city gets green lit to go towards Harold's Cross too. This should ensure the driving lane isn't blocked by right turning cars waiting at the bridge.

Gardai were out this morning issuing bus lane fines just before the bus stop on the left.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3285114,-6.2763287,3a,75y,20h,71.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJBi8oIWmbyIoxl4l4Qgucw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Update: No Gardai enforcing this morning, and the bollards were being completely ignored, bus lane chock with cars.

cgcsb

Camera enforcement would be profitable I reckon.

JohnC.

Bigus wrote: »

Yeah like in the UK where innocent people are fined for letting ambulances go, by pulling ever so slighty into a bus lanes .
If you go down this cctv road, eventually you end up at something like Brexit, no thanks . Over policing of minor stuff and harassment of law abiding citizens in the UK has led to a breakdown in society.

Why would you be pulling into a bus lane when the ambulance can use the bus lane?

LeinsterDub

Bigus wrote: »

eventually you end up at something like Brexit, no thanks

This is literally the biggest stretch I've seen on boards.

cgcsb

LeinsterDub wrote: »

This is literally the biggest stretch I've seen on boards.

A Hitler reference can only be a couple of posts away.

Seth Brundle

cgcsb wrote: »

A Hitler reference can only be a couple of posts away.

In fairness, Hitler (& Stalin) use public transport...

steve-o

This arrangement is actually dangerous. The barrier is invisible to drivers in the right lane who have another vehicle ahead of them and want to change into the left lane while approaching the lights (perfectly legal and normal outside bus lane hours).

Of course, this type of road layout, where the majority of vehicles have to change lane while approaching lights, is a really bad design in the first place.

baileys3

steve-o wrote: »

This arrangement is actually dangerous. The barrier is invisible to drivers in the right lane who have another vehicle ahead of them and want to change into the left lane while approaching the lights (perfectly legal and normal outside bus lane hours).

Of course, this type of road layout, where the majority of vehicles have to change lane while approaching lights, is a really bad design in the first place.

I agree, the lane layout causes a lot of problems here (and elsewhere). While they were going to the effort to place bollards, a bit of a rethink of the paint on the road would have helped too.

There are lots of junctions like this around the city; where the lane abruptly turns into a right hand turn at the junction and the main traffic stream is forced to move into the left lane. Dolphin's Barn junction is the same. Dolphin's Barn also has a handy diagram of the lane layout...right at the junction !! :rolleyes:

spockety

Quick update.. this configuration has been extended, the barriers now start just after the pedestrian crossing, with a break in them for the turn into Greenmount Office Park.

LXFlyer

They need to bring them right back along the road to be honest.

Sam Russell

Why is there no enforcement of the double yellow lines between Leonards Corner and Tescos on the South Circular? The No 9 and 16 buses have great difficulty turning there with all the illegal parking - there are always cars and vans parked illegally there.

tomfoolery60

Sam Russell wrote: »

Why is there no enforcement of the double yellow lines between Leonards Corner and Tescos on the South Circular? The No 9 and 16 buses have great difficulty turning there with all the illegal parking - there are always cars and vans parked illegally there.

Surely you wouldn't make people walk a few extra metres for their takeout???

punisher5112

Issue with double yellows are you can load/unload for 30 minutes.

We need double reds like in the UK which are no stopping or parking at any time(clearway 24 hours)

Sam Russell

punisher5112 wrote: »

Issue with double yellows are you can load/unload for 30 minutes.

We need double reds like in the UK which are no stopping or parking at any time(clearway 24 hours)

Clearways solve that problem. Also, loading must be active, not just parking.

There is a loading point just before the bus stop.

cgcsb

Urban clearways aren't recognised here. Go to Stoneybatter there's an outbound cycle lane going past the bus stop there, that is also a peak hour clearway. Sure enough, at all times of the day its free parking. You even get parked cars in the bus stop and also on the inbound bus lane across the street. It's 24hr free parking basically.

CatInABox

cgcsb wrote: »

Urban clearways aren't recognised here. Go to Stoneybatter there's an outbound cycle lane going past the bus stop there, that is also a peak hour clearway. Sure enough, at all times of the day its free parking. You even get parked cars in the bus stop and also on the inbound bus lane across the street. It's 24hr free parking basically.

The total lack of enforcement is saddening. It's why I'm a big supporter of these plastic bollards going up, they require no Garda effort.

Here's Parnell St, what used to be the shared cycle lane/taxi rank

https://twitter.com/TUDublinEPS/status/1120664380415401984

Marcusm

Sam Russell wrote: »

Clearways solve that problem. Also, loading must be active, not just parking.

There is a loading point just before the bus stop.

Clearways should solve the problem but they are ignored. In fact, I suspect half of all drivers couldn’t explain a clearway.

Sam Russell

Marcusm wrote: »

Clearways should solve the problem but they are ignored. In fact, I suspect half of all drivers couldn’t explain a clearway.

There was a problem with cars parked all along on St Raephaela's Rd in Sandyford - made it clearway and no parking. Magic.

Ste.phen

What the hell kind of road markings are those? Are the taxis parked in a driving lane, or is this somehow supposed to be a taxi rank? (isn't there an actual taxi rank across the street outside Penneys?)

punisher5112

Sam Russell wrote: »

There was a problem with cars parked all along on St Raephaela's Rd in Sandyford - made it clearway and no parking. Magic.

Yes but tickets were issued and a lot.

In town it seems you can get away with quite a lot from clearway in ranelagh to major bus stops such as ranelagh, Dawson st, Eden quay, rathmines, Camden at, Georges st.... So much much more and no tickets or clamps.

cgcsb

I noticed this in Ranelagh, the clearway is just treated as free parking. Same in Stoneybatter, except in Stoneybatter the road is like the surface of the moon so when you have to go on front of cars you find your bones may have vibrated out of your body by the time you've cleared the parked cars.

spacetweek

Bigus wrote: »

Yeah like in the UK where innocent people are fined for letting ambulances go, by pulling ever so slighty into a bus lanes .
If you go down this cctv road, eventually you end up at something like Brexit, no thanks . Over policing of minor stuff and harassment of law abiding citizens in the UK has led to a breakdown in society.

You heard it here guys - Brexit is because of bus lane enforcement.

cgcsb wrote: »

Camera enforcement would be profitable I reckon.

Most people know that traffic fines are a loss-maker. Amount of money it costs to issue the fines is greater than what you get from the fines.

spockety

Quick update. Morons in the right lane are stopping at the last bollard to merge into the (packed) left lane even when there is no traffic stopped to turn right at the bridge, and the right lane is clear on green lights.

punisher5112

spockety wrote: »

Quick update. Morons in the right lane are stopping at the last bollard to merge into the (packed) left lane even when there is no traffic stopped to turn right at the bridge, and the right lane is clear on green lights.

They need a box and not a yellow painted one

Fizzy Duck

Bollards are gone since the road was resurfaced about 2 weeks ago. Adding 5-10 minutes onto each bus journey.

LXFlyer

Fizzy Duck wrote: »

Bollards are gone since the road was resurfaced about 2 weeks ago. Adding 5-10 minutes onto each bus journey.

Surely not that much?

Traffic levels, certainly prior to 09:00, haven't been particularly heavy at all.

Fizzy Duck

LXFlyer wrote: »

Surely not that much?

Traffic levels, certainly prior to 09:00, haven't been particularly heavy at all.

They are queuing from Greenmount Avenue at times. So it can be a slow crawl to the bus stop. Particularly lunch time/evening peak I've noticed past 2 weeks.

LXFlyer

Fizzy Duck wrote: »

They are queuing from Greenmount Avenue at times. So it can be a slow crawl to the bus stop. Particularly lunch time/evening peak I've noticed past 2 weeks.

To be fair that’s not the same as “each bus journey”. It does helps when you put a context in.

The main peak flow inbound used to be before 09:00 and that hasn’t returned yet, which is why I questioned your statement.

Hopefully the wands will be reinstated, as sadly it seems the only way to enforce the bus lane, but it is at the same time also fair to say that bus journey times on most Dublin Bus routes through the city are still faster overall than those from pre-Covid times.

Fizzy Duck

LXFlyer wrote: »

To be fair that’s not the same as “each bus journey”. It does helps when you put a context in.

The main peak flow inbound used to be before 09:00 and that hasn’t returned yet, which is why I questioned your statement.

Hopefully the wands will be reinstated, as sadly it seems the only way to enforce the bus lane, but it is at the same time also fair to say that bus journey times on most Dublin Bus routes through the city are still faster overall than those from pre-Covid times.

Oh defintely. It's relaxing enough pottering along at 30km/h. It is just frustrating to see the queues returning once the wands disappeared.

Kevtherev1

All resurfacing has been completed. New white lines and bus / cycle white pics completed.
All the bollards have been reinstalled as they where for last 18 months.

alentejo

Fizzy Duck wrote: »

Bollards are gone since the road was resurfaced about 2 weeks ago. Adding 5-10 minutes onto each bus journey.

I think the main issue for bus journeys on the route are the traffic light sequences and the canal. They now have an additional pedestrian phase. I.e. North/South traffic green, pedestrian phase, Canal East/West phase, pedestrian....