Bus lane times

Live at Three

On Wilton road there is a sign saying"Bus lane 7:30 - 9:30 16:30-18:30"
I am under the impression that this means it's ok to use outside of these times, as was confirmed to me by a local bus driver.
Very few people use it though, and any time I do I get cut off and angry looks.

Today at 14.00 a man overtook me, cut in front of me at the end of the lane to block me from going forward, rolled down his window and yelled "It's a f***in bus lane"

Your thoughts?

AugustusMinimus

Live at Three wrote: »

On Wilton road there is a sign saying"Bus lane 7:30 - 9:30 16:30-18:30"
I am under the impression that this means it's ok to use outside of these times, as was confirmed to me by a local bus driver.
Very few people use it though, and any time I do I get cut off and angry looks.

Today at 14.00 a man overtook me, cut in front of me at the end of the lane to block me from going forward, rolled down his window and yelled "It's a f***in bus lane"

Your thoughts?

People don’t know because the signage is tiny and there is no online facility telling people of usage times for each bus lane.

TheChizler

Live at Three wrote: »

Your thoughts?

He's an awful eejit.

OldMrBrennan83

Live at Three wrote: »

On Wilton road there is a sign saying"Bus lane 7:30 - 9:30 16:30-18:30"
I am under the impression that this means it's ok to use outside of these times, as was confirmed to me by a local bus driver.
Very few people use it though, and any time I do I get cut off and angry looks.

Today at 14.00 a man overtook me, cut in front of me at the end of the lane to block me from going forward, rolled down his window and yelled "It's a f***in bus lane"

Your thoughts?

Shout back "read the sign you ****ing imbecile" and tell him to get out of your way.

johnayo

Ive had the same situation on Wilton Rd as well. I think these people have no idea about bus lane regulations.

Effects

I got pulled in by a Garda, a few months ago, for using the bus lane, when it wasn't operational.
His reasoning was that I was undertaking traffic, and that it's illegal no matter if the bus lane is in operation or not.

kub

Live at Three wrote: »

On Wilton road there is a sign saying"Bus lane 7:30 - 9:30 16:30-18:30"
I am under the impression that this means it's ok to use outside of these times, as was confirmed to me by a local bus driver.
Very few people use it though, and any time I do I get cut off and angry looks.

Today at 14.00 a man overtook me, cut in front of me at the end of the lane to block me from going forward, rolled down his window and yelled "It's a f***in bus lane"

Your thoughts?

Did the guy cut in front of you at the point where the traffic in the bus lane has to yield with the traffic in the main line?
Just the way the main line curves in at that point, it may seem like the way you describe.

Live at Three

kub wrote: »

Did the guy cut in front of you at the point where the traffic in the bus lane has to yield with the traffic in the main line?
Just the way the main line curves in at that point, it may seem like the way you describe.

Yes, but I had let out 1 or 2 cars already. This guy sped up to block me off on purpose.

Live at Three

OldMrBrennan83 wrote: »

Shout back "read the sign you ****ing imbecile" and tell him to get out of your way.

I tried but he was gone on by the time I had my window down! I need to make a cardboard sign and hold it up.

xabi

Live at Three wrote: »

Yes, but I had let out 1 or 2 cars already. This guy sped up to block me off on purpose.

You have to yield to the cars in the normal lane, he didn’t have to let you out, might be courteous, but he didn’t have to.

Live at Three

Effects wrote: »

I got pulled in by a Garda, a few months ago, for using the bus lane, when it wasn't operational.
His reasoning was that I was undertaking traffic, and that it's illegal no matter if the bus lane is in operation or not.

But it's legal to pass on the inside lane if

1. The traffic to your right is moving slower than that of your own lane.
2. The car in front is turning right

Live at Three

xabi wrote: »

You have to yield to the cars in the normal lane, he didn’t have to let you out, might be courteous, but he didn’t have to.

I get you, but I had started to move out, I was zippering into line. He was behind me and drove all around me to get his shout in. If I hadn't moved at the time I would be unnecessarily holding up people in my lane.

xabi

Live at Three wrote: »

I get you, but I had started to move out, I was zippering into line. He was behind me and drove all around me to get his shout in. If I hadn't moved at the time I would be unnecessarily holding up people in my lane.

He was probably blocking the box junction in that case.

nailer54321

People are now conditioned to stay out of bus lanes. They kept changing the times when bus lanes were intriduced first so people just stay out of them now. But if you actually read the signs you can save your self a lot of time. But uou will always get fools who yhink that they can not drive in bus lanes at any time, you just need to be careful of these when passing as they think you are trying to skip the queue .

xabi

Effects wrote: »

I got pulled in by a Garda, a few months ago, for using the bus lane, when it wasn't operational.
His reasoning was that I was undertaking traffic, and that it's illegal no matter if the bus lane is in operation or not.

Raises the question, should all cars be in the bus lane when not operational, keep left rule.

TheChizler

Then you get people doing the opposite when the bus lane is active; queueing in the bus lane and merging at the end without yielding to traffic on the right.

Live at Three

nailer54321 wrote: »

People are now conditioned to stay out of bus lanes. They kept changing the times when bus lanes were intriduced first so people just stay out of them now. But if you actually read the signs you can save your self a lot of time. But uou will always get fools who yhink that they can not drive in bus lanes at any time, you just need to be careful of these when passing as they think you are trying to skip the queue .

Yeah it's almost not worth the hassle, you get people driving with one wheel in your lane just to block you from passing. It was a very irritating experience today...there were more in the wrong lane, than my lane, so Angry Man today looked like he was in the right and I was the eejit trying to pass people out.

polaris68

Effects wrote: »

I got pulled in by a Garda, a few months ago, for using the bus lane, when it wasn't operational.
His reasoning was that I was undertaking traffic, and that it's illegal no matter if the bus lane is in operation or not.

So if you weren't undertaking, i.e., diving at the same speed as the cars outside of you, you would have been fine?

Effects

Live at Three wrote: »

But it's legal to pass on the inside lane if

1. The traffic to your right is moving slower than that of your own lane.
2. The car in front is turning right

Yeah, that's what I'd have thought. It's hard to argue with a Garda on the side of the road. He ended by saying never drive in the bus lane and you won't get in trouble.

polaris68 wrote: »

So if you weren't undertaking, i.e., driving at the same speed as the cars outside of you, you would have been fine?

Possibly. But I can't control traffic. It would mean I'd have to just stop in the empty bus lane every time the car on my right stopped.


A car in the right hand lane indicated to take a left into a supermarket, intending to cross the bus lane to do so.
I slowed and flashed them to proceed as I didn't want to cut them off. Personally I would have moved across to the bus lane before starting the turn.
It was after this the Garda van in traffic in the right lane pulled me in.

grogi

Live at Three wrote: »

Your thoughts?

Report to Gardai for dangerous driving and obscenity in public.

grogi

Live at Three wrote: »

But it's legal to pass on the inside lane if

1. The traffic to your right is moving slower than that of your own lane. t

That the definition of overtaking, isn't it? I have never overtook someone that was going faster than me...:]

Dbu

Effects wrote: »

I got pulled in by a Garda, a few months ago, for using the bus lane, when it wasn't operational.
His reasoning was that I was undertaking traffic, and that it's illegal no matter if the bus lane is in operation or not.

BUL2SHEET
A guard that hasnt a clue

User142

Do people who use that Wilton Road bus lane actually think they are letting people from the normal traffic lane in when the bus lane ends with a yield sign and the normal traffic lane continues uninterrupted?!

Treviso

Live at Three wrote: »

I get you, but I had started to move out, I was zippering into line. He was behind me and drove all around me to get his shout in. If I hadn't moved at the time I would be unnecessarily holding up people in my lane.

Its not a zippering in lane though, you need to yield for all traffic coming from the right hand lane as it has right of way. The number of times that people drive straight on from that lane (even when it is not a bus lane) without yielding is eunreal and a lot more dangerous (buses do that a lot too)

By all mean drive in the bus lane outside of those times but you need to yield to all traffic in the right hand lane, even if you are holding people up in your lane.

In saying that, its a really poorly designed road layout

hans aus dtschl

Does anyone have a good reason for why it isn't just a 24/7 bus lane? Seems like it'd make more sense to me, unless I'm missing something.

the beer revolu

Treviso wrote: »

Its not a zippering in lane though, you need to yield for all traffic coming from the right hand lane as it has right of way. The number of times that people drive straight on from that lane (even when it is not a bus lane) without yielding is eunreal and a lot more dangerous (buses do that a lot too)

By all mean drive in the bus lane outside of those times but you need to yield to all traffic in the right hand lane, even if you are holding people up in your lane.

In saying that, its a really poorly designed road layout

I had a guy go almost apoplectic with me because I wouldn't allow him to force his way out of the bus lane into the regular lane.

I've no doubt that he thought he had right of way but I didn't like his manner. I think a lot of the cars using the bus lane assume (despite the yield sign) that they have right of way and try to assert it.

On the other hand, most drivers in the regular lane assume that drivers in the bus lane are always doing so ilegally and will not let them out as they are seen to be skipping the queue.

I don't understand why it's so confusing to so many people (even the guards, it seems).

run_Forrest_run

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Does anyone have a good reason for why it isn't just a 24/7 bus lane? Seems like it'd make more sense to me, unless I'm missing something.

Because reserving it exclusively for buses just turns it into a hugely under-utilised lane on what is a very busy road.

hans aus dtschl

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

Because reserving it exclusively for buses just turns it into a hugely under-utilised lane on what is a very busy road.

Wait...
It's bus only at the busiest times of day.

And I think what you're saying is that they're making it available to general traffic because of high demand.
So...
They reduce the number of lanes available to general traffic when there's highest demand.
And then make a second lane available to general traffic when there's lower demand?

I must admit that I find this logic a little confusing.

TheChizler

Is there an argument that it might be better to have a much space as possible between traffic going opposite directions? It certainly helps with overtakes in the Wilton direction if there's a free lane in the middle.

But I guess it's mainly to allow parking and better access to homes outside of peak hours.

hans aus dtschl

TheChizler wrote: »

Is there an argument that it might be better to have a much space as possible between traffic going opposite directions? It certainly helps with overtakes in the Wilton direction if there's a free lane in the middle.

That's logical.
It probably won't work well at the time it's most needed obviously, but at least it's logical.

TheChizler wrote: »

But I guess it's mainly to allow parking and better access to homes outside of peak hours.

It's not an ideal way of dealing with this, because again it'd be at its most valuable to them during peak hours. When the traffic is lighter, they can probably access/egress without significant problems. At least I've been able to, when parked there.

run_Forrest_run

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Wait...
It's bus only at the busiest times of day.

And I think what you're saying is that they're making it available to general traffic because of high demand.
So...
They reduce the number of lanes available to general traffic when there's highest demand.
And then make a second lane available to general traffic when there's lower demand?

I must admit that I find this logic a little confusing.

Bus lanes are supposed to be an incentive to attract users our of their cars and allow buses flow during busy times, hence the restriction for cars using it during said times.
Not very confusing.
Now during not so busy times why not let cars use it anyway, because the number of buses is far less than the number of cars, improve the flow even more., Which is what happens. Ruling our cars on a 24/7 basis is daft and basically a waste of resources.

User142

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

Bus lanes are supposed to be an incentive to attract users our of their cars and allow buses flow during busy times, hence the restriction for cars using it during said times.
Not very confusing.
Now during not so busy times why not let cars use it anyway, because the number of buses is far less than the number of cars, improve the flow even more., Which is what happens. Ruling our cars on a 24/7 basis is daft and basically a waste of resources.

I don't see how people using the bus lane is a better use of resources. The resulting chaotic mess when the lane ends and queue skippers assert a right of way they don't have just causes traffic to move more slowly.

As someone who makes the right turn in the opposite direction frequently. The needless gaps in traffic coming from the wilton road frequently happen in heavy traffic allowing me to make my turn. These gaps are always due to the mess caused by drivers forcing their way in from the bus lane which causes the normal lane to temporarily choke.

True it would be a better use of resources if the driver who use the bus lane actually respected the yield sign and waited for a gap which allows them to seamlessly integrate back into the normal lane. But anyone whos ever used that road knows they don't. If youre in the normal traffic lane you've to be slow, prepared and cautious of people like OP who think youre merging into their lane for some reason.

Lets call a spade a spade here. The only people who use that lane are just queue skippers. Just like people who use the right hand turn lane in the opposite direction and then hop back into the left lane by Ramen. All legal when done right but doesn't help traffic flow one bit and only benefits one car to the detriment of everyone else.

hans aus dtschl

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

Bus lanes are supposed to be an incentive to attract users our of their cars and allow buses flow during busy times, hence the restriction for cars using it during said times.
Not very confusing.
Now during not so busy times why not let cars use it anyway, because the number of buses is far less than the number of cars, improve the flow even more., Which is what happens. Ruling our cars on a 24/7 basis is daft and basically a waste of resources.

Look, we're not going to see eye to eye on this one and that's OK.

I might drive a car, but as far as I'm concerned, the priority order on our roads is pedestrians first, then cyclists, then public transport, and private cars last.
There's no rationale in my head for taking any road space from any of the top three at any point and making it available to private cars.

Bus lanes are clearly a different thing to me than they are to you. For me they're a way to ensure the buses can always adhere to schedule and be predictable, and adding any private traffic whatsoever to that is a mistake.

I've no motivation to make it easy to drive a private car through the city. Commercial vehicles are an entirely different story obviously.

As I say, I don't agree with you whatsoever. And I guess that's probably OK too, we're all allowed to have opinions.

run_Forrest_run

hans aus dtschl wrote: »

Look, we're not going to see eye to eye on this one and that's OK.

I might drive a car, but as far as I'm concerned, the priority order on our roads is pedestrians first, then cyclists, then public transport, and private cars last.
There's no rationale in my head for taking any road space from any of the top three at any point and making it available to private cars.

Bus lanes are clearly a different thing to me than they are to you. For me they're a way to ensure the buses can always adhere to schedule and be predictable, and adding any private traffic whatsoever to that is a mistake.

I've no motivation to make it easy to drive a private car through the city. Commercial vehicles are an entirely different story obviously.

As I say, I don't agree with you whatsoever. And I guess that's probably OK too, we're all allowed to have opinions.

hey, I agree with you on all of the above, I cycle to work (when possible) and I never take my car into the city..I use public transport...I was simply making a point about making more use out of a resource (a lane on a busy road) during off-peak times.

ofcork

I thought there was a sign went up on that lane making it a 24hr bus lane.

zilog_jones

The signs with the bus lane times on that road are mess: There seems to be multiple different times in different sections, they're missing the actual blue bus lane sign, and some aren't even facing the right direction.

User142

zilog_jones wrote: »

The signs with the bus lane times on that road are mess: There seems to be multiple different times in different sections, they're missing the actual blue bus lane sign, and some aren't even facing the right direction.

For some reason the bus lane signs always get reversed on busy roads. Especially the ones on the Western Road and outside Pres/St. Josephs. All these ones were vandalised in some way at one time and were fixed. I swear within 2 weeks all were either completely turned around or it was clear someone had tried to swing them around.

Without any evidence I suspect its Taxi drivers doing this as they don't want people to be aware that these lanes aren't 24/7 and that everyones free to use them at all times during the weekends.

One of the only non vandalised sign is the one on Washington St which unsurprisingly is the only 24 hour sign I know of in Cork.

Lia_lia

Yeah, you'd be surprised at how many people don't realise that not all bus lanes are 24hrs. Someone brought up this particular bus lane at lunch at work one day giving out about people using it when they shouldn't be.

I had to inform her it isn't 24 hrs. Not one person (out of about 6) at the table (except for me!) knew there was even such as thing as bus lanes that only operate at certain hours.

mikeymouse

zilog_jones wrote: »

The signs with the bus lane times on that road are mess: There seems to be multiple different times in different sections, they're missing the actual blue bus lane sign, and some aren't even facing the right direction.

This is from 2009 , even a pedestrian would have to stop to read that sign.
That hedge is trimmed in the 2017 streetview, but is still poorly signposted

ofcork

I don't know why the Washington st one is 24hr if you want to turn left you could be stuck in the traffic lane queue for a long time.

the dark phantom

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

People don’t know because the signage is tiny and there is no online facility telling people of usage times for each bus lane.

Its nothing to do with the signage itself, its simply people who are just too thick to take any notice of the signage, I've been using the lanes for years and its ridiculous the looks I get from other drivers, beeping horns, flashing lights etc, Bunch of idiots in Cork

the dark phantom

User142 wrote: »

For some reason the bus lane signs always get reversed on busy roads. Especially the ones on the Western Road and outside Pres/St. Josephs. All these ones were vandalised in some way at one time and were fixed. I swear within 2 weeks all were either completely turned around or it was clear someone had tried to swing them around.

Without any evidence I suspect its Taxi drivers doing this as they don't want people to be aware that these lanes aren't 24/7 and that everyones free to use them at all times during the weekends.

One of the only non vandalised sign is the one on Washington St which unsurprisingly is the only 24 hour sign I know of in Cork.

it is the taxi's doing it, one particular company not located a million miles away too. One of them was reported while in the act by a lancaster quay resident and nothing was done about it.

j8wk2feszrnpao

the dark phantom wrote: »

Its nothing to do with the signage itself, its simply people who are just too thick to take any notice of the signage, I've been using the lanes for years and its ridiculous the looks I get from other drivers, beeping horns, flashing lights etc, Bunch of idiots in Cork

The signage is an issue, as highlighted by the Google Maps pics. I’ve passed there a few times (during the bus hours), and it’s not clear signage.
BTW, a few cars do still go into the lane, nobody beeps or flashes (as if that achieves anything), you must be attracting the rare idiot, so relax.