Clontarf to City Centre Cycle & Bus Priority Project discussion (renamed)

GLaDOS

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448072#Comment_119448072

Yeah agreed, can see it becoming one-way eventually. Some of the paths near tolka park are tiny.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448199#Comment_119448199

Light sequence as far as I could tell. Probably waiting about 2-3 minutes for a brief green. (Get a long one every 4 cycles or so) Couldn't see any issues with traffic build up on the other side. This is probably the worst I've seen it since the pandemic started (in prime holiday season) so don't think it could be put down as "one of those days".

I imagine they'll tweak it, but if it's bad now, it's going to be horrendous once schools are back (I'll likely go back to the bus by then).

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119443999#Comment_119443999

https://irishcycle.com/2022/08/06/clontarf-route-unofficial-qa-aka-people-need-to-stop-lying-and-talking-nonsense/

cgcsb

Glorious quiet morning on all routes as far as I could tell, had the bike out going across the North side. Lots of other bikes.

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119445419#Comment_119445419

It is certainly not a kip. But less motor traffic and improved alternative mobility routes will certainly improve it, along with the additional kerbing, planting, paving and so on.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448317#Comment_119448317

"There also has to be the realisation that when motorists have had most of the space on streets and roads for so long, taking the away can feel like oppression."

It isn't as if people walked and cycled before cars took over streets and roads.

Rail, trams and horse taxis were how people got around, i.e. *mechanised transport* of which cars were just a continuation.

Then they ripped up railway lines to make way for cars. (Both in this country and throughout the UK)

Now people are meant to walk or pedal everywhere? Why not re-build the railway system that was part-dismantled? The red line Luas brought back the old Dundrum to Harcourt St line, now where's the rest of it?

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448435#Comment_119448435

That's some takeaway you got from the piece. But yeah, I'd be all for rebuilding the railways and trams! This is a commuting and transport forum, not a car forum.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448450#Comment_119448450

'This is a commuting and transport forum, not a car forum.'

I'm not insisting on car usage though, I'm just saying the alternatives to cars have to be realistic.

It isn't as if people didn't have access to mechanised transport prior to the invention of the automobile. They had chariots, single horses, horse and carriages, then canal boats, railways, trams, then finally cars.

So why should a 21st century person be told to suck a lemon if they don't want to use their own body as an 'engine' of transport?

magicbastarder

It isn't as if people walked and cycled before cars took over streets and roads.

um, they did? between 1986 and 2002 the number of people cycling to work in ireland fell by two thirds, though it has increased again a bit, with the 2006 census showing the lowest level.

i'm not sure if the question was in the census prior to 1986.

growleaves

Anyway I don't want to divert discussion from the specific issue of the Fairview set-up.

I'll start a new thread perhaps.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448435#Comment_119448435

Now people are meant to walk or pedal everywhere? Why not re-build the railway system that was part-dismantled? The red line Luas brought back the old Dundrum to Harcourt St line, now where's the rest of it?

Nobody is proposing that people walk and cycle everywhere. What is being proposed is that sustainable and efficient forms of transport are given priority. Many people would like to walk or cycle so this is part of the facilitation.

As for rebuilding railways: cool! Now how much more in taxes are you willing to pay to pay for this?

spurious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119447070#Comment_119447070

Maybe because clearing private cars on the North Strand makes it even more obvious now how many cyclists do it?

I know cars do it too, prosecute them all, the whole point of the rules of the road is that people can be sure in at least most cases no idiot will be flying into the side of them as they legally come out on a green light.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448545#Comment_119448545

Its just mad that we're working towards banning petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and not re-constituting the old rail system. We'll be naked before the storm imo.

To me it looks like an exercise in bad faith.

The government funnel taxes to oblivion (Children's hospital anyone?) then cry poverty.

Are we a society of medieval peasants? Surely we can afford something more than walkways.

The UK recently expanded the Underground into Essex (where many ex-Londoners moved to in recent decades).

Podge_irl

Again, buses exist and are actually quite plentiful and will become even moreso over the next few years.

Thelonious Monk

I am of the controversial opinion that they could build dedicated bus lanes to the airport etc, ones that cars just cannot enter, and it would be almost as efficient as having an underground, at a fraction of the price. A dedicated bus lane from the airport via the old airport road through Drumcondra etc could have been built years ago, I don't know why it was never put out there as a solution.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448590#Comment_119448590

The old rail system would cost billions to get up and running again and that is assuming that planning, land grabs, etc aren't an issue.

Anyhow, this has little to do with Farview & N. Strand both of which have a train lines which are likely to serve many who commute by car through those areas.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448674#Comment_119448674

Yes, the problem with buses is that there are too many cars in the way. Blocking bus lanes and disrupting flow. If miraculously all cars disappeared tomorrow, the bus fleet could be expanded and they’d flow smoothly and fast

our bus network has a car problem

Compo82

Richmond road was a disaster this morning, backed up to Gracepark road. I hate to see what it will be like in September with the schools back. Seems that cars are getting stuck because of the extra cars turning off at Fairview. Ballybough was actually moving ok.

I've never got hit by a car but I got runover by a cyclist who ignored a red light. I just don't get why cyclists don't think they need to obey the rules of the road.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448590#Comment_119448590

"Walking is for peasants" is exactly the mindset that has us in the state we're in today. Dublin is an eminently walkable city. I grew up here and didn't drive until I was over 35. And that was also before the LUAS, Dublin Bikes, bus lanes etc. People are lazy bastards and want the door-to-door solution every time.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448590#Comment_119448590

Very little of the old rail system would be of any real use. That closed before the 60s was almost entirely closed with good reason. Winding Victorian lines, particularly the narrow gauge systems, couldn't compete with road travel by the 1920s and there's no justification to reopen them. 60s-70s closures are more questionable.

Dunboyne-Navan, the West Cork system, Waterford-Tramore (would probably have been replaced by a light rail line/system if it had survived), the Cork-Limerick direct line... that's about it. Portadown route to Derry in NI. Dunboyne, Ennis, Midleton were obvious to reopen and have been.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448761#Comment_119448761

do you get why motorists don't think they need to obey the rules of the road? maybe it's a problem with all road users?

it's amazing how many people have stories of being hit by bikes running red lights on the internet, i've never met anyone who's been hit by a bicycle

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448590#Comment_119448590

You do know that billions upon billions have been committed to DART+, Metrolink and Bus Connects. A lot more money than is spent on cycling.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448770#Comment_119448770

Is it amazing? That's the first story on boards I've seen of someone being hit by a bicycle. I've never been hit by a bicycle.

However the green man on pedestrian crossings is rendered obsolete by city centre cyclists. They will blast through red lights even when there are pedestrians stepping onto the road. You can't obfuscate that with statistics about what car drivers do or do not do.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448812#Comment_119448812

And there is the legislation already in place to fine those cyclists on the spot and to issue a court summons if they can’t or won’t pay. Same as there is legislation for speeding (which every motorist does around my residential area) and motorists running reds.

Nothing needs to be changed and if rabid blasting cyclists were actually a problem there’d regularly be Gardai at pedestrian crossings issuing fines

markpb

I thought you were starting a new thread?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448841#Comment_119448841

Who? Me?

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448841#Comment_119448841

Sorry

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448761#Comment_119448761

I hate to see what it will be like in September with the schools back.

Maybe it can be the start of some introspection as to why on earth so many kids are driven to school...

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448812#Comment_119448812

It's easy to generalise like that against some cyclists. Some motorists are also doing this on a just a regular basis, if not more. The risk to pedestrians is considerably more when a motorist does it. For balance, pedestrians are also routinely walking out onto roads in urban areas without looking or thinking.

Meanwhile, where is the enforcement? Its almost totally absent and left to road users to do the right thing. Therefore, all categories or road user do things they should not with little fear of being caught.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448761#Comment_119448761

I've never got hit by a car but I got runover by a cyclist who ignored a red light. I just don't get why cyclists don't think they need to obey the rules of the road.

What has that got to do with traffic in Fairview?

There is certainly an issue with road policing whereby pretty much everything is ignored by AGS. However, there is ample evidence showing that drivers cause far more injuries by breaking the laws than anyone else on the road. Nonetheless, this has absolutely nothing to do with traffic in Fairview being temporarily diverted via Ballybough to faccilitate the replacement of some water pipes and other works.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448812#Comment_119448812

You see it all the time on Twitter, people going on about their granny's being hit by bicycles etc. It's all fabricated, I caught one guy a while back saying it was his sister and a quick look at his profile had him saying it was his grandmother a few days before.

I just find it mad that people like you get so annoyed by cyclists but I don't see you demanding motorists are held more accountable when they're the ones killing and maiming daily in Ireland. Look at the Garda Traffic Twitter account, drug and drink driving and all kinds of madness happens all the time yet no one seems to care. Those darn cyclists though being a net benefit to society, grrrrr.