Port Tunnel "metered" this morning, due to congestion (2023-10-10)

Beta Ray Bill · 10-10-2023 8:44am #1

Never seen this happen before.

I was on the Swords Express this morning for my commute into town, boarded the bus around 7:40am. Did the loop around Swords and got on to the motorway for around 8am. Arrived at port tunnel only to be met with a queue of vehicles waiting to use it. Like the lights were red and they were only letting X amount of vehicles in at a time.

Waited there for about 10/15 mins before we were allowed through. Never seen this before. Is the port tunnel now at capacity? Does this happen regularly? (I don't use the Swords express very often)

Note: There was a hell of a lot of private cars using the tunnel... €10 a shot 🤨

It took nearly 2 hours to commute from Swords to Harcourt Street this morning, I've never seen so much congestion on a clear day. I should have gotten off at the point, got the Red Line Luas and then changed to the Green line Luas.

Dial Hard · 10-10-2023 9:29am

That usually happens after there's been a crash or a closure in the tunnel.

loyatemu · 10-10-2023 9:32am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058317502/port-tunnel-metered-this-morning-due-to-congestion-2023-10-10

it's been €10 for what, 10 years? Needs to be increased, the tunnel wasn't designed for private car commuting. No way should buses and trucks be held up because the tunnel is full of cars. Traffic was at a standstill on the quays as well - Tuesday seems to be the busiest day of the week now.

stephenjmcd · 10-10-2023 9:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058317502/port-tunnel-metered-this-morning-due-to-congestion-2023-10-10

Frequent enough when traffic builds up yeah.

This morning and today in particular there'll be issues on the quays due to the road closures in south city due to the budget. It was alot busier this morning as a result.

Dial Hard · 10-10-2023 9:37am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121217367#Comment_121217367

Saw stats on office attendance figures recently and Wednesday is actually by far the busiest day for people going into the city centre. As said, I'd say today's issue was the road closures in the south city centre, there are a lot of diversions in place.

SharkMX · 10-10-2023 9:41am

While I cycle to work as much as I can, I am fully aware of how crap the roads in and around the city have become to drive on since they did all the cycle lane and bus lane work over the last 3 years.

ELM327 · 10-10-2023 10:02am

Could be folks expensing it in private cars.

the_amazing_raisin · 10-10-2023 11:55am

I suspect that people who are heading in 1-2 days a week are more willing to take the expense of the tunnel for the "easier" commute

Driven to and from town a couple of times myself over the past year, and while it's extremely frustrating being stuck in traffic it probably wasn't any slower than the bus

Best solution to traffic is to get the people out of the city, but unfortunately that wouldn't sit too well with all the commercial property companies who want to rent out their prestige offices in the city

Beta Ray Bill · 10-10-2023 12:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121217506#Comment_121217506

I think a lot of companies are paying for the tolls.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121218047#Comment_121218047

100%

Encourage Large multi nationals to set up offices in places like Swords, Naas, Ashbourne, Carrickmines, Maynooth, Celbridge, etc

Then we'd have less people needing to go into city centre.

markpb · 10-10-2023 12:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121218268#Comment_121218268

If a company is in the city centre, it’s fine for some people to get there by public transport from the rest of Dublin. If a company is in Swords, the pool of places where a PT trip is effective is now much smaller. You haven’t solved traffic, you’ve created more of it by forcing more people to drive.