What is being done to address the M50 problem?

tibia

Incidentally, tolls on the M50 are set to increase across the board from January:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2023/1205/1420292-tolls/

MrRigsby

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121444599#Comment_121444599

if all the uninsured, unlicensed, no tax , non roadworthy or disqualified cars and drivers were taken off the road it would greatly reduce traffic volume . Very easy to do with ANPR technology etc if the guards and that waste of oxygen McEntee could be bothered to do their jobs

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121456409#Comment_121456409

I lived in the city centre for years, never needed a car and barely used public transport. Only started using public transport when I moved to the suburbs.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121456717#Comment_121456717

I did imagine it, and turned down those roles for that reason. People do have agency over their own lives and can make decisions for themselves. Many often don't, or don't take everything into their decisions. Any time I've rented or bought a place to live, public transport availability to where I want to go has always been a large consideration.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121457087#Comment_121457087

I always used to see them and feel sorry for the kids. A commute at that age and being miles away from their friends all the time.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121457169#Comment_121457169

I was in China recently and EVERYONE has an electric moped that's limited to 50kph.

If the government brought in some laws surrounding this sort of vehicle then it would go some way to get people out of their cars. Something less restrictive than current motorbike laws would be ideal. If we can get someone on an electric bike onto the road with zero training maybe there could be some leeway.

Santry to Sandyford is not even 20km.

handlemaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058325350/what-is-being-done-to-address-the-m50-problem

Free public transport

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458911#Comment_121458911

As already mentioned, making public transport free isn't the massive incentive it might initially appear. To make public transport appealing, it needs to be quick and reliable. To make it quick and reliable, you need to a number of things but primarily ensure that bus lanes are kept 100% from drivers in private cars or vans. To do this you need enforcement by a policing body that sees this kind of driving as a problem 😕

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AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458873#Comment_121458873

Why not just go with eBikes?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458911#Comment_121458911

This doesn't get people to switch from cars to buses and trains.

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458161#Comment_121458161

Wasn't the tolls to be phased out when the building costs were paid off? (over 25 year or so). As I recall from when they were introduced..

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459289#Comment_121459289

Ebikes require the user to pedal and they're limited to 25kph. Very limited torque.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459390#Comment_121459390

Is that really a big issue for doing journeys around the city?

1percent

Carnage on the M50 Northbound this evening again. The one day I decide to drive rather than get the train from Maynooth. I'm starting to think that these bad drivers are environmental 5th columnists bent on causing commuting chaos to make us car drivers capitulate and take public transport.

I guess I can always use the tinfoil from my sandwiches to make a very fashionable headdress 😜

sdanseo

Realistic things that should be done, all achievable in the short term <12 months bar Metro integration of course.

1. Full Smart Motorway implementation. Legislate for and activate the legal variable speed limits, and rigidly enforce with cameras every 500m. (as an aside, this is purely for peak flow, speed limit is and should remain 100km/h and in fact should be increased to 130km/h or normal European speed limit for motorways during the night, except perhaps the narrower windier Southern Cross Route (J12 to J14).
2. Enforce misuses of the motorway other than speed. Failure to keep left, incorrect use of the Aux lane, leaving and rejoining to dodge traffic, slowing or stopping becasue you missed your exit or failed to change lane early enough.
3. Per-junction tolling. Disincentive toll dodging by removing the toll from a single point by adopting a flat fee per junction or per km. €3 or €4 to travel the entire length from the Tunnel to M11 sounds about right, and pro-rate of course for shorter journeys. Reduce this by 25% for registered tags as is currently the case, reduce by an additional 25% for PHEV and 50% for BEV. This also disincentivises the use of the motorway for short hops that don't currently include J6-7. Remove infrastructure for in store payments, force it online only to save running costs. Remove tag infrastructure, use cameras.
4. Park and Rides at key junctions. This one requires some supporting infrastructure from other agencies in terms of infrastructure and increased frequencies to Luas / Train / Bus so let's strictly stick to what would be achievable in the short term. New, larger or upgraded / fit for purpose P&R facilities would be suitable at J18, J14, J11, J7 (all Luas & Bus), J7/9 (Rail and later DART+ at Parkwest & possibly to include a Junction 8), J6 (Rail and later DART+ at Navan Road). Later, Ballymun for the Metro in time). Also Bray for Rail, just out of scope to the south. Almost every junction benefits from high freqency bus service too, it doesn't have to be rail or tram for P+R.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459416#Comment_121459416

It is if you want to take people out of their cars.

You're not going to convince someone to step out of their car for a slightly faster push bike. A moped that can do 50kph is no more expensive than an ebike.

salmocab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459364#Comment_121459364

if they got rid of the tolls it would put more cars on that section of the m50. Not suggesting that’s the only reason but currently it’s not feasible to get rid of tolls.

on the broader conversation until we have better PT then it’s difficult to get people to switch. We can only use the carrot and stick approach once we have a carrot.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121458429#Comment_121458429

We live in rural countryside and the school is a 2.4km commute with no bus available. We do a 3-4 minute drive or 4 or 5 kids might meet up and cycle. Likewise if ours get dropped in we might grab a neighbour and their bike if it's raining. The other kids in our kids class live up to 1km away but they have no problem keeping in touch and meeting up to play as has been done for hundreds of years.

I've a close cousin living in a town in a semi-d and they don't know the neighbour in the house attached to theirs

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459461#Comment_121459461

I can only speak for myself but I have a decathlon ebike with the 25km limit and it made longer journeys and wind and hills a piece of piss. Granted i cycled before I got one but its a diff ball game to normal bikes and they'll become more and more popular. I see loads of commuters on them now, it's like cycling without the worst drawbacks of cycling.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459926#Comment_121459926

Any links for it? What's the range and torque like?

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459949#Comment_121459949

Riverside 500e you get about 45km out of it with decent help

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459461#Comment_121459461

If you want to get people out of their cars, give them an option that they already know how to use, such as a bike.

WishUWereHere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121456333#Comment_121456333

I’m from Newbridge so have an idea of what Your Partners friend goes through with that ‘hell that is the Red Cow’. Why don’t they park & ride at the RC?

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459982#Comment_121459982

I watched a video, very nice bike.

Idbatterim

Peak hour bus lanes a good idea, very cheap buses, some might stop at a major junction along the way, some might stop at the n4, some at the n7, some at the n3? They stop at the airport and then onto swords etc area with a park and ride? Park and ride in sandyford / leopardstown, cherrywood etc too...

FazyLucker

M50 is always going to be so because it is a key artery for too many things. It is the key pinch point for almost all the traffic from every road in the country. It is a sign of economic prosperity - albeit a bad one - that its busy.

I would agree with those above on the topic of a public transport railway to be considered and built, but as long as we have Irish Rail subventions of €550 per passenger from Ballybrophy to Limerick to keep Alan Kelly happy, or the free travel brigade in Wexford wanting to re open a line used by a handful of people, these potentially really valuable and desperately needed pieces of infrastructure don't even get considered.

I would bet a well planned orbital rail route would really be utilised provided it hit all the right places along the route but failing that, why don't we have cycle lanes parallel to the M50 for example? If there was decent infrastructure I bet people would use it. I think they have them in France if I remember right? If its only 22km from Santry to Swords, many people could cycle to work much quicker than they can drive.

Alternatively, a (properly policed) 3rd lane for high occupancy, or the left hand lane turned in to a bus lane might help?

Nobody ever wants to sit in M50 traffic and if I get 100k of a pay rise but had to sit on it every day I would say no thanks.

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121459508#Comment_121459508

All I am saying is that the tolls were supposed to be limited in duration.

salmocab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121467754#Comment_121467754

Oh yeah wasn’t really arguing with you, was just making the point that regardless of anything else it would be impractical to remove them now.

tibia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121456720#Comment_121456720

In a nutshell, yes. A slightly better way of saying it:

"hey guys, you know how the issue is the road is overcrowded and there is no alternative routes? Lets find a way to reduce the number of vehicles using the road at peak times

betistuc

Does anyone remember the offer that a Japanese company( Mitsui, I think) made to the Government at the time back in the Eighties. They offered to bring their drilling machines over to Dublin from a completed tunnelling contract somewhere in the UK, and build and operate a Metro system for free , in exchange for all the ticket sales for 20 years. Government told them to sling their hook. It would have been handed back to the state by 2010 at the latest. We'd be pretty glad of it now