brt for dublin?

tom1ie wrote: »

Do we know what the 16 radial routes are going to be that are proposed for bus connects yet?
Indeed same question for the orbital routes. Or is this info not out until July?

The second biggest source of bus delays, after traffic congestion, is the payment process at bus stops. Payment of fares by cash is still commonplace, slowing down the boarding time. Even when using the Leap Card, the complexity of payment stages means a high percentage of passengers have to interact with the driver, with resultant delays at bus stops. At busy bus stops these delays can be for several minutes. Multiply by the number of busy stops on a route, and those delays accumulate to add significantly to the overall journey time.

Under BusConnects we will simplify and streamline the process of paying for bus journeys. We want to make the fare system simpler, and we also want to make movement between different bus services seamless and easy, without financial penalty. This will require a move to either a “tag-on” and “tag-off” facility, similar to Luas and DART, or a single “flat fare” approach in order to reduce the need to interact with the driver for fare payments.

As part of this process, cashless operation will be introduced on all buses, to remove the delays caused by cash payments. Currently over 70% of fare payments are made by Leap card. As this increases over the next couple of years, the transition to a cashless regime will become easier. BusConnects will incorporate the latest developments in account-based ticketing technology, potentially allowing use of credit / debit cards or mobile devices as a convenient means of payment. This will also allow integration with other transport payments such as parking facilities and bicycle hire.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a high-quality bus based transit system that delivers a service with higher speeds and quality of service than traditional bus services.

We’re planning to do this by improving road infrastructure and providing specially designed vehicles, with rapid, frequent operations and faster boarding and alighting.

We are proposing that a number of the Core Radial Bus Corridors will be developed as Bus Rapid Transit routes, where the passenger numbers forecast are approaching the limits of conventional bus route capacity.

BRT will represent a major step-change in the provision of bus services on some of the busier bus corridors in the Dublin region.

A typical BRT system uses multi-door vehicles, higher platforms for level boarding and stops that are spaced further apart than those that serve conventional buses. Using different vehicles than normal buses, a BRT route can cater for a higher volume of passengers than a normal bus corridor.

In designing the BRT details, we will ensure that it is fully integrated into the overall bus system, providing a coordinated overall network.

At the heart of the BusConnects project is the proposal to develop continuous bus lanes, as far as is practicable, along the busiest bus corridors.

The Transport Strategy sets out a network of bus corridors forming the “Core Bus Network” for the Dublin region. Additional Text. There are eleven radial bus corridors planned in addition to the Bus Rapid Transit routes, as well as three orbital bus corridors.

At present, these busy bus routes only have dedicated bus lanes along less than one third of their lengths. This means that for most of the journey, buses are competing for space with general traffic and so are affected by the increasing levels of congestion.

The resultant delays are a source of real frustration for people looking for consistent and predictable journey times. This makes the overall bus system less efficient, less reliable and less punctual. As a result, many people do not see any benefit in choosing bus transport.

Our objective is to develop these eleven radial bus corridors and three orbital bus corridors so that each will have continuous bus priority – in other words, a continuous bus lane in each direction. This “next generation” of bus corridors will deliver a transformation in the performance of these routes, making it easier and quicker for you to come and go by bus, whether your journey is related to your job, your studies, or your social life and family life.

We want to remove the current delays and uncertainties, so that in the future, bus journeys will be faster, more punctual and more reliable. Making those changes is an essential part of delivering a vastly improved service for passengers.

Achieving this will, in some instances, require a widening of the road and changes to parking arrangements, but the end result will not just be better services for bus passengers, but will benefit all users of the corridor.

Cyclists will be provided with safe cycling facilities, largely segregated from other traffic, along these routes. Pedestrians will benefit from additional safe pedestrian crossing points and reconstructed footpaths. Car users will have reduced interactions with cyclists and buses as well a resurfaced roadway providing smoother journeys with less wear on vehicles.

We will also take the opportunity of enhancing key local centres on the corridors with additional landscaping and other works aimed at improving the local environment in these centres.