BusConnects Dublin - Bus Network Changes Discussion

The Irish times heading for their bus connects article; “number of trees to be felled under bus route scheme jumps from 1500 to 2500”.

Only when you read into the article do they mention that they are mostly off road trees that are smaller and younger, and that overall there’s going to be less mature trees felled.

Nice to see where they still lie in that court.

trellheim wrote: »

I never said it was over Xmas, I said I checked in an Xmas residents get-together about the "consultations" since it was the first time to chat to a lot of folks over the year They were not publicised at all in our area if they were held at all.

Full disclosure : a leaflet/pamphlet for the wrong QBC came in the door of everyones gaff( and I read it in detail as I wondered when they would stop discussing Clongriffin and start discussing our area which is nowhere near that QBC ) Well publicised - no I don't think so.

Okay but if you're talking about the bus corridors, I'm not sure what consultation you are referring to - you mean the one from November 2018 to May 2019?

If so, I find it crazy that people weren't aware of this. They had ads on the sides of buses, on bus shelters, posters inside buses, etc. publicising it. Here's an example from the Network consultation, but the corridor consultation was similarly publicised:



That all said, there's a bus corridor consultation going on right now until 17th April, and there's a public information event on next week:



These public information events don't generally contain any info that isn't available on busconnects.ie but they will likely have a rep present who can hear and respond to specific feedback.

I'm genuinely not sure what more the NTA can do here - this has been a project with a huge amount of well-publicised public consultation. I think to do anything more would not bring the right cost/benefit to the project, because if these posters are all over the buses and bus shelters, if someone doesn't see them that suggests they don't use the bus very much.

trellheim wrote: »

we're inside the canals and its walk or bus for most of the estate

Looking at that list of meetings our QBC meeting is miles away from us if I read it right, wheres the 46a in all that

Why are you looking for a specific bus route? You realise that this is a consultation about Core Bus Corridors? It's about the specific physical infrastructure that will support the whole project, not about route maps.

The last CBC public consultation happened between Nov 2018 and May 2019, this is now the second round with revised infrastructural plans based on first round feedback.

The BusConnects Network Redesign is a completely different project with its own consultations, and that's the one that is about changing the route map of the buses in Dublin. There was a second round of public consultation for this project between October and December of 2019.

The only CBC that the 46A will use will be CBC-13, which affects the 46A between Leeson Street and Kill Lane.

Which part of the 46A route are you interested in?

which you can read information

trellheim wrote: »

I disagree completely its been useless and badly publicised from our point of view

Some areas definitely either got the wrong information or no information but these are the minority. Bear in mind others have criticised the NTA for spending money advertising busconnects on billboards and the media so there are also upper limits in how much effort can be made to get people to engage.

I wish there were better, more coordinated and most importantly faster ways of getting public consultations done but the reality is most people aren't hugely bothered or impressed by things the government says it's going to do. It's only when things start actually changing that they take notice and want to know why they weren't asked.

MJohnston wrote: »

Well there are, but elderly people (thankfully decreasingly) don't use the internet much.

I mean more like say the revenue PAYE portal where you can log and and see everything related to your tax affairs except for planning issues. You have separate county council planning sites which are mostly awful and don't cover consultation anyway.

Older people certainly get trotted out to try and stop any kind of progress in public transport but I don't think they're the problem in themselves. They have different needs for sure but much like with the trees I don't think those complaining on their behalf are all that sincere.

Simple stuff that would speed up the network

A.I at O'Connell bridge with cameras pointing west along the north quays (count number of buses waiting to turn south )



Cameras also pointing down D'Olier St ( count number of buses waiting at fleet street junction ) -

Work quickly to come up with algorithm that prioritizes clearing D'Olier St as it holds far more than LUAS (balance against cameras counting on Rosie Hackett/Hawkins St to ensure they get some as w ell )

Make LUAS track on College Green (the old 15 terminus) usable by buses as well, end the lunacy of that space being dedicated to trams it should have dived under trinity not around

Muahahaha wrote: »

I havent seen the new plans but read that the NTA are saying that something like there will be 40% less trees cut down under them.

Anyone know what this means in real terms, is there concrete examples where under the old plans there was an uninterrupted bus lane but now the bus will have to join the main line of car traffic? Disaster if so, BC has to be about speeding up journey times to get people to switch to public transport.

Its 40% less mature trees - there's cases, e.g. around Liffey Valley, where hundreds of scrubby trees planted after road widening in 2010/1 will be cut down and replaced, with the figures actually increased from previous estimates. They're not the huge London Planes that everyone got worked up over

Most of the changes involve removing more car space instead although there's a few capitulations.

trellheim wrote: »

Simple stuff that would speed up the network

A.I at O'Connell bridge with cameras pointing west along the north quays (count number of buses waiting to turn south )



Cameras also pointing down D'Olier St ( count number of buses waiting at fleet street junction ) -

Work quickly to come up with algorithm that prioritizes clearing D'Olier St as it holds far more than LUAS (balance against cameras counting on Rosie Hackett/Hawkins St to ensure they get some as w ell )

Make LUAS track on College Green (the old 15 terminus) usable by buses as well, end the lunacy of that space being dedicated to trams it should have dived under trinity not around

Amen to that Trinners bit.

From memory,I recall some conversations relating to a Tunnell under the Campus.

Was it from a consortium offering a build & operate scenario ?

I think TCD's senior people had a coronary at the very thought of machines burrowing neath their hallowed halls etc,which,of course,would immediately collapse into the chasm.

Once that fear had been instilled,it was game over.

Looking at the current College Green codology,it is hard to accept that it is the result of several years of professional planning and design across a broad swathe of disciplines.

Some Senior Engineer actually signed-off on this mess....Inspected,Assessed Reviewed and Approved a setup largely unsuitable for purpose,and in many areas significantly increasing the risk profile for users.

A class of Senior Infants,issued with a foolscap page and some crayons,would find it difficult to any worse.

With the same group of 'Professionals' remaining at the Irish Administrative Helm,we can expect the good ship BusConnects to maintain it's new course through the Iceberg field.

Make LUAS track on College Green (the old 15 terminus) usable by buses as well, end the lunacy of that space being dedicated to trams it should have dived under trinity not around

What space are you referring to? You mean the part where the Trinity stop is?

p_haugh wrote: »

Doesn’t matter if that’s made a bus lane as they’ll be put back into the one lane choke point right after it.

But that’s the only part that the buses aren’t sharing space with trams here though, so I’m confused what the poster is referring to

whatever about bus gates, I'm skeptical about the idea of "bus priority signals". I assume the idea is that the signal will detect a bus arriving and give it a green light. IIRC a similar system was installed in the 80s or 90s and quickly fell out of use; even if it is properly maintained, what use is a green light if the shared lane ahead is already blocked with cars?

Peregrine wrote: »

See the signal controlled priority section on page 5 of each corridor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdHdZLsG0UA

yeah looks great, but what if that single lane is already bumper-to-bumper, which in many places it will be.
(Bus gates are different as they're effectively cul-de-sacs for non-bus traffic and the cars are turning off onto a different road.)

loyatemu wrote: »

whatever about bus gates, I'm skeptical about the idea of "bus priority signals". I assume the idea is that the signal will detect a bus arriving and give it a green light. IIRC a similar system was installed in the 80s or 90s and quickly fell out of use; even if it is properly maintained, what use is a green light if the shared lane ahead is already blocked with cars?

We had these circa 2002 under the cityswift plan. It was switched off because, although it improved bus journey times, it delayed motorists. We have the bus gate on bachelors walk now with bus only signals but typically this lane is tailed back 1km with cars ignoring the bus lane.

cgcsb wrote: »

We had these circa 2002 under the cityswift plan. It was switched off because, although it improved bus journey times, it delayed motorists. We have the bus gate on bachelors walk now with bus only signals but typically this lane is tailed back 1km with cars ignoring the bus lane.

It's only effective when combined with anpr enforcement of the bus lane and yellow boxes imo. I also wish they'd get rid of the taxis from those bus lanes as they tend to duck and dive between whichever lane they think they'll get through first.

Alkers wrote: »

There's a similar (not the same) bus priorty setup near Bushy Park
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3064306,-6.2897148,3a,75y,30.49h,70.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMSyFLBJRr-99KCnYGSVtLw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Although there's a yield sign on the ground, the cars are stopped via the signal while the bus is given a green light.

There’s more on Rathgar Rd and Terenure Rd East.

Which begs the question, if these ones actually work, then why are they proposing to change the road layout at these locations? It would suggest that they don’t work currently so we’re essentially trying to reinvent a broken wheel!!