I read the following article this morning. "From August, bus gates will be in operation on Bachelors Walk and Aston Quay in order to restrict drivers from travelling through the city centre."
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/major-changes-to-dublin-city-traffic-to-come-into-effect-in-august-1610937.html
The quays have always been a pain in the a$$ to use, no matter the time of day… So, how will this effect people?
The council has been pushing traffic onto the quays for decades, by closing alternative routes (which I had no problems with). Now they are blocking the quays in places, without showing where the traffic should go access parts of the city centre (where currently one is forced onto the quays).
I can’t use public transport during rush hour, due to Asthma. Within 5 minutes of being on an overcrowded commuter train, I got an asthma attack which took two days recover from.
Without medical exemptions, all these car restrictions do is exclude me from the city centre. Or in other words, the policies make me disabled.
Private cars can still access the city, but there should be a reduction in pollution as a result which everyone will benefit from.
no they don't, you still have multiple options. firstly you can still drive and just sit longer in traffic, or taxi or walk or cycle or use a motorbike.
frankly you are just being ridiculous. Have you even looked for information regarding the alternative routes?
Dublin City Centre will just turn into a wasteland with scumbags hanging around, no shops as the numbers coming into town will just reduce, it's actually ridiculous what they are proposing. Dublin City Council just ruining Dublin together with Eamon Ryan.
Nobody is being stopped from driving in to the city centre
It is the tiny number driving through the city centre, not going or stopping anywhere there, but holding up the buses and trams carrying many multiples the numbers of people that are going to be affected.
Nothing to do with a Bus Lane, more to do with the Justice system and number of Gardai on the streets.
But it IS only a tiny number. A few years ago I would have agreed, but you look at OCS/OCB now and there's very very few indeed.
That's what we've been told but it's not actually the case. The new bus gates limit access to destinations to the east of O'connell St not just through traffic.
Congestion on the quays is bad essentially for one reason, the sequences of traffic lights - particularly the operation of the bus crossover light. This light forces traffic down to a single lane and has poor timings
Rightfully so, we have to prioritise buses over cars. The buses on the quays carry vastly more people then the cars do.
Really looking forward to it myself, should make my cycle commute through the city centre a little bit less life threatening 😁
Since the NTA started recording the trips in between the canals of the city centre (2006) sustainable modes of travel have always been higher than car trips. CC business is doing just fine and will continue to do so..
Yet a lot of space is allocated to cars which doesn't represent the fact that the majority of people don't drive into the CC, the bus gates are just one element of the transport plan that will help improve the experience for the majority of people crossing the canals, allowing PT to function better making it more attractive to use thus hopefully increasing usage. Also per the public consultation, people are in favour of this plan.
It's now up to DCC & relevant stakeholders to implement it.
People need to remember that the number of buses using the Quays east of Winetavern Street will increase significantly when the D-Spine phase of BusConnects happens.
That will see a large number of routes re-routed away from Dame Street / College Green to the Quays which is one of the changes to facilitate the College Green Plaza. Maintaining the status quo on the Quays just isn’t an option once that happens.
I disagree, throughput of people should be the priority. This means that buses should get priority but doesn't mean that others get unduly delayed either.
The sequencing of the bus crossover doesn't appear to be demand led and it certainly isn't throughput led. So what happens is that it turn green for a bus, which may or may not be present. When it does turn green for a bus it stays green for them long after all bus traffic has cleared the crossover.
At the moment it's a pseudo bus gate, designed to delay and frustrate drivers of cars.
Let's get some facts from the actual plan into this thread:
These changes are long overdue, and should bring significant improvements to the public transport infrastructure in Dublin. And even some of these changes will benefit car drivers too — for example the change to Gardiner Street, if you've driven on it before you know how much chaos and swerving is caused by the ersatz four lane nature of the street. If this is simplified to 2 lanes, a lot of the traffic conflicts are removed and things will proceed much more smoothly.
Some delivery timelines:
And some prospective drawings of public realm improvements:
Oh and this is separate from the above plan, but thanks to some of the cycling infrastructural improvements along the south quays, we've already seen this drastic improvement in the pedestrian situation:
And most of those cars seen on OCS are there to access the Arnotts carpark
Ok but if I live in south Dublin & I want to go park in the Ilac car park to attend the Abbey, I will not be able to go down the quays but rather will have to do a much more roundabout route. I am accessing the city centre, not transiting through but I still need to cross the Liffey. Or are we meant to stay on our side? What about those of us who are in cross-city relationships so have parents either side of the Liffey?!
You can do the more roundabout route. It'll probably be quicker right now anyway.
Why are you parking in the Ilac to go to the Abbey? There's a few car parks that are closer and probably easier to get to from the south of the city.
They are not blowing up all the bridges. What difference does it make to anyone who has parents either side of the Liffey if a small portion of the quays are closed to private traffic.
You'll still be able to do this.
Coming from the South-west use Patrick Street → High Street → Father Matthew Bridge to cross the river, then up Church Street → King Street North → Kings Inn Street Coming from the South-east, use Beckett Bridge and the Park Rite at the IFSC, or the East Link and the car park under Point Square. Take the Red Line if needed to get to the Abbey theatre.
Oh actually I forgot — if you're coming from the South West, you won't need to make any adjustments to get to the Ilac car park — Bachelors Walk will be the bus gate, which means private cars will probably be forced off the Quays at Jervis Street. Which is where you'd go to get to the Ilac anyway.
And yes, the whole point definitely is that you'll need to take a more roundabout route as a private car driver.
The Quays are an integral part of our public transport network. They 100% need to be more efficient for buses.
Maybe that's worth a summary. Under these plans Eastbound quays private traffic will likely:
Westbound quays private traffic:
You can use public transport.
Will driving as far as capel Street and taking a right onto the bridge be possible?
I would assume so — the bus gate was specifically listed as being at Bachelors Walk and not the entire north Quays
Cheers - I assumed the 'forced to turn on to Jervis street' was referring to motorists who want to continue eastbound, rather than a bard 'you must turn here' rule.
Well, if Parliament St is closed you will have nowhere to go bar back to Heuston
In the prospective drawings feature buses with doors on the right...
