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?
They're gonna clean up the boardwalk! Not a scumbag in sight
Buses go everywhere in Dublin and they are all wheelchair accessible.
No one is stopping people driving into Dublin and anyone who does need to drive into Dublin should welcome efforts to reduce the volume of cars who do not have to be there.
Looks like these councillors are trying again to derail the bus gate along with potentially permitting disabled car access on Grafton Street and Henry Street…
I don't get that, does it mean that Motor vehicles with blue badges will be allowed to drive on pedestrianised streets, i.e. Henry and Grafton St.?
Yup!
A Voice of Vision Impairment statement on its website has a policy statement that “all current so-called pedestrianization reversed”. It adds that “The alternative must not be the traditional congestion of the past, but rather, Vehicle Restriction Areas (VRAs) where only some types of vehicle or owner-type are allowed.”Sinnott said: “What we want with Grafton Street and Henry Street, this is what I said on Pat Kenny [radio show] on Newstalk; Grafton Street and Henry Street were done in the early 80s and it was done at a time where there wasn’t much consideration for disabled people anywhere.”He said that some people with disabilities need door-to-door access. He also said footpath height kerbs are needed for blind people to navigate, and tactical navigation stips are not a replacement for them.
A Voice of Vision Impairment statement on its website has a policy statement that “all current so-called pedestrianization reversed”. It adds that “The alternative must not be the traditional congestion of the past, but rather, Vehicle Restriction Areas (VRAs) where only some types of vehicle or owner-type are allowed.”
Sinnott said: “What we want with Grafton Street and Henry Street, this is what I said on Pat Kenny [radio show] on Newstalk; Grafton Street and Henry Street were done in the early 80s and it was done at a time where there wasn’t much consideration for disabled people anywhere.”
He said that some people with disabilities need door-to-door access. He also said footpath height kerbs are needed for blind people to navigate, and tactical navigation stips are not a replacement for them.
This is lunacy.
I'd like to see the logic behind that, allowing cars down pedestrian streets where it will cause a safety issue for people with and without physical disabilities..
You are reposting about a motion that was already voted on two days ago — and was just discussed in the last page of this thread.
The motion did not succeed, an amendment passed which retained the existing consultation outcome, but with a bit of extra consultation with disability groups.
Why is this being done at the same time as Bus Connects, both the spines and the service recast ?
Also, has it been deconflicted with Bus Connects in terms of detailed PT impact proposals
It meshes well with BusConnects plans, you can dig into the details via the planning docs, or by watching the council presentation:
You're correct. When I read it first, I somehow misread it as another motion. D'oh!
It is being done because BusConnects will require it with a large increase in buses using the Quays when the D Spine (and associated radials) are diverted from Dame Street.
Better to let these changes get bedded in before also diverting the buses.
The statistics will show that car ownership among the disabled is far lower than among the abled population.
It is a complete red herring to bring this up, after all, how many blind people drive a car?
I’m not aware of any Dublin Bus or Go Ahead buses that are not wheelchair accessible. I rarely see people occupying the wheelchair space and block a wheelchair from entering the bus.
I’ve seen a driver ask the buggy to be folded or people to move out of the way. All works well. Wheelchair has priority over that space and buggies after that. An efficient wheelchair accessible bus service will serve everyone in the city well. Cars with single driver well abled people blocking 70 on a bus is pure selfish on our narrow busy Dublin streets.
How many blind people drive a car?
Did you really just say that? Wow.
You should know though, that anyone who is registered as visually impaired are entitled to disability parking permits, so they can be driven by other people.
The disabled person might not own the car, but their partners/sons/daughters/helpers/etc do… My mother had a blue badge before she died, and didn't own either the car I drive or the car my father drove… but the bad was swapped as needed. Neither of those would be listed as belonging to a disabled person…
The irony with that comment is, that with the many disabled people who do rely on public transport you would think their views / the views of the DPOs that represent them, would have been actively pursued. But apparently that was not the case. All that was done was a box ticking exercise.
I don't think anyone actually believes the suggestion that the pedestrianisation of Henry Street or Grafton Street be reversed would be taken seriously. So that is a red herring. But the views of the DPOs and those they represent should be fully examined and given the consideration they deserve in any current or future planning for limiting car access to, or pedestrianisation of the city centre. It's called inclusivity.
Did these organizations participate in the extensive public consultation? if not, they aren't representing their supposed stakeholders very well. 3500 people bothered to participate and 80% of those participants were overwhelmingly in favor of these much-needed measures to make the city more accessible, bus services more reliable and the city overall more friendly to all people, not just car drivers as it is today. Shelving the plans to cater to a few dozen carers/wheelchair users who can't/won't get on a low-floor, wheelchair-accessible bus is absolutely nonsense.
The Grafton St/Henry St claim has all the hallmarks of a 'let's up the stakes' negotiation tactic - ask for something ridiculously off the charts, to make your real asks look reasonable, when in fact, they're not.
If it's a red herring, you can blame Robert Sinnott of Voice of Vision Impairment, because he's the one who seriously brought it up on Newstalk.
Doubt it's gonna happen now. Disabled groups seem to hate car restrictions.
https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-city-council-transport-plan-disability-dpo-consultation-6374409-May2024/
The day after the Dublin Bus CEO telling the Oireachtas there are too many cars in Dublin one of his drivers is on the radio saying she drove her car along bus route to RTE. Host didn't think to ask why not get the bus.
The driver may be commuting from somewehere without a bus service, or an area which doesn't offer a service which would suit a shift worker.
By and large, the bus service is unreliable. Making someone leave their car at home in the hope the bus service might improve is approaching the problem the wrong way round. Make the bus service reliable and then people will consider abandoning the car.
Billy Hann also claims that passengers "rarely, if ever" experience anti-social behaviour. He obviously doesn't use the bus, or doesn't consult with his own drivers in problem areas. Bizarrely, he doesn't support the idea of a transport police.
This is why I think the host should have at least asked the question.
You cannot make the bus service reliable without forcing people to leave their cars at home.
The way to make the bus service reliable is through introducing bus gates, banning cars from certain streets, wider enforcements of bus lanes etc.
That "Voice of Vision Impairment" group doesn't seem to be representative.
I'm all for that, but people can't be asked NOW to do so. Implement the necessary changes first, THEN motorists will get the message. I mean, bus lane enforcement at the moment is almost non-existent, so why would motorists bother changing their behaviour now? Enforcement has to be implemented in a meaningful manner, then commuters will have a viable option. At the moment, for many, that doesn't exist.
I'm sure this is a proactive move by DCC to get that seeming lunatic from VVI to go away. It is noticeable that the only source of public complaint I have seen in any of these articles is from the group who wants disabled drivers to be able to drive up Grafton St.
No, they can't be asked. They need to be forced.
Also, the bus service is by and large reliable, but it clearly still has flaws. Many of which they are trying to fix with these moves as it is overwhelmingly congestion from cars that causes the unreliability.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/dbd35c43580ff62b54e9919958f2a898.svg)
