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?
Anyone idea of best route if heading from James hospital to Connolly station. At the moment Google maps suggests the usual route down the quays and straight over O'Connell st bridge? When is maps due to reflect the change I wonder
You can still head down the quays but go up to Dorset St and then back down.
Not showing that route for me, shows this one
Cheers. It was old route this morning. I'll check again now...
Edit. Just checked. Seems to be updated now.
I thought after the changes you could turn left from Westmoreland onto Fleet St for deliveries?
You can
Erm, the Luas?
Perfect normally but I'll be bringing lots of stuff with me so not this time. (Not going to actual station)
How would someone coming from Sandymount/Ringsend drive into the city centre now?
I distinctly heard an interview with a woman from DCC in the Claire Byrne show a few weeks ago ( sorry, I cannot remember her name) saying coming up Burch Quay we can turn left into D’Olier Street then onto Westmorland St, left onto Fleet Street and a right turn down to the quays.
On the RTÉ news site today Samantha Libreiri states ( quote ):
There will be local access to Fleet Street in Temple Bar for car park access and deliveries the right turn between O’Connell Bridge and Eden Quay which is currently only for public transport and cyclists will be reinstated.
As I read this, a car can once again turn right from Bachelors Walk over O’Connell Street onto D’Olier Street.
So many mixed and contradictory messages. I can foresee gridlock tomorrow- hope I’m wrong though. EDIT: Just watching the 6 o’clock news & RTÉ are interviewing Brendan O’Brien of DCC, and quote ‘ if You have business in the city centre, if you need to access car parks or if you need to do deliveries they will all still be allowed’.
What is this guy saying? If I have a delivery on any of the NB quays and then in Amiens Street ( which I often have ), I can drive over OCB onto Eden Quay? Or if I’m trying to get to Dame Street I can drive over OCB onto Aston Quay to head for Fishamble St.
Very mixed messages coming from the very people trying to implement this.
The left turn into Fleet St is only supposed to be for deliveries or private access. But of course it is likley people will just drive that route anyway as you can then continue westbound along the quays.
I dont think you can turn right over Oconnell Bridge from Batchelors Walk. Its left turn only up OCS.
If youre coming from the southside up Westmoreland St you can turn right onto Eden Quay or go straight up OCS.
…a person looking to drive such a route could very well be moving a patient simply unable to use public transport, this is extremely common across ireland, hence why most are moved via private car
CPO the damned car parks and be done with all this tinkering around the edges. It's pure madness.
Use the car parks for something the city will benefit from. Don't ask me what yet, I haven't thought it through!
Exactly as if there's not a long list of potential uses. Even if you reserved it for artist studios, we'd be much better off
How do I now get from Connolly to Heuston with my sick granny and factoring in that I am driving a 1920's armoured vehicle with 3 fingers missing on my left hand and we also need to stop for ice cream half way ?
You cant just remove the car parks without damagimg the retail core and lets face it, the north inner city meeds all the help it can get at the moment.
A better solution is to stop tinkering with buses and build the underground.
Have you ever parked in those car parks?
They haven't been full in about 2 decades.
I think the Fleet street , Temple Bar rat run will be difficult to enforce legally.
You have Arnotts, Jervis and Parnell car park all in a few minutes walk of each other. Not to mention the other car parks close by.
I'm sure you could do something with them which would be more realistic than not doing anything and waiting for an underground to replace our bus and luas system.
If that car park capacity is needed to support the businesses, it is needed.
I wouldnt want a situation where we have buses free flowing through the city centre with nobody on them, because there is nothing in the centre for people to come for.
Without businesses, we have no city centre.
Yep, and its actually quire dangerous because that is probably the main pedestrian access into Temple Bar.
Always busy with tourists there, so the last thing we need is a stream of cars rat running through while the tourists enjoy their time on the same street.
Even the retailers and car park owners against these scheme have quoted surveys which show the majority of people who shop in the city centre do so by public transport so I'm not sure what your point is here.
There are definitely ways to rearrange the car park structures in North Dublin. They're not immutable
All of this will be difficult to enforce legally. We're not going to have Garda monitoring any of these changes all the time and there's no plans for traffic cameras.
I still see private cars routinely using the College Green bus gate 15 years after it's implementation. Looking forward to seeing if a more zero tolerance approach is required in these new bus gates. Then again, if one can openly deal drugs in the busiest thoroughfares around town without fear of recrimination, driving through a bus gate will hardly be considered a misdemeanor...
Traffic cameras would be the ideal solution but the Garda seems opposed to that and there doesn't seem much desire from the Gov either. It's a bit odd.
The fact the restrictions are time limited and we have access areas too, makes it harder.
New legislation was just passed in the past few months which give the NTA and councils the power to operate automated cameras to give fines and penalty points.
It is only new, so hasn’t really started yet, but expect such camera enforcement to become the norm across the city and country over the next few years.
Catch the red line Luas.
Oh very good. The new restrictions on the quays would be an ideal pilot
Are you under the belief that an underground line would replace the existing bus traffic? Or are you expecting an underground network to suddenly appear like magic?
Anyhow, an underground would compliment our bus network, not replace it!
It wouldn't be difficult to enforce legally - there just needs the will to enforce it but given that AGS have largely given up enforcing enforcing any laws related to driving, I can only assume that this too will be ignored
