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?
I've seen videos on social media, it looks to be running very efficiently. One tweet about a headcase driver turning right from the car lane onfront of a bus and across OCB. A couple of cars just driving straight through the bus lane. No sign of gardaí yet as far as I've seen.
Has anyone used the bus along the quays this morning? Is there any appreciable difference yet?
I travel from West Dublin to the port once a year for a trip to Wales. Will mean that travelling down the quays as I'd normally do is far less practical now but for the sake of once a year I can suck it up and pay the Port Tunnel toll. It would be a really bad idea to get rid of it imo, don't need the Port Tunnel blocked up like the rest of the M50 every day.
If there's anything we don't need it's clueless tourists driving through the city centre.
Why is everyone all going to Heuston all of a sudden? Why would a tourist be driving from the port to Heuston?
its now very difficult to get from the Port to Heuston and beyond. This gives weight to my blue-sky idea that all traffic to/from Dublin port - be it lorries (already covered), private cars, caravans etc…. basically ANY port traffic should be able to take the Port Tunnel free of charge.
For a tourist arriving into Holyhead, ploughing through Dublin was hard before, now its much harder.
That said - I'm a big fan of all of these changes.
The planning process for public transport moves at a snails pace as we all know, one day we might even put a plan for the Metro down on paper. Interesting the way the two port tunnels and motorways can be done with a very German like efficiency. I presume the vast profits to be made from tolls might have something to do with it.
Fully agree with you.
But i wouldnt go removing car parks from the city centre during that transition period. Thats all I am saying.
One poster had a good idea to allow access for cars to Princes St, so they can get to the car park but without blocking OConnell St.
Those kind of compromises seem sensible, whilst we wait for the Underground network.
Nobody is stopping both groups arrive to shop and it is duisingenuous to suggest this is happening.
What is happening is that road space is being reallocated towards the more efficient transit methods and deallocated away form the less efficient. People can still drive into the city centre and there are no plans to stop this. They just can't drive everywhere the want!
I agree with you that it is neither cheap nor fast to implement.It would have been nice to have seen more progress on it to date though and it really is the only solution, especially if population growth estimates are accurate.
I agree with you that it is neither cheap nor fast to implement.
It would have been nice to have seen more progress on it to date though and it really is the only solution, especially if population growth estimates are accurate.
You have repeatedly posted about how public transport improvements (such as the one that this thread is about) shouldn't happen and we should focus on building a metro which is quite a naive view - one which coincidentally is supported by those who want to keep the car-dominant status quo.
My main point is that we shouldnt restrict car shoppers in the city centre and hope/expect them to be replaced by bus passengers.
This is quite evident from your posts to be honest! However, this idea that we can have unlimited drivers travelling into our city centre and collectively delaying those who choose efficient transit methods is not one that can continue.
Furthermore, on any given day, more people can travel into the city by bus than by car. Surely those you spoke to in the retail business would prefer to have potentially more customers coming into the city, no?
Make the routes for buses more streamlined, of course. And if that means drivers have to drive for a little longer, then ok. But I wouldnt favour an approach where we reduce car parking spaces and access overall.
The aim is not to make drivers drive for a little longer. It is to discourage those who make the choice to drive (in limited space) rather than take a more sustainable and efficient form of transport. If we have less people making the choice to drive into the city centre, then there will be less need to have parking spaces. Nonetheless, on-street parking spaces in many cases is now considered an inefficient form of road-space allocation when compared to the many alternative uses.
Edit: typos
@BlueSkyDreams
The government knows as well as everyone else does that we can't rely on buses forever. That's why they're moving forward with Metrolink, Dart Plus, Luas Finglas etc. Unfortunately these things take a long time to build in Ireland so we can't just do nothing until they arrive.
And the same logic applies the other way around also.
The optimal is surely to keep both groups happy and have both groups arrive to shop.
It's far more likely it's just a made up story.
Any discussion on where shoppers came from is likely on the basis of delivery addresses for bulkier items and occurring during the time it takes to input all the relevant details. It won't be relevant for the majority of sales.
Currently one could claim that things are made more difficult to those who arrive by bus. Using your logic, things should improve for them and subsequently the retailers now that bus access will be improved!
Well if your not talking bullsht then they are.
Convenient how people get into exactly the conversations they want to hear.
And making it more difficult for one group can be a very good thing if it makes it easier for the much larger group. The anti pedestrianisation scaremongers have been proved wrong over and over on this.
be fun on Thursday & Friday with Coldplay in Town.
I am only reiterating what I have been told by staff members on occassion.
Either way, making it more difficult for any group of customers to arrive to the store isn't going to help sales.
You keep banging on about the metro and while one would be great, you seem to have an illusion that a network is easily affordable and wouldn't take long to construct. Either way, it has nothing to do with the current discussion. Did the transport analyst also comment on our existing general vehicular access across the city as that would be more relevant to the thread?
Yep, the Underground would compliment the bus network. But it would mean we arent so reliant on the bus network and we wouldnt be making all transport decisions based on bus routes.
There was a transport analyst on the radio recently who was saying the same thing. Buses are not the answer and we shouldnt be building our whole PT framework around them.
Horsesht. Staff in larger retailers in the city centre generally have no clue how the customer got there or where they came from.
Who the hell has the kind of conversation with staff in a large retailer that would divulge that information.
Utter bollix.
Can that be independently verified? I don't recall ever being asked when in town shopping as to how I arrived in town!
I'd also be conscious that some of the large retailers also own car parks. In addition, many of those who make the choice to drive into the city centre do so because public transport can be slower (often as a result of delays caused by private car drivers).
I've heard staff from some of the bigger retailers saying their largest spend is often from people driving into the city centre, sometimes driving from outside the city altogether.
Rearranging the car parks is fine, but dont remove overall spaces or access.
Tbf, it's not like the restrictions are that crazy. They're very watered down and quite minimal.
Live report on Morning Ireland just now - all quite positive, things are going well so far they say. The general vibe was early days but so far this is going great.
I can't understand why the country keeps avoiding the real conversation that needs to be had.
Why do so many children suddenly need to be driven to school. It seems to be a bigger contributor to traffic than work is these days and it's changed drastically in 20 years.
The state broadcaster is already spreading misinformation
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0825/1466567-dublin-city/
Cycled north quays this morning and crossed O'Connell Bridge around 0745. Very quiet - almost felt like a Bank Holiday. The absence of tracks was very noticeable. Buses were flying down the quays !
Didn't see any cars drive straight through and I did spot a Guard at the other side of the bridge presumably to catch cars who try drive through. Initial feedback is positive so far but it will need enforcement to ensure compliance.
After a while, when people get used to the changes, cars that don’t need to access O’Connell St will avoid the area altogether, which is the whole idea.
