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?
Not really.
What's the point of analysing an individual's trip? If you put in a new bus route from Chapelizod to Finglas, you'll turn an 80 minute trip into a 20 minute trip… for twenty people. A week.
A change that reduces a trip by 30 seconds for thousands of people a day is far more beneficial at a macro scale, regardless of whether one individual recognises the change to their journey.
Exactly this! Where the hell is ANPR?
What inpact does it have on the end to end journey. Thats the question a commuter will ask.
90 seconds improvement over 350m? That sounds like a massive improvement. How many thousands of passenger's journeys every single day is that?
What is the modelling for the impact of the dispersed traffic, away from the quays?
You have to look at the future bus network through the city centre to understand why this change is important.
With the eventual closure of College Green, the D-Spine routes are going to be re-routed onto the Quays and there simply isn’t going to be the space for cars to co-exist with the numbers of buses using them.
At the same time all of the right and left turns by buses at O’Connell Bridge will be eliminated.
All of this is about trying to get started on the various changes to traffic flows through the city to facilitate this.
Very fair points, but what is the problem on the Quays?
DCC, TII and DB have been deliberately vague in presenting their data. A 25% improvement in journey times for exactly what. I bet it is a 25% improvement on the 350m stretch of the quays from which cars are prohibited, which likely equates to nothing more than 90sec. If cars were actually the major traffic problem on the quays as presented, then their removal should have seen a minimum of an order of magnitude improvement in journey times.
We can't say for sure when they've obfusticated the result, but if it was a 10min + savings you bet they'd be crowing about it in real terms.
The reality is that the saving in time from the change is small because cars were not the actual big problem on the quays. And the time saving is likely negated by the diverted traffic which will slow buses on other parts of the route.
You do realise that Dublin Bus review running times for the entire network regularly (as in at least every couple of months) and adjust them according to reflect the prevailing traffic conditions and average journey times.
The double bus lanes have eliminated those issues to an extent at Bachelors Walk and Aston Quay.
Note how they don't quote how much journey times have reduced in minutes, since they've actually reduced by sweet **** all.
If that were true, there would be no need to cut the times in the first place. If a journey now takes 75% of what it used to take, and the 25% amounts SFA like you're claiming, then it would have been SFA to begin with and wouldn't have needed ay intervention.
I was only saying it as a light jab at the taxi industry! Not saying that it's a legitimate argument.
Ofc enforcement is the key issue but no government has been willing to tackle that so far and I'm nearly certain the incoming government won't either
If bus lanes were coloured yellow with polka dots, they would still be abused. What's needed is proper enforcement.
It may have escaped people's attention, but taxis are actually banned from the College Street bus gate from 7am to 10am Mondays to Fridays.
Taxis are only an issue in the core city centre. If we could have the core city centre bus lanes painted red and make them bus and bike only and a double offence for cars stopping or driving in them that'd sort the whole thing out.
Quays also a high pollutant area: https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-hotspots-pollutant-in-the-air-pinpointed-new-study-6568833-Dec2024/
Percentages are great to hide behind when there is nothing meaningful to tell. Note how they don't quote how much journey times have reduced in minutes, since they've actually reduced by sweet **** all.
The main problem with the quays hasn't been the private car in years. The actual issue is that they are far too narrow for the number of buses and bus stops along there, along with an absurd junction layout. The quays are in effect a poorly designed open air bus station, where buses just get in each others way.
You'd soon notice them if the Bus lane was a dual cycle lane also!
Are taxis in bus lanes a big problem? I haven't really noticed them, except in busy areas of the city centre when they're blocking bus stops.
Meaning no disrespect to your comment, that would be a very poor counter argument. There are additional taxi charges for other items including additional passengers or time of travel etc. And if taxis use toll roads such as the Port Tunnel they have to charge it to the customer. It would just be another charge. If it's found that taxi drivers are not telling their customers, it would be noticed quickly and stopped.
Even if it just discouraged empty/plying-for-hire taxis, it would be an improvement.
The counter argument to that is that taxis won't tell them about the additional toll!
Okay that makes sense - thanks for the clarification.
I said it before but I'll say it again - I really feel that College Green should have a taxi toll. Without any doubt, taxis through College Green slow down traffic for the majority of users which use a bus or Luas. Rather than banning taxis, customers should have to pay a premium to use it.
College Green isn’t a contra-flow bus lane. It’s a bus gate. The legal signage there clearly permits taxis.
Eden Quay (riverside) and Camden Street southbound at the Bleeding Horse are examples of contra-flow bus lanes.
There are certain junctions in Cork City that are only allowed for buses (there is one on the quay where you can only turn right onto bridge if you are a bus). Are taxis included in this then I wonder?
Just to add to this discussion - according to the NTA website, taxis are only allowed to use bus lanes where a general traffic lane exists beside it. It clearly states that contra flow bus lanes (like College Green) are not allowed to be used by taxis??…
Additionally, I had always thought that taxis were only 'technically' allowed to use bus lanes while carrying a passenger, however the same link below allows them to use while "plying for hire". It also states that hackneys and limousines are not allowed to use bus lanes.
https://www.nationaltransport.ie/taxi/operating-an-spsv/
Bus lanes
The Road Traffic Regulations 1997 permit taxis in the course of business to use normal (with-flow) bus lanes.
A taxi can use a normal (with-flow) bus lane only while it is operating as an SPSV – carrying a passenger, on the way to pick up a pre-booked customer, or plying for hire. Taxis must not use bus lanes if they are not operating as an SPSV – for example, driving home at the end of a shift, travelling on personal business, or transporting only goods and not passengers.
Taxis are not allowed to use contra-flow bus lanes (in which traffic travels in the opposite direction to the traffic beside it) under any circumstances.
Hackneys and limousines are not permitted to use bus lanes.
Yeah I was thinking of the stretch limos and hummers
Well, there's two things that can mean limo here:
My uncle has a limo licence on an S Class merc (or an EQS if he's upgraded, he was going to last time I spoke to him) for instance; that definitely only needs B.
Isn't a Limo classed as a minibus? I know you need a D1 licence to drive one.
Limos aren't hackneys in licence terms; but also aren't allowed in bus lanes.
