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If the public transport was good enough, would you use it?

yer man!

Just wondering if Galway people would actually use a decent public transport system if it was actually available and would really encourage people to give up the car.

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snubbleste

Galwegians already use public transport, you can actually see them on buses, waiting at bus stops etc.

death1234567

If there was a decent public transport system then of course people would use because of the fact that it is decent. If you build it they will come. If you have a half arsed, overpriced, poor service then people won't bother using it.

biko

Whenever I've lived in major cities like London I've always used the tube or buses.
Just made sense there.

HardyEustace

I think the success of the number 9 bus route is proof of that.

yer man!

snubbleste wrote: »

Galwegians already use public transport, you can actually see them on buses, waiting at bus stops etc.

Yes i know but i'm saying if Galway actually had a really good, on time fast service, would it encourage people not to enter the city in a car at all. At the moment the bus network is crap as most buses simply get caught in traffic, don't go everywhere you'd want them to and aren't reliable. I've seen how effective the park & ride system on the LUAS is in Dublin. In Galway it seems you can use the city bus service to get around the CITY but if you want to go OUTSIDE of that, where most people with cars live then you have to switch services to the inter city buses which are useless and pricey.

snubbleste

Oh you mean decent bus services in county galway?

there isn't the critical mass to justify a service to every little hamlet and ribbon development one-off houses developed as a result of irresponsible planning.

Zapho

Well, it would be really cool if we did get ourselves a Galway Luas - that is something I would definately use. I believe there was talk about it, but it eventually got scrapped, which is no harm really. Galway doesn't have a large enough population to make something like that viable.

But if the emphasis is just on getting cars out of the city centre, why not encourage cycling? The city is small enough - getting around on a bike is quick. I get into work a lot faster by cycling than I do when I drive.

Webbs

snubbleste wrote: »

Oh you mean decent bus services in county galway?

there isn't the critical mass to justify a service to every little hamlet and ribbon development one-off houses developed as a result of irresponsible planning.

What your talking about isn't what the OP meant by a decent bus service! Even the tube or bus service in london, doesnt service every housing development or street.

What is expected is a sensible service going from east to west without having to change buses. The service needs to be at frequent reasonable intervals (especially at rush hour) to incorporate places such as barna, oranmore, clarinbridge, claregalway, athenry and moycullen and going through areas where there are high concentrations of jobs.

I for one would love to get out of my car and use a reliable affordable public transport system, would be less stressful and save a bucket load of money

yer man!

snubbleste wrote: »

Oh you mean decent bus services in county galway?

there isn't the critical mass to justify a service to every little hamlet and ribbon development one-off houses developed as a result of irresponsible planning.

Well not exactly to county Galway. What I'm trying to say is a city transport network should facilitate surrounding suburbs, where most people have cars. Or even proper cheap park & ride systems.

yer man!

Zapho wrote: »

I get into work a lot faster by cycling than I do when I drive.

I plan to do the same if the Oranmore station would get a move on as you'll be allowed bring a bike onto the train.

Diabhal Beag

Buses are ridiculous as soon as you go past Knocknacarra. No buses into town after half 5. If we had a good service I wouldn't need a car.

Cheshire Cat

I would LOVE decent public transport. Lived in Berlin for 10 years and hardly ever used the car there, apart from a big food shop every fortnight and seeing friends in places outside Berlin that weren't reachable by public transport.
I was a lot more relaxed then - having to cope with Galway traffic is not good for my sanity

The Jolly Green Giant

For a bustling city like Galway there really ought to be a more reliable bus service. Sure there are buses, but they're very unreliable.
The people of Galway deserve better! They should have 'nipper' buses through all the major routes to the city that come every 15 mins. There are minor routes in Dublin which are served better than Galway. It's not really fair to all the people who would gladly ditch their cars and hop on a local and reliable bus.

celty

Yer Man!

Your question doesn't really cover people like me, as I cycle to work even though I have a car. I leave it at home unless it is really wet and windy in the mornings, which is surprisingly rare I have found over the past few years.

I zoom past a host of cars at 9 am and, like a previous poster, it is actually quicker for me than taking the car. And healthier! Plus, i don't have to worry about paying to park my car every day.

I also lived in London and used buses and tubes there. You could just go along to the bus-stop and know there would be one in 5-10 mins. Here, I've sometimes spent 35 mins waiting in the past and just given up in frustration.

So I guess my number one choice is to cycle (I know a lot of you guys don't live within cycling distance) and two is to use the car. I can't get over the numbers of cars in which there is just one person sitting in a traffic jam every morning. I probably would use a bus from time to time, but the service would want to be radically better!

WesternNight

I already use public transport. Would continue to use it if the service was better.

TheCosmicFrog

Zapho wrote: »

But if the emphasis is just on getting cars out of the city centre, why not encourage cycling? The city is small enough - getting around on a bike is quick. I get into work a lot faster by cycling than I do when I drive.

Cycling should (and is to a certain extent) be promoted. However cycling is not ideal. One obvious problem is the weather. It rains quite regularly in Galway, and people don't like cycling when it's raining. Carrying around a set of waterproof pants and a rainjacket also isn't very convenient for most. Another issue is providing public transport for people with disabilities. Automotive public transport in the form of "dipping" buses and trams is likely the only viable option for those in wheelchairs.

Mrs OBumble

Webbs wrote: »

What is expected is a sensible service going from east to west without having to change buses. The service needs to be at frequent reasonable intervals (especially at rush hour) to incorporate places such as barna, oranmore, clarinbridge, claregalway, athenry and moycullen and going through areas where there are high concentrations of jobs.

The question is, which bits of the east do you link with which bits of the west? Some of the current pairings (Rahoon and Ballybane) seem to work quite well. But others don't make much sense (eg Knocknacarra with Renmore), and as you say links to the employment centres would be sooo much smarter (Knocknacarra to Parkmore, perchance?)

Either way, Bus Éireann's plans to improve the services in the city apparently involve scrapping through routes (so everyone has to change in the middle to make a cross-city trip) and reductions to service frequency (because the new single-side-of-the-city routes will be so much better that they can get by with less services). Go figure.

Malice

I think the answer to the poll question is a bit obvious to be honest. Of course people would use public transport if it was available.

McTigs

celty wrote: »

I leave it at home unless it is really wet and windy in the mornings, which is surprisingly rare I have found over the past few years.

This

It really doesn't rain that much and you know the morning you leave whether it's a day for rain gear or not, no need to lug it araound al the time.

I live in lower salthill and work in liosban. 10-15 mins there and 10-15 mins back. When i look at the traffic jams why anyone would choose to drive it baffles me.

To be honest though i think a lot people driving to work just drive out of habit and haven't really investigated alternatives ie. cycle, bus, car share etc and these are the very same people i hear complaining about traffic jams and petrol prices... you make your own choices i guess.

Theres 5 people on the poll who said they'd carry on with the car even with a better service, again their choice, but in this country there is still a huge snobby attitude to taking public transport. or cycling bike for that matter

Webbs

JustMary wrote: »

The question is, which bits of the east do you link with which bits of the west? Some of the current pairings (Rahoon and Ballybane) seem to work quite well. But others don't make much sense (eg Knocknacarra with Renmore), and as you say links to the employment centres would be sooo much smarter (Knocknacarra to Parkmore, perchance?)

Either way, Bus Éireann's plans to improve the services in the city apparently involve scrapping through routes (so everyone has to change in the middle to make a cross-city trip) and reductions to service frequency (because the new single-side-of-the-city routes will be so much better that they can get by with less services). Go figure.

Services that went Athenry, Oranmore, Renmore, and through to town (taking in some of the business parks) up to the university/hospital and on to Barna say via Knocknacarra at rush hour and say from Oranmore or Renmore at other times (with a park and ride facility?).

This sort of service on a 15min interval would be a good start, as would one ticket fits all , in other words a single card that allows you to use all public transport (buses and trains if needed).

The Bus Eireann plan sounds like typical nonsense from that company

celty

On a day like today, it was so nice to cycle in to work ... and to zoom past all the cars stuck in the daily traffic jam. (Mind you, it was a bit lighter than usual due to the schools being on hols!).

celty

I agree completely with McTigs that there is a 'snobby attitude' in Galway to taking public transport or cycling. I'm amazed by all the people who work in the city centre, live in Rahoon, Salthill, or Knocknacarra, and drive to work each day.

They always drone on about the traffic and the need for the bypass, when they don't see themselves as part of the solution . . . THEY DON'T NEED A CAR TO TRAVEL TEN MINUTES TO AN OFFICE FROM 9 TO FIVE, and the walk, cycle, or even walk to the bus, might just do them a bit of good in these times of obesity!

c_man

I'm learning to drive right now after having to rely on the complete shoddiness of the public transport system for the past two years.

antoobrien

celty wrote: »

I agree completely with McTigs that there is a 'snobby attitude' in Galway to taking public transport or cycling. I'm amazed by all the people who work in the city centre, live in Rahoon, Salthill, or Knocknacarra, and drive to work each day.

The snobby attitude isn't just in Galway, you'd want to hear some of the people that work with me in Dublin - you'd swear it's possible to become a skanger if you use PT the way they go on. However for the examples you have given a lot of the bus services in those areas are poor.

celty wrote: »

They always drone on about the traffic and the need for the bypass, when they don't see themselves as part of the solution . . . THEY DON'T NEED A CAR TO TRAVEL TEN MINUTES TO AN OFFICE FROM 9 TO FIVE, and the walk, cycle, or even walk to the bus, might just do them a bit of good in these times of obesity!

The need for a bypass isn't caused by traffic originating within the city, it's the (still) considerable amount of cars that come in from the county (and south Mayo & north Clare). After the 2006 census there was a traffic usage study (attached) published which deals exclusively with those living in the city.

There were only 18,000 cars being used to get to and from work in town. To put that in context over 20,000 vehicles use Claregalway every day, the traffic using the motorway (over 16,000 @ Glennascaul) and the Headford, Monivea, & Old Dublin Roads, for which there are no (publicly) available figures but there is a significant volume of traffic that use these roads daily.

When you start looking at where the traffic comes from, and where it is going to the need for the bypass becomes blatantly obvious.

For the record, when I'm in Galway I use the #9 bus going into town, when it suits (which is maybe 20% of the time, despite it being available every 15 minutes for most of the week).

antoobrien

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

One obvious problem is the weather. It rains quite regularly in Galway, and people don't like cycling when it's raining. Carrying around a set of waterproof pants and a rainjacket also isn't very convenient for most.

I have to disagree with you there: I cycled to the university from the east of the city (about 6 miles each way- 20-25 mins) for 5 years (and still do cycle to work in Dublin) - it doesn't rain nearly as often as people think. All it takes is a little planning and if you are cycling regularly you'll usually have a bag to carry stuff with you (notes, laptop, lunch, change of clothes, a sense of dignity for those unfortunates that shouldn't really be wearing lycra in public, and of course makeup for the ladies) - so rain gear, especially the packable products that are available now, isn't exactly a massive inconvenience.

What would put me off cycling is seeing some big hairy dude cycling along in lycra :eek:

celty

Anto,

Can't say I disagree with you, as people in Tuam or North Mayo have no options. In the west side of the city where I live though, people are just lazy and would rather sit in their car, pay a fortune for parking, than get a bus or, better still, cycle to work each day.

When I'm stuck at a red light on my bicycle, I sometimes count the number of cars going by which have just one person in them. It's pretty incredible.

Even my own work-mates tell me 'it's a lovely day for cycling' but they'd never dream of leaving the car at home themselves. People outside the city have a really good excuse, because the public transport is so crap, those of us in the city with short journeys don't.

antoobrien

celty

In fairness there is a perceived safety element to it as well. My sister works in Knocknacara and when I asked her about cycling, apart from the distance (I think it's something like 8 miles for her) her main gripe was: "You'd want to have a death wish to cycle along some of those roads, on the rest you merely need to be insane."

McTigs

antoobrien wrote: »

celty

In fairness there is a perceived safety element to it as well. My sister works in Knocknacara and when I asked her about cycling, apart from the distance (I think it's something like 8 miles for her) her main gripe was: "You'd want to have a death wish to cycle along some of those roads, on the rest you merely need to be insane."

I only ever hear how dangerous cycling is from people who don't cycle.

I grew up in barna and from 12 i was cycling in and out to the jes. After that i was cycling to and from the GMIT. I've more or less since been living in town and cycling to work, albeit a shorter distances but about 2 miles through town each morning and evening.

I reckon i've cycled over 30,000 miles of these "death wish" roads and i've only ever had one accident.... which was entirely my own fault.

WesternNight

You guys must be hanging with the wrong crowds...I don't think I've ever experienced snobby attitudes towards public transport, not in Galway at least.

snubbleste

WesternNight wrote: »

You guys must be hanging with the wrong crowds...I don't think I've ever experienced snobby attitudes towards public transport, not in Galway at least.

Are you hearing/visually impaired?..