Swiftway - Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

cgcsb wrote: »

Well there you have it folks, as the mock ups show, it's the current QBCs with re-branded bendy buses for .65billion. Nothing to see here, move along etc.

monument wrote: »

As I said: what you said only stands true for a small percentage of the driving population going into Dublin City Centre. You're just confirming that.

Agreed on DU, but even with BRT on its own will offer a large amount of people another option for travel into the city centre.

BRT as outlined is an improvement in public transport for people with a range of mobility issues – level boarding so better access for those who find it hard to step up onto a bus and quicker and more normalised access for those using wheelchairs, more access points closer to seats so no need to be struggling up and down a bus, and the space for more wheelchair spaces if the NTA puts that in the specs.

monument wrote: »

These are important factors:

QBCs on Navan Road and Stoneybatter both would be a Part 8 planning matters heard by councillors.

The NTA is however taking a more connected approach with BRT, the plans of which will be heard by An Bord Pleanala.

Things have changed in the area and in the city in recent years, for example in the following areas things have changed:

The make up of the area around Stoneybatter and that section of the city has changed and will change further in coming years: The Grangegorman Development Agency (who will likely lend their support for BRT) are progressing the Grangegorman campus and that will mean a further influx of people to the area. The city’s population is growing and the giving more space to more effective modes of transport is happening as it needs to happen for the city centre to keep growing.

On transport projects: Phibsboro QBC progressed on a heavily congested route without a whimper of notable opposition; North Quays QBC has advanced and is progressing further without notable opposition; Thomas Street / James Street QBC is progressing; Luas Cross City is progressing; Grand Canal cycle route taking out a large amount of parking was constructed; the College Green bus gate was put in place and remains despite strong initial opposition.

Before Phibsboro was done without issue, the ill-fated (and in my view, also ill-conceived and poorly designed) Berkeley Road QBC was defeated. The point was made at the time by objectors that they would be more likely to be in favour of the project if it was part of a wider and joint-up plan – BRT is that plan. Despite the wall of negativity on here, the transport planners have learned at least something from past mistakes.

Policy has also changed: The NTA has powers over planning for transport, the DCC Public Realm Strategy prioritises public transport in the wider city centre area (inside the canals and the NCR), national transport policy firmly supports public transport priority, new national guidelines on street design puts most of the streets and roads on the routes as being below the expected standard, and nearly all roads inside the M50 have been declassified and taken out of the reach of the NRA.

With all of these things councillors can bush them aside without too much trouble, but the same cannot be said for An Bord Pleanala.

monument wrote: »

Tallaght shopping centre is not as attractive as the newer centres – I don’t recall saying transport links alone work miracles. Because it’s nothing short of a miracle you’d need to fairly compare Tallaght to Blanch or Liffey Valley. I’ve visited Blanch, Liffey Valley, Dundrum a number of times by public transport and car in recent years – I’ve never wanted to go to Tallagh SC in the last ten years or more. It’s low on the attractiveness scale.

Maybe just as importantly, you also missed my point regarding BRT to Blanch only being a second for Dublin, here’s how the examples compare:

Green Line:
City Centre – inner suburbs – Dundrum – more suburbs

BRT:
City Centre – inner suburbs – Blanch – more suburbs

Red line:
City Centre – inner/outer suburbs – Tallaght

Luas terminates at the Tallaght centre and serves relatively little of the wider area. BRT in Blanch will cover and serve a higher percentage of D15 than Luas does of the Tallaght area. The point about terminating at the centre and not going further into the suburb is an important one.

But regardless: Tallaght also suffers because of its poorer offering.



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monument wrote: »

I’ll deal with these points together and they are much of the same issue...

This is part of the route along the Blanch centre, from Google Street View:



There’s no way BRT won’t fit on the route, all three configurations types of BRT lanes with stops can fit here. And the road design will have to be fixed to comply with the Manual for Urban Streets and Roads, so that’s good bye to the slip access to car park for one.

If the owners do not want to play ball with keeping access but having BRT priority, I’ve already mentioned the CPOs a number of times but you seem to be ignoring it -- compulsory purchase orders can be used if extra land is needed or if the current roads with bus lanes are for some reason still in private hands.

The outline routing is available on the NTA’s site if you have not looked at the maps posted on this thread already. The route and stop locations suit priority access to the N3 and that priority is more important that any perceived issues with walking 5-10mins to another entrance of a shopping centre. Regardless of where you put a transport stop of any kind, it will not suit everybody perfectly as the centre is so spread out (and it’s often the same with parking there).