Galway traffic

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Planning requirements that developers need to provide facilities for on-going jobs in an area as well housing.

This is a good point. Big patches of Galway City have very little employment in the area. Hopefully those that can work from home will be facilitated to continue WFH for part of their week when things open up again. That should help bring more community and small businesses into the suburbs during the day.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Mmm-hm? Again with the assumption of car only, the focis on one aspect. <..!..>

What are you in about? Low occupancy cars commuting and cars criss-crossing the city on school runs are the major causes of the city's traffic problems. The roads aren't clogged with trucks, bicycles, motor bikes and trade vans.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Even when you tax the single occupancy sc*m off the roads, there will be a point at which you say “We are approaching capacity. We need to stop.”

I didn't suggest taxing single occupancy vehicles off the road.

We should be dedicating corridors of existing road space to a connected network of public transport and providing a service that is vastly better than the pityful public transport service we have now. A bus rapid transit (BRT) approach.

Where we don't have lanes or space available, we should introduce one way systems to make it work as a connected reliable network without bottlenecks.

If someone in Knocknacarra wants to commute to Parkmore and they have the option of a 30min morning commute and 30-75min unreliable evening in commute in the car versus a 25min reliable bus across town then you'll start seeing results. They'll also have the option of jumping off/on along the route for a quick shop or social meet up along the way.

The car will stop being the default option for those living in and around the city and road space will become available for those passing through or those that need it for trade or mobility.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

No, I did. But my point is *however* we get the single car filth off the streets, we’ll still have an approaching capacity problem that only pressure relief (supply control) or population control (demand control) will tackle.

Yes but you said when "you" tax the single occupancy...

What is the population capacity you're hitting with a functioning public transport system that gets people around quicker than private cars and becomes the default for city life? How many hundred thousand?

If we get to a situation that the bus lanes are gridlocked with buses then we're probably in the realms of Galway having a population in the millions and upgrading to light rail and metro systems becoming the more favourable choice.

what_traffic wrote: »

The following was uploaded just last month on National Transport dot ie https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Parkmore-Area-Strategic-Transport-Framework.pdf

1.1 Where are Parkmore Area Commuters coming from? 38% of Parkmore Area employees live in Galway City, with the majority of these living between the Corrib River and the Parkmore Area (see Figure 3). 54% of Parkmore Area employees come from across Galway County. The remaining 8% of Parkmore Area employees commute to the area from outside of Galway


So not a large no of commuters to Parkmore coming from West of the City. Twice as many coming from the city who are on east of the Corrib. It makes sense that people that can, would choose to live nearer their place of employment. The County figure is what focus needs to be on for Parkmore

Thanks for sharing that doc. It fairly effectively eviscerates all the measures done up to now which have pretty much just been geared towards the private car user. I think its safe to say, based on this, that any further money going towards that area will need to reprioritize as per the sustainable mobility pyramid. Page 17 of that report is pretty damning in its summary of the current situation

Its interesting to note that it covers all of the following and not just Parkmore

• Parkmore East,
• Parkmore West;
• Galway Technology Park;
• Ballybrit Business Park;
• Ballybane Industrial Estate; and
• Briarhill Business Park

Some things to note from reviewing it

• Only 12% of people working in the above are crossing the river from inside the city, or 1,650 people. This just re-emphasizes the farce that is the ring road proposal.
• Approximately 15% of trips to the study area originate within 500m walking distance of an existing direct bus service stop. If cross-city routes and transfers are taken into account this increases to an estimated 25% of trips
• Bus patronage in Galway has continued to grow, increasing by 23.5% between 2013 and 2018 (NTA Bus and Rail Statistics, 2019). Bus patronage increased by a further 21.6% in a single calendar year from 2018 to 2019. This growth is primarily due to the provision of increased frequency of Bus Éireann services.
• There is little to no measures taken to improve nus usage in the area (no lanes, bus stops in the middle of grass, few shelters (this may have changed in the last few months)
• Doughiska has "high quality cycling infrastructure".....apparently
• Galway City has the second highest rates of urban cycling in Ireland at 5.8%, (with Dublin being first at 7.6%).
• For any that use it, the Merlin Park rat run is going the way of the Dodo expect for walking & cycling traffic

As to how they are looking to address it, I've listed some items below, however I will call out the medium term is listed as "Accelerate reconfiguration of the city’s roads and streets, in favour of sustainable transport modes, coupled to provision of tailored public transport services, and provision of Park and Ride arrangements."

Buses

• Bus priority towards Parkmore Road for the existing key routes (405, 409);
• Bus priority on Tuam Road for existing buses, and additional buses using Racecourse Road;
• Southbound bus priority for buses departing the Parkmore Area along Parkmore Road;
• Bus penetration into the Parkmore Area to reduce pedestrian walk times and the overall journey time; and
• New bus stops / road crossings where pedestrian permeability has been provided through the various business estates

Park & Ride
Important note, they are clear without all of the bus measures listed above being implemented, a P&R service is unaffordable and unlikely to be a viable option

The determination of the preferred Park and Ride site(s) will be completed in the short term, by the NTA Park and Ride Project Office.

However, a functioning Park and Ride will be dependent on completion of the Public Transport Interventions in section 5.1 above. Without these, bus services to / from the Park and Ride location will be delayed, with no competitive advantage over remaining in one’s car. To maintain frequency without these interventions, many buses would be required in the peak periods, making the service unaffordable.

Accordingly, while Park and Ride site design will be progressed as quickly as possible, their successful operation is contingent on the (prior) provision of bus priority infrastructure. Accordingly, while the procurement of a suitable site and the design/planning process can be undertaken in the short term, the construction and operation of Park and Ride will be a Medium Term project.

A P&R at either

• the airport which will include bus priority measures along the R339 or
• Expanding the parking at Oranmore Train station.
• The decision of which will be done by the NTA's P&R Office.

Walking & Cycling

• Completion if segregated cycling route west-east from SQR right up to the Parkmore Rd/Tuam Rd junction.
• Improvements to the Briarhill / N6/ Monivea Junction, to provide better access to /from the Briarhill Underpass;
• Permeability within the business parks, such that pedestrians and cyclists approach from the nearest entrance (whether Tuam Road, N6 or Parkmore Road) to reach their destination, during peak hours (including darkness);
• Enhancement of existing facilities;
• Improved junction design, with acceptable pedestrian and cycling provision, for both signalised and non-signalised junctions;
• Continuity of footpath / cycle track along routes, including a shared cycle/pedestrian facility along the entirety of Parkmore Road from the Briarhill Underpass to the Parkmore Road roundabout and
• The removal of rat running from Merlin Park Hospital will immediately provide a high quality 3.5km safe cycle route linking Renmore / Murrough to the Briarhill Underpass into the Parkmore Area.
• Also: The provision of additional Public Bikes stations at Parkmore is feasible and desirable, but will depend on the identification of funding sources to offset the additional operational costs associated with such expansion.

There is a lot more in it. For a full list of all the proposals, read from pg 28 onwards. For such a small area they have put an awful lot into this. Granted they have included some items which are safe to say as being outside the scope e.g. the upgrades of Kirwan and Browne RAB's etc, but they have included them on the basis of the effect the upgrades will have for sustainable modes of transport.

There are 32 proposed actions for the short term, 7 for the medium term and 1 long term. The long term one is a complete redesign of Parkmore Rd, with full bike lanes, bus lanes etc.

Its a temp solution, that whole area is going to be no parking in a year or two