Dublin - BusConnects

These folks are total chancers. Here's their submission to ABP: https://www.pleanala.ie/publicaccess/Observation/313182/ABP-313182-22%20-%20Observations%20-%20Anna%20Hofheinz%20&%20Others.pdf?r=806958385995

In the section complaining how the bus stop will ruin the architectural heirtage of their cottages they write:

So the residents argue against a bus stop shelter at that location. But in their online petition they complain about the lack of shelter:

From the Irish Times article:

So they are happy that there isn't a bus shelter in the submission to ABP and now that the bus stop is without a shelter that's a key part of their complains.

You can read the NTA's response to their submission here pages 56-6: https://www.pleanala.ie/publicaccess/Responses/313182/NTA%20-%20Response%20to%20ABP%20Submissions%20-%20July%2022.pdf?r=660570

From the very first public meetings this crowd have always complained about the loss of the 3.5m wide footpath outside their houses where they currently illegally park their cars. I think everything else is just smoke and mirrors round this as their real complaint.

They touch on this in the end of their submission to ABP:

So they want to formalise their illegal footpath parking, get better access to their rear lane (fine) but also don't want any bollards out front that would prevent them from continuing to illegally park in the cycle lane / footpath. Like I said: chancers.

I hope the High Court tells them to get lost.

We are now 2 months away from local elections. Wonder if we will see a slight pause in further orders being finalised so they don't become politicised by local authority politics.

There is still judicial review (JR) to pass for 3/4 approved projects.

CBC7 Liffey Valley to City was approved and the timeframe for submitting a JR (8 weeks) has passed without any applications to the high court.

CBC1 Clongriffin is the subject of a potential judicial review. We'll see if the High Court thinks the Artane Cottages crowd have an argument worth going to a full trial.

CBC3/4 Ballymun/Finglas to city was only approved on 28th February 2024. So it will be end of April or there abouts when the JR timeframe ends. CBC14/15 Blackrock/UCD to City was only approved 27th March 2024, so we're looking at the end of May for that one

Good news is that surveying crews for the detailed design have been out all along the CBC7 route. The detailed design is definitely progressing along that corridor so hopefully we'll see a construction tender ASAP.

Irish public administration moving at top speed!

Dublin City Centre is in chaos this morning with road closures in and around Kildare Street and Merrion Sq. I suspect the whole bus schedule for the morning is knocked out of kilter.

I do think traffic planners need to make the city more resilient and if one or two streets are closed, the public transport network does not shudder to a halt. For example, I have seen a bus breakdown right outside Trinity College on College Green and 40 plus buses were stranded on College Street, D'Olier street etc.

Don't forget utilities upgrades. The C2CC is taking so long because they're upgrading water mains and other utilities. The same will likely apply to all other routes, especially the sections closest to the city.

It is clear now that it was a big mistake that they dropped BRT/Swiftway plan, rather then integrating it into BusConnects and I think there is now a recognition amongst planners about the limitations of how much you can do with buses and that they are already considering converting some of the core bus lanes to Luas lines before the BusConnects infrastructure even starts!

I've been banging on this drum here for years that for providing high-frequency service to a regular schedule, the double decker bus is a technological cul-de-sac. For long suburban and commuter town trips and as a novelty tourist attraction, double deckers work reasonably well (ignoring modern accessibility regulations).

But the mathematics and simulations have been done, and it's simply impossible to prevent bunching if the dwell time is a function of the number of passengers alighting or boarding - this is almost a basic physical law in terms of transport planning. Double-decker buses - with the majority of passengers having to file up and down a single flight of stairs will ALWAYS have this issue no matter how many doors you add. Thus as the frequency increases, a clockface timetable or any guarantee of regularity will be impossible. Note that this result holds even if the double decker buses had completely segregated alignments so no amount of bus gates, etc. can solve this issue.

BusConnects should have considered changing format to single-deck multi-door buses for some of the busiest spines. This format of commuter bus comprise 99% of the commuter buses used globally and are proven to be capable of providing high and regular frequency services. Where I live in Europe at the moment, there are two bus routes on the next block served by articulated single decker buses - we're miles from the end of the line and yet, every 10 minutes to a clock face timetable, a bus arrives. There's actually no need even for live information systems because the bus format allows for predictable dwell times and so predictable scheduling for the entire route.

I wouldn't get rid of the double decker format completely - they are fine for longer distance outer suburban routes and think slowly evolving towards a more modern bus format would make more sense.

Sure, I've said that for long trips with infrequent stops, double deckers can have a role. All formats have a role - coaches for very long distances with very infrequent stops and multi-door single-decker buses for frequent stopping services and shorter average journeys. Double deckers sit somewhere in the middle of these two.

And are just not the right tool for the job if you want a high-frequency, regularly stopping service operating to a regular schedule. You'd never try to provide such a service using coach format vehicles - the idea is so obviously silly - but many of the reasons you wouldn't apply to double deckers also.

If Dublin were designing a bus system from scratch, there's no way you'd pick double-deckers to provide 100% of the services.

The alternative to the double decker bus in Dublin is not everyone standing for an hour. This is a not a genuine argument.

The average trip time on a bus in Dublin is around 22min (according to google), suggesting that less than 10% of Dublin bus trips last an hour or more. There are far more 10 minute trips than 1 hour ones. We should not be designing a system for 10% case or else, like I suggest, for long journeys/infrequent stops, double deckers are probably fine. They are not fine in the role of providing high capacity high frequency, "spines" for the system.

It's particularly disingenuous to suggest that everyone stands on single deckers - typical European artic bus has around 50 seats, less than 70+ on a double decker but they have FAR more accessible seating than a double decker. In Dublin, most of the seats (upstairs) are effectively reserved for the young, able-bodied and those NOT with of shopping, kids, etc.

You won't see a double decker bus anywhere in Europe used in the role that we're trying to use them in Dublin - many had fleets of double deckers in the past (until the 1950s they were a urban bus dominant format) but abandoned them in droves once better options appeared. Trying to use double deckers to service a high capacity, frequent stopping service makes about as much sense as using steam locos for a metro-system - the world has moved on.