Alek Smart

Its just another example of how reluctant the native civil engineering elite are to actually LEARN !
The issue of “Youthful Hi-Jinks” and our refusal to appreciate it came to the fore many years ago after the opening of phase two of the M50 when ayong boy was critically injured by a lump of debris thrown from one of the overbridges in the Tallaght region.
The boy later died in an unrelated but equally sad tragic manner which might not have occurred had he not been the victim of the original attack.
A quick flurry of Protective (and effective) Grilleing then took place as the proffessionals scrambled to cover their well padded exposed backsides.
Now,many years on we stagger blindly along the same road.
One can almost hears the various enginerers sighing with relief as they say….”Ah sure she was`nt killed anyway”…as they pack for the next conference in Brussels,Baghdad,or Benidorm…..
The simple message from all of these “Incidents” is that at this particular time in our social development we are incabable of dealing with the challenges presented by an exposed bridge across a busy arterial road.
Its pretty much the same challenge presented by a new Glass Bus Shelter which will recieve incredible amounts of energy directed into it until it lies totally smashed and awaiting a new equally glass replacement.
It`s not in our psyche to recognize or confront problems such as this nor to take any definitive action against the perpretrators in case it`s seen to paint us in a harsh light.
In the meantime Polititians get to waffle and daub ad nauseum about our place amongst the nations of The World…..!

Ho Ho Ho……and barrel of rhum….!!!
May I take this opportunity to humbly recommend a “Cracking Good Read” to go alongside Mssrs McDonald and Nix`s weighty tome..?
Its not strictly about Dublin,nor about Architecture yet it DOES manage to encompass an understanding of and fondness for that very topic….
My Lords,Ladies and Gentlemen I give you……..

“THE BUS WE LOVED”
By Travis Elborough.
Published in London by Granta.

All I can say is try to accquire a copy and have a read of it…….if only to doff your hat at the memory of those who actually had a feeling for the principles of good design and the vision to make it happen….. 😮

Quoting Garethace…
I am all for keeping car access to Foster’s place. They manage to do it in many of the best European cities. But there seems to be something about ‘how’ the taxi driving occupation evolved in Dublin city, and similarly the bus transportation system evolved, that seems to be about dragging places down. Making them into the lowest common denominator – for some strange reason, people who drive vehicles around our cities seem to have pure contempt for their urban environment. You can see this similarly in suburban villages and areas, where if there is a video store or laundrette alongside a road, it is free-for-all for anyone in a mini-van with two kids to use the footpath as a parking lot. I understand the climate is bad, peoples’ lives are hectic and keeping kids in your sight is paramount. But something tells me there is more to peoples behaviour and lack of respect for urban places, when they are sitting behind the wheel of a n automobile.
Perhaps the best example of this is now to be found in the village of Ranelagh.
Raneleagh is to me the epitomy of what a Dublin “Village” should be all about.
Prior to the return of Rail Travel to the village it had managed to retain it`s Butcher,Baker,Candlestickmaker essence to which could be added Mororcycle Shop,Homebrewery,Landromat and resident Justice Minister :rolleyes:
While the village had always in modernity struggled with its geographical position vis a vis the Motor car,it had nonetheless kept a vestige of a true Village athmosphere.
The arrival of Luas brought with it a reinvigoration and an expansion of ranelagh`s potential to become a really impressive Human Centred working Dublin Village.
However to progress that would have required some Interested and Focused input from the various bodies which form our Local and National Governing Elite.
The lack of any cohesive welcoming plan for Luas has instead turned Ranelagh into something like a Paradise Lost .
Here we have a cohesive social Village Structure complete with a strong resedential culture encompassing a huge social mix from Unemployed Local Authority tenants through transient provincials and multi-cultural non-nationals allthe way up to Ministers of an tOireachtas and ex Professional Footballers turned Radio Personalities.
With the opening of the Luas Green line This huge broadband of Modern Dublin Society now had all of the ingredients for a really attractive model of Modern Urban Living FREE of the OPPRESSIVE REQUIREMENT TO BE CAR FOCUSED AT ALL TIMES.
Well….thats what was so nearly within our grasp……and our Professional Planners threw it to the winds as they abjectly failed to take the new Ranelagh and Integrate it with its new Luas delivered salvation.
The Village now had two LRT stations and Four Bus routes including the radial 18 route ALL of which should have been the focus,in Transport Terms,for mass movement into and out of the Village,with the private car being relegated to a much reduced role WITHIN the area from Charemont St Bridge to Marlborough Road on the East/West axis and Leeson Park to Mountpleasant Ave on the North/South axis.
The area enclosed by that boundary,essentially the village would have benefited greatly from the halving of on-street car parking combined with the widening of the Kerbs in the Village itself and us of the former “Triangle” ( Now sitting there unused and mute testimony to a City Administration unable to deal with heaven sent micro opportunities,but full of desires for Multi-Billion madcap schemes).
Presently a Bus Journey through Ranelagh is almost Biblical in essence as one attempts to thread ones camel through a needle whose eye is virtually blocked with cars,vans,trucks all abandoned on or close to every inch of vacant kerbspace.
Instead of TRYING to move forward with a new and eminently achievable Public Transport centred vision what we have is Bus Atha Cliath REDUCING one of its main trunk routes the 48A and now looking at ways and means of rationalizing the other main through route the 11.
Part of the rationale behind this it is thought comes from a Luas inspired downturn in Passenger Numbers,however I precieve that downturn as being more due to the lack of any structured Bus Priority measures along the South Side of the 11 route and even less on the poor old 18.
This lack of infrastructural support has led to journey times which are completely unsustainable by any rational minded customer,most of whom go off and buy a moped,bicycle or car…immediately adding to the misery of the Real Ranelagh.
As I read of Ministers Cullen and Calelley and their grand visions for the spending of €34 BILLION on magnificent underground Railway Stations worthy of the Imperial Tsar,yet see the same pair sitting on so much unfinished business within their own office administrations then I become afraid…really afraid of just what these lads are going to conjure up for us,especially as an Election is in the offing (Probably the very worst scenario to be Planning anything in socio-architectural terms).
If the Ministers were to allocate me a budget of €1.5 Million I believe I could devise and impliment some small-scale trafic and Public Transport centred measures which would reduce the Number 11 south side journey time by approximately 5 mins per bus journey at peak and perhaps more off peak allowing for an increased frequency throughout the day and into the night (A Must for a truly useable Village scenario)
Mind you my plan would greatly inconvience those who “Stick her up on the kerb” and nip in for a Paper-Single-Kebab-Pizza etc BUT we have to Make some choices here if the Village ethos is to be meaningfully retained and expanded….
As Capn Picard might say….Make it So…!!!!! 🙂

Holy God Graham but given the present social climate I would hope you keep your camera well concealed during your perambulations through Crumlin/Drimnagh…..:eek:
Its something to keep in the back of your mind,that the sight of a strange fellow taking pictures of individual houses and cars in a resedential area might not be seen as having anything to do with a Social/Architectural forum in some people`s minds…….Bi Cuaramach A Cairde 🙂

What worries me most about the prefered option is how it copperfastens the much criticised Bus Atha Cliath principle of An Lar`ism or,for the OAP`s ,Pillarism…..
My own pref was for C or the Great George Line.
I look to this in the spirit of trying to offer commuters a tantalising view of another Dublin which presently lies only metre`s from their Bus/Tram and which is crying out for people to come along and repopulate it.
With the present Transport Ministers appearing to be pre-occupied with losing such important things as Road Safety advisers and personal secretary`s (7 in two years.?? Shurely shome mishtake ??) I am reluctant to commit any great confidence to seeing ANY elements of T21 constructed in my lifetime.
I am also concerned at the ease with which all the great and the good are now galloping off to commence new Billion Euro projects whilst leaving the existing ones half finished……
Glass half-full..?………Nah…….It`s half-empty still.

Because it`s always been tradition to have a cab stand on Old O Connell St thats why…..
Incedentally …has anybody got some info on what was goin on at the NorthBound Abbey St/O Connell St junction yesterday….Men in suits,men in low slung backsideless jeans,JCB`s and the Boulevard reduced to a single lane to allow TWO holes to be closely inspected (To see if they could contain €34 Billion in black plastic sacks ??)
The entire performance was accompanied by NO Gardai or any token attempt to warn/divert northbound traffic from the scene of the crime.
“Its usually quiet of a Sahada”…was the official line I believe closely followed by “We`ll finish it off on Wensda,that`s half-day ye kno”…..
Happily we now have a rather splendid two-piece temporary reinstatement job which brings out the nicely darkening tones of the granite paving in a truly Rubensesque pastiche of colour……
Hopefully we still have €33,999,999,000 left…..????

Had a closer look at the new Tree Lined Median this day and can report that it does NOT impinge on the ability to route Buses into or out of St Annes Road…In fact it may well enhance that very prospect (Shurley shome Mishtake).
Dorset St is one helluva street and remains a vibrant place in an earthy and realistic way where good food and drink can be had in honest surroundings at REALISTIC prices and the Bouncers don`t patronize one….IE They are not afraid to refer to U as a whankker rather than attempt to add a “Sir” to the end of it.
The mix of Pubs and Eateries at the Drumcondra End attract a seriously eclectic mix of the sons and daughters of the Four Green Fields who mix in a reasonably relaxed way with the overseas contingent without having to feature in an Irish Times pull out supplement whilst doing it.
Instead people of ALL nationalities get on with the business of sourcing bargains at the Street Side market along by the NCR Junction
You can buy a car.have ur Harley Chopped and ur ass tatoo`d and then take away a Bidet at one end of the street while at the other end U can have ur dentures glued back in (Ref :Bouncer) and get a set of dancin pumps made up whilst selecting a marble fireplace or Headstone for yerself..
It kinda reminds me of Islington where Traffic,Buses,and the general Hurly Burly all combine in a mad way to make the place attractively alive…This is EXACTLY wat Dublin City Council needs to be encouraging and devoting some effort into doing…..
Dare I say it but the removal of the Bus Termini from Mountjoy Sq and their reallocation to the Drumcondra Station Grassy Knoll would be a step in the right direction…….and yet and yet……..Not a peep do I hear about givin the thing a try…even for an experimental period……..Out of the Box…Bosco ?? 🙁

Hmmmmm could be,but I suspect it`s to ensure that any further talk of Bus/Rail interchanges at this location is stifled at birth…….or hidden in the undergrowth…. 😮

Wat comes around…goes around…..what price a FF/PD think-in out in Citywest before Chrissy….???? 😉

I rather sadly have to agree-with-mr-Seerski.
It probably has more to do with our Catholic upbringing than any Planning or Governance issues.
We have been inured with the belief that its the Primacy of the Individual that counts above all else……Individual Belief,Individual Faith and the rights of the Individual to exist at whatever level THEY wish irrespective of the effects this Individiality has on the collective lives co-existing with them on this little Island.
This for example allows one single Individual to board a Bus,hoist a bag upon the dashboard, and begin a slow and laborious search and rescue procedure for their BusFare whilst remaining TOTALLY oblivious to the bedraggled,soaked and strangely silent queue of OTHER people standing in the pissing cold rain with THEIR Busfare already counted out…The search can be a time consuming one,oft accompanied by muttered grumbles about how long “I” have been waiting for the Bus etc etc.
I have witnessed in other European Cities how the other passengers will simply apply the “Greater Good” principle and brush the Rooter aside therefore asserting their right to avail of faster public transport journeys by having their fare ready….However this will NOT happen here and the poor ol Plain People of Ireland simply stand in line behind the Terminally Unprepared one raising their eyes to heaven secure in the catholic knowledge that this is merely part of their Purgatory on Earth for which they will be richly recompensed in the afterlife……
In the meantime lets hear the assembled choir of the Archiseekers get to their feet for a rousing rendition of the Rolling Stones tune……..”You can`t always Get what you Want”……ah one,ah two,ah three…….. :p