Gabriel-Conway

Thanks Diaspora, though I’m nothing to do with Platform 11, I’m “BusTravel Ireland”.

Anyhow, actually this whole thread has stirred up some interest in me, and I think I’ll go off and do some research on AT and maybe join (if they take members) depending on what they and I have to offer each other.

Maybe it will provoke a similar response in others, after all, if it is ignorant of the “common person”‘s ideas, that is probably because the “common person” has not bothered to voice them.

Gabriel

Apologies in advance if this posting is seen as something of a rant. I don’t mean to offend anyone on this board, but I feel that there is a fundamental lack of respect being given to the human beings who are the ones who have to actually use this building – the people for whom it was designed and built.

I note very little concern given in the above posts to the actual purpose of the building – which is to facilitate the people wishing to travel and ensure that they have a central and reasonably comfortable / convienient hub, with suitable refreshment / shopping / information resources available.

Busarus was built to provide a decent bus station for the travelling public, against huge and vocal opposition from the great and the good who felt that they were undeserving of such a building, and sure wouldn’t they be better just waiting in the rain on the quays like they used to?

That attitude still seems to be prevelant today.

A similar effort by CIE to provide a terminal for city bus users was squashed in the 80s when after years of building up a land-bank, it was taken from them for the Temple Bar scheme. The result being that almost every street in the city is filled with bus termini, people still wait in the rain (shelters impractical or not allowed in many places) and the view of many fine buildings is obscured.

Please don’t deny a modern, revamped terminal to the thousands of tired and weary travellers who use Busarus daily.

If you really care about the building so much, then arrange to donate a similarly-sized and centrally located plot of land, with planning permission for a modern terminal, and the funds for it to be built.

Then you can sit in Busarus and gaze at it all day long!

Gabriel

I think what Alek is talking about is major public-use projects – shopping centres etc.

These need to be designed so that bus use to them is a convienient and attractive proposition – a la Blanchardstown Centre, where a mini bus station is directly outside the main entrance, so it is as convienient, or more convienient to get from bus to shops as from car to shops.

A bad example is Liffey Valley, where the buses are tucked away out of sight after a long windy walk through the car-park.

Worst example is Pavillion Swords – a bus stop for outward buses is provided as an afterthought, and the layout is such that there is nowhere for inward buses to stop – i.e. once you’ve been to the centre you have to either walk with your shopping all the way to the main street, or along the road and across the dual-carriageway in order to get the return bus!!!!

Permission for any shopping centre should only be granted now if there is enough space given over to public transport at a convienient and central part of the development.

The Square Tallaght is not bad in this respect, though the bus area is a bit windswept – it could do with being moved down to the area between the LUAS station and the centre, thus giving it a sheletered area, plus integrated, plus convienient . . .

Gabriel

Yes, I’ve seen those, but I’ve seen (and photographed something even better too.

One morning last September, they dug a huge trench outside the KPMG building. It was filled in again very quickly, same day in fact.

I managed to get a picture of what was in the trench . . . I’ll put it online over the weekend, and drop in here on Monday to give you a link to it (it won’t be part of my site, just a couple of pics put up specifically for you guys).

Gabriel

Hi all,

I’ve been seriously overloaded at work (I’m on call 24×7 as well as putting in a full working day) and I’ve seriously neglected my website duties of late!

However, a couple of LUAS Updates are in the works.

On Sat 12th April I walked the line between Hueston and Connolly and took about 100 photos documenting the construction along there – the best of which will go up as Update Number 5 maybe this weekend.

It’s by far the most interesting of all the stretches of LUAS line, going as it does through some really varied inner-urban backstreets – particularly like the section by the old match factory, and passing the fruit and veg market (what a building!).

Very shortly after that I intend to have No6, which will catch up on progress on the remainder of Line A, and also Line B.

Btw, the bridge at Ranelagh was put in place over the last weekend, and there has been substantial progress on track construction in as far as Milltown Viaduct (with the odd gap).

I’ll try really hard this weekend to get some stuff up, and report back here on Monday.

Gabriel

I’ve long-since ceased to be amazed about how people always diss things before the are introduced/built, and then suddenly claim to have liked them all along once they see how good they are. It’s the same with the LUAS – everybody grumbles about the construction disruption, but wait until its finished and ask if it should be taken away!

As regards the Spire, while I was there last night watching the 4th section being hoisted up, a very loud and drunken man was regailing the crowd with his tales of what a waste of money it was etc.

He told us all how the planners are not in touch with the people, and have no respect for the city . . . before throwing the rubbish from his half-eaten takeaway meal onto the pavement and walking away . .

Gabriel

Hello all, I’ve been lurking for some considerable while, but this is my first post.

On the subject of trees, how about Poplars – tall, graceful, space-efficient, and would fit in well with the spire!

As regards the tree-cutting bus pictured, this has just been replaced by a newer model cascaded down from the service fleet this summer. There is a requirement to always have at least one in the fleet, in order to prevent damage to roof-domes of buses. For best effect, cutting should be done in wet weather, for it is then that the branches hang down and cause most damage.

I am no expert on trains, but I remember someone telling me that the problems in the UK started after the end of the 60s when steam trains were replaced – the constant steam blasts apparently kept the trees from growing over too much. But I could very well be wrong on that one.

Anyway, hope the above is of interest