urbanisto

Its hard to know what thread to put this on…see OConnell St also

Dublin Bus wants roads deal with Luas
Tim O’Brien

Transport committee: Dublin Bus has said the viability of a €200 million plan to beat congestion may be in doubt if it can not come to an accommodation with Luas over crucial road space in Dublin city centre.

Both transport companies are vying for on-street priority in the crucial centre area of Nassau Street, College Green and Westmoreland Street.

Yesterday, managing director of Dublin Bus Joe Meagher said it could now take up to 25 minutes for a bus to travel between St Stephen’s Green and Parnell Square, a situation which made bus use in the city “almost unviable”.

Mr Meagher told the Oireachtas Committee on Transport that the bus company needed additional priority on city streets, and said the prospect of Luas utilising a route option along Nassau Street and College Green via Westmoreland Street to O’Connell Street was “a major, major issue for Dublin Bus”.

The route is one of a number being considered to link up the existing Luas Red and Green lines. It emerged as favourite at a public consultation process in February, largely because it is the shortest and most direct.

The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA), builder of Luas, has said the success of tram systems around the world was dependent on trams having their own space where they travel on public roads and not queuing at traffic lights.

However, Mr Meagher said Dublin Bus provided 58 million passenger journeys which began or ended in the vicinity of the front of Trinity College.

With travel speeds in the city centre averaging between 5km/h and 8km/h depending on the time of the day, the company had developed an investment plan based on 425 new buses and new quality bus corridors (QBCs).

This plan was dependent on “free movement” of buses along QBCs and in the city centre.

He said the plan also included the development of more cross-city bus routes, six new orbital and five new radial QBCs and priority movement in the city centre.

Priority movement could mean continuous bus lanes, bus-only access roads, bus-only turns, and bus priority at lights and junctions.

He warned that congestion was currently costing the company €60 million a year, while the average speed of buses across the network had fallen to just 12km/h.

Mr Meagher said Dublin Bus had raised the issue with Luas, and had extensive discussions with the Dublin Transportation Office, which, he said, had been understanding of the bus company’s position.

Dublin Bus also made a submission at the public consultation stage meetings held by the RPA.

The company recommended that Luas utilise “option B”, a route around Trinity College to the west along Nassau Street and Westland Row.

Dublin Bus said it was also seriously concerned about the disruption to routes and services during the Luas construction phase, which could see Dawson Street, Nassau Street, Lower Grafton Street, College Green, Westmoreland Street and part of O’Connell Street dug up.

Mr Meagher said Dublin Bus did accept the importance of the Luas and metro projects in transport infrastructure but there was “a need for close co-ordination between Luas, metro and Dublin Bus to minimise disruption”.

Judging from the DCC traffic camera we are almost complete bar a bit of snagging….

Quite

This finally got permission from ABP (see SBP story). I cant help wondering if I have missed something….”exceptional design”? Are we talking about the same monstrosity above?

And DCC since it highlighted the new developments at NCAD as a flagship project for SoHo. This is good news…a sensible decision.

C is the fountain on the north side of Customs House. Commemorates the Dublin Fire Brigade and is finally back up and running again.

Aaah theres loads of tourist websites! Come one! Google it.

Yes we have spoken about the visual clutter on the street on a number of occasions and I agree with your points about the excess of posts along the median. The lighting scheme is not really very impressive along the street and considering what a to-do there has been about this whole project the very least that could have been done was to get some striking architectural pieces of lighting in place. At least Patrick’s Street in Cork realised the need to be brave rather than go for some designs from a design guide. I dont the the DCC have fully realised the potential of lighting to change a space in say the way Docklands have. Still fancy lighting must be maintained and there are many examples of feature lighting around the city that haven’t been maintained…Ha’penny Bridge being a glaring example.

Its probably quiet difficult to undertake works such as these while leaving the street accessible to everyone so I suppose the use of the median as a storage area is somewhat justified. Can you really see another months work on the street GregF….how despressing. Still there are about 12 kiosks to be installed to complete the scheme so I suppose we should expect some remaining work. I would have hoped that everything would be completed to enjoy the street in the summer.

I think the idea of a ceremony or festival of sorts to celebrate the completion works is a great idea. Galvinise public opinion behind trhe makeover and perhaps stimulate the likes of JWT and Playland to do their bit.

What an intriuging story! Personally I think they should leave this little quirk in place. However I do have to wonder at priorities here when pieces of masonry are missing from the bridge (see OConnell St thread) with little or no proper attention, why get so worked up over such a minor point.

Is it Government Buildings? Small mess halls to the side.