College Green Bus Gate For Peak Hours Only
The new Bus Gate at College Green in Dublin will now only apply during peak commuting times following a series of meeting and debates on the issue in which the AA was heavily involved. The new scheme is not a car ban but it does mean that commuting drivers will not be able to transit through the city centre past Trinity College. As they are re-routed the space is given over to public transport and specifically to Dublin Bus, who must now deliver on the service improvements that they have promised in return.
New Bus priority measures are due for the centre of Dublin. The College Green Bus Gate will mean that commuting cars will no longer be able to use O’Connell Bridge or College Green to cross the Liffey. In effect this creates a clear public transport corridor for Dublin Bus between Parnell Square and Nassau Street. The hope is that it will improve the chronic congestion that affects the area. But traders are worried about damage to their businesses and some motorists are worried about being driven out of town.
In response to these concerns the AA supported a revised proposal which means that the bus lanes will only be in operation during the morning and evening peak hours Monday to Friday, not 24/7 as was originally proposed. This has now been accepted by the City Council Transport Committee and the measures are due to be put in place during the Summer.
This could potentially make a big difference to the quality of the bus service without actually affecting motorists too badly. There are currently 64,000 cars accessing the city centre each day in the morning peak but only 6% of them use the affected streets.
In fact the larger problem has been congestion of buses. A key concern of the AA's is the fact that Dublin Bus currently funnels 60% of all its daily passengers from all points of the compass into that city centre area. Small wonder that the buses get backed up. On some mornings it takes 40 minutes or more for a bus to make it through the city centre.
The challenge for Dublin Bus now is to make the best use of the extra space that has been given to them. Estimates show that on average 10 minutes could be saved on the time taken for a bus to travel through the city centre, and just as important is the ability to stick to a scheduled timetable.
There are plans for the installation of real time bus information displays next year. Like the signs at Luas stops, this will show when the next bus is due. It is to be installed at 500 locations in 2010. This is something the AA would very much like to see happen, and perhaps it will this time.
The plan will also be affected by the construction of both the Luas extension and the construction of Metro North. If those projects run to schedule there will be major construction work in the city centre beginning early in 2011. Another key aspect of the scheme is the enhancement of cycling and pedestrian facilities.
These new measures do not mean a 'car ban' and should not be presented as such. It is still possible to drive into the city to any of the car parks and of course none of the restrictions apply at weekends. But during the weekday commute cars will not be able to transit through College Green and will have to cross the Liffey elsewhere.
Dublin City Council is committed to building two new bridges across the river which will help traffic flow. The Samuel Beckett Bridge at Macken Street is under construction and the elegant structure will be in place before the end of the year. A further bridge at Marlborough Street (for public transport only) is on schedule to be opened in 2010.
The AA is represented on the Transport Committee of Dublin City Council. When the Bus Gate was proposed a lot of members got in touch via the website aaireland.ie/publicaffairs to tell of their concerns. Most people are accepting of the fact that we need to improve public transport but that does not mean that motorists should be treated unfairly.
The AA's policy is to support public transport and to provide private motorists with good alternatives. That is the model for success in cities around the world and it should be the centre of our policy here. For this reason, the AA was a strong supporter of Luas even when all around us were criticising it during construction. The AA supported the installation of Quality Bus Corridors and accepts the need to spend motoring taxes on supporting Dublin Bus and on providing rail and cycling facilities.
This is one of the more important public transport measures and it has the potential to be an effective and useful measure. The AA wants to see it succeed but a great deal of work will be required from a number of different agencies if it is to work well.