City Council vote against bus lane

limerick_man

Limerick must be the only city in the world that is anti public transport!

The Leader is reporting that, "city members unanimously accepted a proposal calling on the local authority to "withdraw and delete" the plans. The proposal put forward by Independent councillor Pat Kennedy that the city authority reject plans for bus lanes to be introduced in Ballinacurra Road, O'Connell Avenue and Mulgrave Street into Roche's Street, was passed without comment by city manager Tom Mackey, who had previously said he would use his executive powers to pass the plan."

They have rejected it on the grounds that residents along the street use the public roadway for private parking and have caused headaches in the past for councillors trying to push for the creation of a bus lane. Once again residents of Raheen and Dooradoyle lose out because we are not within city boundaries and therefore dont affect councillors votes.

But because life is such, the wants of about 160 people outweigh those of about 8,000 people. Limerick is already behind on public transport matters being the only major urban area that doesnt have any late night bus services, the only one of Irelands cities not to have a light rail system in place, in the works, or under inspection and and now the first to fully reject government funding for bus lanes. This is so annoying!!!!

In the past year I've had to buy a car and ditch the bus services but i feel guilty every time i hop in the car. But thanks to Bus Eireann and City Council, getting a bus for me would mean leaving my house an hour eariler then i do and depending on buses arriving on at regular times so i could easily switch. Now we all know that buses in this city dont work like clockwork by any means, and me leaving my house an hour earlier then i already do because of a failure by city and bus representatives - thats not the way i roll. So after about 20 years of getting worked up over a poor bus system i finally decided to give up on it.

What they should do is have a park'n'ride by the south court hotel (which could be used by people coming into the city from the county/Cork way and also by locals (or near locals) and have buses running eight to ten minutes at rush hour and 15 minutes off peak (in both cases have the buses arrive at the time - this would be possible if bus eireann provided extra drivers/buses to anticipate the larger volumes of traffic and also if there was a continuous bus lane running from Raheen to the city centre). The bus lane should be built along O'Connell Avenue - the parking would only need to be removed from one side of the road and a quick look at maps.live.com shows that every house has a large enough front garden to do something to allow a car to park in it. Many others have a lot of space around the back with laneways linking up for that exact purpose.

If it is felt that there isnt enough room there, then the council should do what all other councils do when they are widening roads, purchase parts of the gardens and widen the road. Residents keep parking, we get bus lane - problem solved, only it would be an expensive option...

zuroph

purchase part of the gardens on O connell Ave? are you serious, this council has already almost bankrupt the city. theres no room for a bus lane, unfortunate, but true.

bazz26

I have to agree, our city is simply not designed for bus lanes. Its not as black and white as knocking gardens or asking residence to park their cars across the road, it's about proper planning and applying a feasable solution, not the typical half assed Irish one we see.

A typical example of this is the Raheen route, there is a perfectly good unused railway line running from Colbert station out past the Cresent Shopping Centre to the Irish Cement Factory. This could probably be adapted with a few stops along the way to run a light rail system in and out of the city servicing Dooradoyle and Raheen. Along with park n ride facilities this could ease traffic congestion into the city from these suberbs. Same goes for the Limerick to Ennis railway line, it runs along by the rear of the Parkway Shopping Centre and out through Corbally. In these cases the basic infrastructure is already there in place.

Also just look at the existing bus lanes, they are comical, the Ennis Road one starts at the Green Hills and ends at Ivan's, whow, that's a whole half mile of progress while at the same time it cause serious tail backs for regular traffic due to the road being reduced to one lane to accomodate this pointless bus lane. The new bus lane in Castletroy is also useless as the bus gets stuck closer to the city.

zuroph

also, the bus lane at ennis road doesnt apply during rush hours, surely the one time its really needed! :rolleyes:

Aidric

For anyone who has had the misfortune of having to use the city bus for a prolonged period, this is bad news. The points that have been made about Limerick not being designed for bus lanes, whilst valid, surely a way can be found. There should be no off street parking allowed from O Connell Avenue out to the crescent. This would allow a bus lane on the raheen route which seems is the busiest in town. Similarly no off street parking should be allowed on the Ennis Road.
Good public transport is an integral cog of any thriving city and Limerick lags badly behind.

phog

Aidric wrote: »

For anyone who has had the misfortune of having to use the city bus for a prolonged period, this is bad news. The points that have been made about Limerick not being designed for bus lanes, whilst valid, surely a way can be found. There should be no off street parking allowed from O Connell Avenue out to the crescent. This would allow a bus lane on the raheen route which seems is the busiest in town. Similarly no off street parking should be allowed on the Ennis Road.
Good public transport is an integral cog of any thriving city and Limerick lags badly behind.

Surely you mean On Street Parking?

Poxyshamrock

NIMBYS

Aidric

phog wrote: »

Surely you mean On Street Parking?

And you'd be right. That's quite unforgivable on my part.

DarkJager

This city just isn't structured properly to have bus lanes flying up all over the place. I find them to be a complete nuisance anyway..

supermommy

I find it increasingly frustrating riding the bus around here..
It has made me late to work too many times at this point..
When its running nicely its lovely...when its late or a complete no show its a total pain in the tits..:mad:

Harpy

this is headwrecking..i live on in ballinacurra and its so annoying waiting for a bus i was really hoping this would come in..i blame all my stupid neighbours for petitioning against it...damn them

gaf1983

I couldn't agree more with this comment left on the web version of the Limerick Leader's bus lane article.

Noel Hayes,
Dooradoyle 29/10/2008 17:34:25
What a disgrace! We are told by Central Goverment to take Public Transport. They tax motorists higher increase the taxes on fuel. The public transport company supply an alternative to the car but local goverment say no. Why because the streets are old.
These residents don't own the road its a public roadway
but Limerick City Council are just trying to keep a few residents sweet so they remain in the Job.
Shame on you, If John Gormley had any power they should be forced to change that decision.

The argument that "this city wasn't built for bus lanes" really doesn't wash with me. Nearly every big town in Europe was built before the invention of the bus, yet most of them have been able to adapt to accomodate bus lanes.

It'll be interesting to see the city manager's next step, and also whether any action might be taken by Gormley.

Limerick Man, I think your suggestion:

...the bus lane should be built along O'Connell Avenue - the parking would only need to be removed from one side of the road and a quick look at maps.live.com shows that every house has a large enough front garden to do something to allow a car to park in it. Many others have a lot of space around the back with laneways linking up for that exact purpose.

is very feasible. It wouldn't be a case of the City Council buying people's front gardens, but maybe they could help fund the residents converting their front gardens to driveways.

jonski

Or maybe a lot of the houses along that route are owned by doctors and solicitors and they want the parking for their clients and have the influence to make sure they keep it .

Edit : I'm not sold on the idea of bus lanes in Limerick as I don't think that they will be implemented properly . And as for park-n-ride , well we haven't a clue about this in Ireland .

zuroph

again, funding repainting the lines on a road = feasible.

funding buying part of gardens, or paying for recontructive work of gardens to allow for parking = not feasible. there is NO way Limerick CC can afford it. Think of the age of the buildings, the fencing, the fact that electricity posts would need to be moved, compensation for loss of garden space, that the entire footpath would need replacing, with drop down kerbs for EVERY driveway. applications for what each house needed/wanted would need to be submitted. By the time that project was funded and realised, we'd all be teleporting to work anyway.

The only possible ways of doing a work link to town from raheen ballinacurra etc, is as suggested above, a light rail link, or a bus that DOESNT need to go via o connell ave, that can be sent in a bus lane on the dock road, with no stops.

Pshan

What happened in Dublin along the Bus Corridors and LUAS Lines, did the residents get compensated for having to move their cars into their driveways?

I see on "The Local" that one of the councillors suggested using Condell road for a bus route, fat lot of good that is for bus users coming in from Raheen - the route that she actually objected to.

source

Pshan wrote: »

What happened in Dublin along the Bus Corridors and LUAS Lines, did the residents get compensated for having to move their cars into their driveways?

The problem on O'Connell Ave, is the fact that there are no driveways along the road, so new driveways would have to be built, the cost of which would fall on the council.

phog

foinse wrote: »

The problem on O'Connell Ave, is the fact that there are no driveways along the road, so new driveways would have to be built, the cost of which would fall on the council.

Why should that matter? The council own the road not the residents so if the council decide to ban parking the residents can use their property as driveways or park elsewhere. The most I'd see the council offering residents is to waive the fee for dipping/ramping the footpaths.

source

phog wrote: »

Why should that matter? The council own the road not the residents so if the council decide to ban parking the residents can use their property as driveways or park elsewhere. The most I'd see the council offering residents is to waive the fee for dipping/ramping the footpaths.

Yes in theory you are right, but in reality and Ireland, the council will wind up paying for the work that needs to be done.

ninty9er

I'm pro bus lanes, and I'm very disappointed at this. The people who currently park on Ballinacurra Road are not legally entitled to continue doing so, which I am led to believe is the trick up Tom Mackey's sleeve.

He can't order bus lanes, but he can order
1. A line to be painted
2. A sign to be erected saying there's a bus lane
3. Sign an order to prohibit parking
4. Leaving the council with no other option but to accept a bus lane.

Same for Ennis Road. I believe there's a bus lane being added to Condell Road at the moment.

Poxyshamrock

I hate how they want the Caherdavin route bus lane to go on the Condell Rd and the Raheen one to go on the Dock Rd.
Who lives on the Condell and Dock Road? No one!

phog

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I hate how they want the Caherdavin route bus lane to go on the Condell Rd and the Raheen one to go on the Dock Rd.
Who lives on the Condell and Dock Road? No one!

That's councillors for you - propose a useless solution to a real problem.