Any update on the GLUAS?

pandamoanium

Anyone know if there's been any updates regarding the proposed GLUAS system?












Anyone?























ANYONE?!?! :pac:

Robbo

I'm sure we'll hear all about it in the run up to the local elections. They'll all be statements of wishful fantasy mind...

futura123

not a hope in these recessionary times

cranky bollix

forget about it , it was never gonna happen in the first place.Galway is way down fianna fails list of priorities.They spent all the money on champagne during "the good days"

Bass Cadet

Not gonna happen within the next 10 to 12 years at least and thats being optimistic about it

Zzippy

Robbo wrote: »

I'm sure we'll hear all about it in the run up to the local elections. They'll all be statements of wishful fantasy mind...

Nah, GLUAS will be old hat by then. They'll be promising us a monorail by then.

Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!

/end Simpsons flashback

Robbo

Zzippy wrote: »

Nah, GLUAS will be old hat by then. They'll be promising us a monorail by then.

Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!

/end Simpsons flashback

Don't laugh, a monorail would actually be a more pragmatic solution. At least the overhanging structure would provide some shelter for pedestrians once the thing breaks and starts circling the town at enormous speed with Padraic Conneely inside and Knacker Dwarf at the wheel...

I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook and by gum it put them on the map...

snubbleste

Anyone know if there's been any updates regarding the proposed GLUAS system?

The plan has been released to the public and can be found in the fairytales section of the bookstore.

cornbb

A complete and utter fantasy. Whatever politician admits this during the local elections will have my vote. Unfortunately they'll all pretend that they're gonna make it happen.

Lockstep

My friends who drive go on and on as if it's going to cause a collapse of Galway and that they;ll be held up by the construction.

Those who don't drive and are sick of the buses think it'll be the second coming.

Fey!

The people behind it are still pushing for it. They did an excellent presentation of it to the city business' 2 weeks ago, which was received very well.

Can anyone tell me what politicians are involved in GLUAS, or who from the corpo? As far as I'm aware, the concept is from a number of private individuals, and they then presented the package to the corpo.

Anyway, more at www.gluas.ie.

ambasite

like the Atlantic Corridor and Western Rail ideas - utter fantasy. Government priority is to develop Dublin/Belfast zone. The rest of the serfs can **** off.

Bass Cadet

Fey! wrote: »

The people behind it are still pushing for it. They did an excellent presentation of it to the city business' 2 weeks ago, which was received very well.

Fair play to them but they are wasting their time unfortunately. Wish I was wrong

KevR

Think I read somewhere a while back they the people behind it were saying they'd need 12,000 people per day using it so it could fund itself. Am I the only one who thinks they wouldn't get 12,000 users per day with the routes they have planned? 73,000 people living in the city. None of the planned routes go outside of the city to tap into populations of surrounding towns. So when you take the people living in Galway city who aren't on any of the lines out of the equation and think of the fact that not everyone located near the tram lines will actually use the trams (at least maybe not on a regular basis). Also take into consideration that there is always a chance of some people who use the trams evading fares (have witnessed this on the Luas in Dublin and the Metrolink in Manchester). Think they will struggle to get near 12,000 paying customers per day with the lines they are proposing.

I would have thought that two lines which go through the city and out to the commuter towns would be better than 3 lines just going through the city.
A West-East line starting from Barna, running East across the city (and through the city centre obviously) and continue on out to Oranmore and Athenry (where there would be an Interchange with Irish Rail services and where you could have a park and ride facility). And a Northern line which runs East from the city centre across to Ballybrit or somewhere (where there could be an interchange with the West-East line) and then swings up North off out to Claregalway and Tuam (again park and ride facilities and an interchange with Irish Rail services in Tuam when the WRC eventually re-opens).


I know, I know - very wishful thinking indeed!

ScumLord

Best you can hope for.

Fey!

Bass Cadet wrote: »

Fair play to them but they are wasting their time unfortunately. Wish I was wrong

I hope you're wrong, too! I think it's a great idea.

KevR wrote: »

Think I read somewhere a while back they the people behind it were saying.....when the WRC eventually re-opens).

I can't remember what their break even on passengers was.

I gather from the presentation I saw that they are looking at park and ride on either end. The reason for the routes they chose was after a feasability study.

If they go to the Western Distributor Road, I'm sure that the line can be expanded to reach Barna. Likewise at the Oranmore end; there could probably be something done in conjunction with Irish Rail around Oranmore, seeing as there's an existing "live" line just outside the town.

@KevR: I didn't think there was a need for to quote the whole lot seeing as it was one of the last posts before this one!!!

Wompa1

Robbo wrote: »

Don't laugh, a monorail would actually be a more pragmatic solution. At least the overhanging structure would provide some shelter for pedestrians once the thing breaks and starts circling the town at enormous speed with Padraic Conneely inside and Knacker Dwarf at the wheel...

I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook and by gum it put them on the map...

"Is there a chance the track could bend?"

Not on your life my Galweigan friend

I don't know if we're a monorail sort of town though..it might be better suited in I don't know say...Mayo...

Robbo

Wompa1 wrote: »

I don't know if we're a monorail sort of town though..it might be better suited in I don't know say...Mayo...

Monorail in Mayo? They'd call you a begrudging Westbrit for the very suggestion such a Pale-oriented plot to keep the West down. Then they'd mobilise all the parish priests from Belmullet to Ballinrobe to campaign for an orbital Maglev line with a spur to Clare Island.

Supermanscat

Well at least you all know what to ask santa for!

pinder

i cant believe this is still beng talked about,where would they put this gluas?am i the only one that sees its impossible.heres why it wont happen 1-streets too narrow,unless it goes around the square and thats it,somehow i dont think so 2-recession 3-it takes about ten minutes to walk from one end of the city to the other,its not a big city by any stretch of the imagination. and 4-the bus service here is grand.how bout spendin the money on the third world water system we have

leninbenjamin

pinder wrote: »

the bus service here is grand

are you for real? have you ever had to rely on a cross town service for work or that?

GLUAS I think is a great idea, if they were to get the implementation right. Living in Dublin right now it's an abso-f*cking-lute mare in terms of transport, facilities and the sheer number of people.

If our government had 2 brain cells about them, they'd realise Dublin's population levels are unsustainable given the existing infrastructure. They need to start providing better alternatives to this, the primary requirement for this being the infrastructure.

Galway's a great candidate for something like a light-rail system. Its population isn't too big to make building it a huge difficulty, yet should be large enough to make proper use of it. And what's more, given our state of development, it would ensure the future of the city isn't tied down to the car (and oil).

/daydreaming...

tbh, i'd be happy if we had more than one bus-lane in the city. Make the center of the city a no car zone (say a 1km radius in all directions, the only cars allowed being resident). widen Bishop O Donnel & western distributor roads, but make the additional lanes for buses only and put daylong parking facilities in one of those unfinished sites at the top of the western distributor. Widen the Barna road, but limit the additional lanes to buses only. wash rinse repeat at strategic locations for the rest of the city. wouldn't cost anything close to a GLUAS, but you'd have a very similar impact for a town of Galway's population.

kraggy

KevR wrote: »

Think I read somewhere a while back they the people behind it were saying they'd need 12,000 people per day using it so it could fund itself. Am I the only one who thinks they wouldn't get 12,000 users per day with the routes they have planned? 73,000 people living in the city. None of the planned routes go outside of the city to tap into populations of surrounding towns. So when you take the people living in Galway city who aren't on any of the lines out of the equation and think of the fact that not everyone located near the tram lines will actually use the trams (at least maybe not on a regular basis). Also take into consideration that there is always a chance of some people who use the trams evading fares (have witnessed this on the Luas in Dublin and the Metrolink in Manchester). Think they will struggle to get near 12,000 paying customers per day with the lines they are proposing.

I would have thought that two lines which go through the city and out to the commuter towns would be better than 3 lines just going through the city.
A West-East line starting from Barna, running East across the city (and through the city centre obviously) and continue on out to Oranmore and Athenry (where there would be an Interchange with Irish Rail services and where you could have a park and ride facility). And a Northern line which runs East from the city centre across to Ballybrit or somewhere (where there could be an interchange with the West-East line) and then swings up North off out to Claregalway and Tuam (again park and ride facilities and an interchange with Irish Rail services in Tuam when the WRC eventually re-opens).


I know, I know - very wishful thinking indeed!

Firstly, you'd be surprised. 12000 users could actually, hypothetically be as little as 6000 people (going to and coming from work). 6000 people isn't that much. The only reason more people don't use public transport in this country is because the services isn't there. As the saying goes, build it and they will come.

Also, the idea of building a tram line out to Athenry would multiply the cost of building the thing by many times. It's quite a distance to go digging up road and laying track.

leninbenjamin

kraggy wrote: »

Also, the idea of building a tram line out to Athenry would multiply the cost of building the thing by many times. It's quite a distance to go digging up road and laying track.

to add to that, why is a tram to Athenry needed when there's a trainline there anyway? lay down an additional track on the land there so more than one train can use the line at a time and then introduce special local carriages only that operate from Galway to Athenry. just have a transfer point in the centre of town and another then build another out near Oranmore (or even better, Galway airport, kill two birds with one stone) with another tram connecting the business parks.

bat boy

I think the idea is totally unsuited to galway city. Its a complete keeping up with the Jones concept. It works in Dublin but it wont here. It'll cost a couple of hundred million, cause traffic chaos during construction and the routes wont even serve a huge proportion of the city.

What should be done is spend a fraction of that money on improving the bus service. More buses, more routes, more bus shelters and put gps tracking in the buses and estimated time readouts at the stops so ya can actually rely on the buses. Also setup some system or incentives for people who are working in the industrial estates to carpool.

Bass Cadet

bat boy wrote: »

What should be done is spend a fraction of that money on improving the bus service. More buses, more routes, more bus shelters and put gps tracking in the buses and estimated time readouts at the stops so ya can actually rely on the buses. Also setup some system or incentives for people who are working in the industrial estates to carpool.

What use are more buses when the roads are choked with traffic anyway? Same delays. The city needs an outer bypass. Only then can an effective city bus service be put in place

Bass Cadet

Fey! wrote: »

I hope you're wrong, too! I think it's a great idea.

I didn't say it was a bad idea

Lockstep

pinder wrote: »

1-streets too narrow,unless it goes around the square and thats it,somehow i dont think so

The main streets are not narrow by any means.

pinder wrote: »

2-recession

Hmm, creation of new jobs, furthering trade and development within the city,commitment to developing an infrastructure.... Yeah, it wouldn't be a help in the recession at all.

pinder wrote: »

3-it takes about ten minutes to walk from one end of the city to the other,its not a big city by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm guessing you live within the city itself.
The proposed Gluas line is going out to Cappagh Road. As someone who lives In Barna and has to cycle 50 minutes into town, I can definetely see the benefits here.

pinder wrote: »

and 4-the bus service here is grand.

I'm curious...how often do you take the bus? I use it reguleraly and it is not grand at all. THe only bus out to Barna is those red privatised buses which only operate properly during peak times and manys the time last year when I'd be waiting for an hour and a half at a freezing cold bus stop.
These days I just take the Bús Eireann buses to Knocknacarra and walk up from there. Not grand by any means.

PopeBuckfastXVI

I think Galway is uniquely suited to a tram/rail system.

The town is split in two by the corrib with only a handful of crossing points. A rail system that provided it's own crossing with none of the delays experienced on any of the road bridges would certainly get my custom.

kickoutthejams

kickoutthejams wrote: »

The main streets are not narrow by any means.

For a tram to have dedicated use of a bridge like Wolfe Tone or the Salmon Weir bridge would involve closing the headford road, merchants road and eglinton street (and bohermore) to car traffic.

On the website the say that they will share the road with cars in someplaces but then how is that different from buslanes on different routes into / around town?

I lived in one of the cities listed as an example and I have to say that there is no comparison. That city had a direct population about 3 to 4 times the size of Galway, it already had nice broad boulevards into and around the city centre and had a much denser population.

For Galway to have the same population + density everyone in Galway county would have to move inside the existing city boundaries.

Bass Cadet

I don't know what people are arguing about...it is possible, it can be done but it wont be done because this is Ireland. A problem has to be a critical/at breaking point before action is done to fix or implement anything

It would be a remarkable piece of forward thinking to get the GLUAS up and running but its not going to happen

PopeBuckfastXVI

No offence intended pg but that's a very 'Irish' way of looking at things.

There's no point in doing something until it's a few years after it's needed?

Did it ever occur to you that Galway's growth is being held back by its terrible infrastructure?

This is not really personally directed at you, but it seems we can't shake this mentality in Ireland. We should be developing world class infrastructure before it's needed, not doing crappy little patch jobs every couple of years to get infrastructure up to the capacity that was needed 2 years ago, cf. the M50 debacle.