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Vote on College Green Bus Gate
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14-02-2009 10:48am#1
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Maybe just at peak hours
Exactly my thoughts as well; the problem with Dublin's traffic is commuter through traffic at peak hours - this proposal however threatens to prevent shoppers traffic at all other hours.
By all means clean up College Green and get rid of the junk and visual clutter that detract from some of the finest buildings on the island; but this proposal does not do that - nor does it do anything for Westmorland Street which shamefully continues in neglect, without proper planning enforcement by Dublin City Council. (See Supermacs, Amusement City [owned by the late Liam Lawlor's partner Kennedy], and most recently the refitting of an inappropriate facade on the corner of Fleet Street).
Dublin Bus are supposed to have been preparing a new arrangement of routing their buses, so that not every bus follows the 19th century tram routes to a Pillar that is no longer there. This bus gate idea flies in the face of DB reforming their routes, and hence is premature. The idea of Westmorland Street being turned into a three-lane bus-way is remarkable - it is likely to further degrade what was once of the city's finest streets (laid out by the Wide Streets Commissioners), but alas is already really struggling to survive, with miserably narrow footpaths and a poor quality public domain.
I fear that this bus gate plan may lead to further segregation of the city, as Westmorland Street is likely to become an even less-attractive route for pedestrian interaction between Grafton Street and O'Connell Street; similarly it is likely to constitute a psychological block for day-time car shoppers that may otherwise consider crossing the Liffey.
By all means, commuter cars in this city must be tackled - but this unfairly hits shopping traffic, which vastly exceeds spend-per-head when compared to shoppers that use the Luas and buses. I also note that over 60% of traffic parked up in car parks in Dublin 1 and 2 during weekdays belong to civil servants - this is what should be tackled.
It is an irony that a proposed facility that purports to be for public transport, and ergo environmentally progressive, may actually have the opposite effect in that by disuadeing car-based shoppers from coming into the city centre, they then go to out-of-town malls, which only makes those malls more profitable - and further encourages low density environmentally-unfriendly sprawl. It's a bit like the "free bikes" that ultimately have delivered JC Decaux billboards advertising cars and booze - but damn all bikes.
It is also worth noting that previous traffic calming measures in this area have massively reduced the amount of traffic going via O'Connell Bridge, as north bound car drivers are no longer able to access College Green from either Nassau Street or George's Street; similarly south-bound motorists are no longer able to get onto O'Connell Street from Parnell Square or Abbey Street.
Ultimately if you want to see Westmorland Street become a bus gutter like Marlborough Street and the West Side of Parnell Square, back this proposal.
If on the other hand you would prefer to see the city centre thrive, oppose a full-time bus gate at this point and make your opposition known to the city council and to councillors.
Let's get a better plan instead - one that widens footpaths on Westmorland Street and cleans up College Green, tackles unnecessary car commuting traffic, and a plan that recognizes that the bus routes are in any event being rearranged.
As this stands, it is a bad, bad, bad idea
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