Limerick improvement projects

mdmix

ChewBerecca wrote: »

I agree with your comparison, but taking the currently debated cycle lane over the bridge - its being utilised because it is there and people want it to be better by showing the powers that be that the numbers are there. It is not perfect by any means as we are well aware of, but people are going out of their way (literally and figuratively speaking) to use it when they can to try improve cycling infrastructure and get the lane eventually moved to a better location.

There are hourly bus services all over Limerick City area (albeit finishing very early) that people are refusing to use because it doesn't suit/serve them, but still want BE to give them better services.

I get quite a few people cant use these for work if it stops before they finish (and this is completely understandable and frustrating to those who want to use it) but how many people would still take their car for other journeys when the bus service could be utilised?

From what I've seen over the last 2 years in Limerick, people complain about not being able to use the bus services for work during the week, but also refuse to use the bus when they can on weekends/days off.

Boycotting buses doesn't work and in many cases results in the service being reduced even further or removed completely.

It’s not just the poor scheduling, it’s the general unreliability. I have to walk 20 mins to my nearest bus stop, because the 2 closest stops to me, the 304a and 307 regularity go missing So you can be left up to an hour waiting. If I go to the kilmurry bus stop (which all 3 busses pass) then at least I have a chance one might show up on time.

Unless Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus start getting fined for missing busses, nothing will change

ChewBerecca

mdmix wrote: »

It’s not just the poor scheduling, it’s the general unreliability. I have to walk 20 mins to my nearest bus stop, because the 2 closest stops to me, the 304a and 307 regularity go missing So you can be left up to an hour waiting. If I go to the kilmurry bus stop (which all 3 busses pass) then at least I have a chance one might show up on time.

Unless Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus start getting fined for missing busses, nothing will change

I agree the 307 and 304a are shockingly bad for keeping enroute because the drivers regularly decide to skip portions of the journey if they're running behind or want to drop someone off at a different place. I live across from a 304a stop but would rather walk the 1km to get the 308 because it tends to be more reliable as it only does the one circuit so can't go too far off piste.

mdmix

The average daily traffic volumes on the Shannon Bridge travelling in the city centre direction is 15,000 cars. Of these vehicles,10,000 turn right and travel out the Dock Road.

im not sure where Maurice got his figures from, but as Limerick council have not published their figures im taking him at his word. Immediate steps should be taken to reduce car priority over the shannon bridge and out the dock road.

Also stated is that the tunnel cost the taxpayer just shy of 15 million in the last 3 years (including 7 million this year)

https://www.limerickpost.ie/2020/09/07/call-for-tolls-to-be-removed-at-limerick-tunnel/

Cookiemunster

mdmix wrote: »

im not sure where Maurice got his figures from, but as Limerick council have not published their figures im taking him at his word. Immediate steps should be taken to reduce car priority over the shannon bridge and out the dock road.

Also stated is that the tunnel cost the taxpayer just shy of 15 million in the last 3 years (including 7 million this year)

https://www.limerickpost.ie/2020/09/07/call-for-tolls-to-be-removed-at-limerick-tunnel/

Well one of his major figures is completely wrong. He says that it will never reach the figure of 17K journeys a day despite it reaching 22k, 24k and 25k respectively in each of the last 3 years. Numbers were obviously down during lockdown but will be recovering (2020 tunnel figures aren't available on the TII site but the counters either side are at 3/4 of their 2020 numbers).

If he can't get those easy to find figures correct, I'd question his other figures.

He also ignores the fact that the government would have to buy out the remaining 21 years of the consessionaires contract at a cost of hundreds of millions of euro to make the tunnel free.

Berty

His high percentage demographic voter will not look passed what he says and will take it at face value. I would imagine a high majority live in the land of the money tree "can't the gubberment pay for it?"

mdmix

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Well one of his major figures is completely wrong. He says that it will never reach the figure of 17K journeys a day despite it reaching 22k, 24k and 25k respectively in each of the last 3 years. Numbers were obviously down during lockdown but will be recovering (2020 tunnel figures aren't available on the TII site but the counters either side are at 3/4 of their 2020 numbers).

If he can't get those easy to find figures correct, I'd question his other figures.

Was 17k not the y1 projections? Traffic was due to grow over the years so by year 10 we should have been close to 30k? open to correction here.

Regardless, Limerick council have the figures for how many vehicles use the bridge and how many turn right. As they are withholding this information, I can only conclude that they are doing so in order to forward their case for the NDR.

He also ignores the fact that the government would have to buy out the remaining 21 years of the consessionaires contract at a cost of hundreds of millions of euro to make the tunnel free.

I don't think he's ignoring this fact, just recognising that the expected cost (what was paid + what is due to be paid) will be 200 million anyway before the NDR is built. if the NDR is built, the cost of the fees due to the limerick tunnel operator will go up.

Berty wrote: »

His high percentage demographic voter will not look passed what he says and will take it at face value. I would imagine a high majority live in the land of the money tree "can't the gubberment pay for it?"

see above

Jofspring

Delighted to see bollards going in outside the station to stop people parking in cycle lane. They are nearly finished installing them this morning.

breezy1985

Jofspring wrote: »

Delighted to see bollards going in outside the station to stop people parking in cycle lane. They are nearly finished installing them this morning.

Wow I cant believe were gonna get something I actually want and need from the council. Surely theres a catch

phog

So back to the buses and driver attitude

I was walking on O'Connell St one morning last week, saw a guy running for a bus but the bus was ready to pull away from the stop, I tapped the door, driver ignored and pulled away from the stop. The guy told me the bus wasn't due to leave until 08:00 and it was only 07:55, he said it's a regular occurrence but his first bus was late into town so he had to run to try make the connection.

Here's another example from a guy on Twitter who regularly call out BE for their terrible service

No 5pm #314 @Buseireann servicd showed up today. Rang customer care, after 21 minutes on the line I'm told the bus is running 30-45 minutes late but it's on the way. Rang just before 6pm to be told yeah, no thar service isn't running today @TFIupdates , can we privatise the buses?

toushea

The design review document for the Colbert Quarter development by the LDA has been published, its early days but some interesting proposals being made.

https://lda.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Colbert-Station-Quarter_Design-Review-Report_DraftforConsultation_23Sep2020-1.pdf

Glenomra

Major housing development refused planning by an bord pleanala. I don't know for what reason.

source

There are some exceptional ideas there. I like the thought of having buildings beside the train line. The Grafton Architects idea has a lot of green space beside the tracks, which is lovely in theory however the less people around that foot bridge the greater the possibility of anti-social behaviour. Piotr Mach seems to have a very modern view of the area which I think looks fantastic.

breezy1985

Anyone know if something is planned for the old gasworks on Dock rd. Now that it's cleared out

Cookiemunster

breezy1985 wrote: »

Anyone know if something is planned for the old gasworks on Dock rd. Now that it's cleared out

No, there's nothing planned. GNI will probably put the site on the market now that it's safe.

Cookiemunster

source wrote: »

There are some exceptional ideas there. I like the thought of having buildings beside the train line. The Grafton Architects idea has a lot of green space beside the tracks, which is lovely in theory however the less people around that foot bridge the greater the possibility of anti-social behaviour. Piotr Mach seems to have a very modern view of the area which I think looks fantastic.

I like the parts of the plans that have buildings either side of the main line with pedestrian bridges linking them. That would open up the whole area from Mulgrave St to Roxboro Rd and down to the station.

I'm not a fan of those plans to build on the in use playing pitches at Cals Park. I'm not sure how developments that Janesboro and Hyde Road would have their backs to would really open up that area.

But I suppose that what the further public consultations will be for.

phog

My concern about those bridges it that we'll end up with caged tunnels over the railway line rather than open bridges like the living bridge in UL

Cookiemunster

Glenomra wrote: »

Major housing development refused planning by an bord pleanala. I don't know for what reason.

If it's Walkers Lane in Annacotty, then the decision was published two weeks ago. They didn't do a good enough Natura Impact Statement.

Glenomra

Cookiemunster wrote: »

If it's Walkers Lane in Annacotty, then the decision was published two weeks ago. They didn't do a good enough Natura Impact Statement.

Thanks

breezy1985

phog wrote: »

My concern about those bridges it that we'll end up with caged tunnels over the railway line rather than open bridges like the living bridge in UL

My worry is that Limerick people are nowhere near changing from the suburban mentality. Most people would rather live 5km outside of Dooradoyle and moan every day about the commute than live in town and if uptake is slow and houses start getting handed over to Novas those walkways and greenways will turn bad fast

Cookiemunster

breezy1985 wrote: »

My worry is that Limerick people are nowhere near changing from the suburban mentality. Most people would rather live 5km outside of Dooradoyle and moan every day about the commute than live in town and if uptake is slow and houses start getting handed over to Novas those walkways and greenways will turn bad fast

The national plan is to get people from other parts of the country or abroad to relocate to Limerick (and the other regional cities) rather than people moving in from the county. You're not going to get to a city population of 200K from local migration anyway when the total county population is 195K.

phog

breezy1985 wrote: »

My worry is that Limerick people are nowhere near changing from the suburban mentality. Most people would rather live 5km outside of Dooradoyle and moan every day about the commute than live in town and if uptake is slow and houses start getting handed over to Novas those walkways and greenways will turn bad fast

I think the intention is to get people to move to Limerick rather than get Limerick people to move to this location

breezy1985

phog wrote: »

I think the intention is to get people to move to Limerick rather than get Limerick people to move to this location

Fair enough. Personally ide love to live there and have always preferred having town a quick walk away

johnnyryan89

breezy1985 wrote: »

My worry is that Limerick people are nowhere near changing from the suburban mentality. Most people would rather live 5km outside of Dooradoyle and moan every day about the commute than live in town and if uptake is slow and houses start getting handed over to Novas those walkways and greenways will turn bad fast

And God help you if you get stuck next to bad neighbors from Novas as they're no help whatsoever. Well they were no help for us or other neighbors.

TPMP

Did anyone here come in the Condell this morning, and can they advise what the traffic was like? I tried out coming in the Ennis Road (at 8.55) and no traffic at all. Was just wondering if I picked a good day or if the Condell also happened to be quiet.

breezy1985

TPMP wrote: »

Did anyone here come in the Condell this morning, and can they advise what the traffic was like? I tried out coming in the Ennis Road (at 8.55) and no traffic at all. Was just wondering if I picked a good day or if the Condell also happened to be quiet.

I found traffic round town quiet this morning compared to normal at round 9:15

clintondaly

Condell was as busy as ever this morning

Cookiemunster

Looks like work is about to kick off soon on the Opera site. Draw down of the first €25m loan to enable the first phase was agreed with the minister today.

https://twitter.com/DarraghOBrienTD/status/1313815523830964225?s=19

source

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Looks like work is about to kick off soon on the Opera site. Draw down of the first €25m loan to enable the first phase was agreed with the minister today.

https://twitter.com/DarraghOBrienTD/status/1313815523830964225?s=19

How many years have we been waiting for this? I can't wait to see this actually starting.

breezy1985

The new cycle lane opened on Shannon bridge has been cut to one lane half way down the bridge on the inbound lane with a barrier leaving the cyclist with little option but to cycle head on into the cyclists on the outbound lane.

The only other choice is to cut through the barriers before then and join traffic so please don't get annoyed when this happens as it's the council's fault not the bikes

phog

breezy1985 wrote: »

The new cycle lane opened on Shannon bridge has been cut to one lane half way down the bridge on the inbound lane with a barrier leaving the cyclist with little option but to cycle head on into the cyclists on the outbound lane.

The only other choice is to cut through the barriers before then and join traffic so please don't get annoyed when this happens as it's the council's fault not the bikes

More than a slight exaggeration there