BusConnects Dublin - Bus Network Changes Discussion

dublinman1990

Re: The public consultation.

The NTA changed their minds here about having one at Stillorgan Shopping Centre on Friday the 31st of August. Instead they have changed venue to the Talbot Hotel at Woodland in Stillorgan Road for that day from 2pm to 8pm. Was the building work at Stillorgan Shopping Centre not giving the NTA an opportunity to be there at all because that centre is getting through a big rebuilding project at the moment?

dashcamdanny

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Incentive systems tend to rely on what can be measured easily. It is very difficult to measure 'road safety and obeying the law' given that enforcement levels are negligible.



It's not really comparable, given that Ryanair don't share the roads with pedestrians and cyclists.

Driver do get a safety bonus at the end of the year.

Works quite simply. Dont crash into anything(that is your fault) and get 250 quid at Christmas.

Should be a little higher TBH. The cost of an accident is considerable more. Getting hit by a bus is no small thing.

AndrewJRenko

dashcamdanny wrote: »

Driver do get a safety bonus at the end of the year.

Works quite simply. Dont crash into anything(that is your fault) and get 250 quid at Christmas.

That kind-of proves my point - that really doesn't measure safe driving at all.


I've seen a tendency for drivers of private coach companies like Aircoach and Dublin Coach to put their own schedule ahead of the safety of others, and result in near misses with vulnerable road users. I suspect they are motivated by incentives to keep them on schedule, regardless of the impact on others.

devnull

Dublin Coach drivers are apparently either paid a fixed rate for the day, or just for timetabled hours according to the DC thread, so that would explain something. Some of their timetables are very optimistic too, especially the Belfast to Dublin one.

Not sure about Aircoach but at least their timetables are a little more sensible, apart from the 702/703 service during rush hour which always gets caught in traffic.

Spanish Eyes

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Further infrastructure improvements like continuous bus lanes through to Palmerstown across the M50/N4 junction and the closure of The Oval junction are part of another NTA project that goes to public consultation in October.

That's very interesting thanks. This is something I came across, is it what you are referring to?

http://www.irishmotorwayinfo.com/inex/roads/futures/n4_kennelsfort.html

I know the area well. It would appear that closing the junction at the Oval will mean pedestrians will not be able to cross there either. But maybe a footbridge will be installed or something.

The residents there are very vocal, and a lot of them are retired/elderly too, so having to walk up to Kennelsfort footbridge would be a tad inconvenient! But if doing this helps a majority, so be it.

ILBondo

I have been following this thread with great interest, this is the first time i have posted.

Bus Connects is a very exciting prospect, for decades review of our Bus Service has been shirked, now it is becoming a reality.

One thing that has struck me is the controversy surrounding interchange. I find a lot of people are missing the point. Only certain connections will demand interchange other journeys will now be direct for the first time ever. Tallaght to UCD, Howth to DCU, etc even several North South journeys which required interchange in the city under the hub and spoke system now have uninterrupted journeys. Changing buses did not start with BusConnects, it is a reality of any transport network.

Having direct routes for the sake of direct routes is actually quite harmful. The Residents of Killinarden, Tallaght have to endure a circuitous pathway on the 77a which is prone to being held up by traffic. Replacing this service with the 250 to the square connecting to A2 or D2 is a good move as it will reduce aggregate journey time to the final destination and actually improves waiting times. The same benefits apply to residents of Ongar, the journey on the 39 through a bottleneck Blanch Village is now avoided thanks to the Blanchardstown Circulator.


This is not to say the plan is perfect there are specifics that need to be revisited, in particular in North Dublin. However the plan is fundamentally good and will transform Dublin's commuting experience.

pad199207

Huge queue of new Dublin buses going into Volvo Depot in Naas. New livery.

Stephen15

pad199207 wrote: »

Huge queue of new Dublin buses going into Volvo Depot in Naas. New livery.

They're the ones moving to Go-Ahead

pad199207

Stephen15 wrote: »

They're the ones moving to Go-Ahead

Ah I see. Was curious

dfx-

ILBondo wrote: »

Having direct routes for the sake of direct routes is actually quite harmful. The Residents of Killinarden, Tallaght have to endure a circuitous pathway on the 77a which is prone to being held up by traffic. Replacing this service with the 250 to the square connecting to A2 or D2 is a good move as it will reduce aggregate journey time to the final destination and actually improves waiting times. The same benefits apply to residents of Ongar, the journey on the 39 through a bottleneck Blanch Village is now avoided thanks to the Blanchardstown Circulator.

This is not to say the plan is perfect there are specifics that need to be revisited, in particular in North Dublin. However the plan is fundamentally good and will transform Dublin's commuting experience.

Who is saying the 77A isn't circuituous or doesn't need to be redrawn. The 50 was perfect for the area, the 50 was the quickest route to town and didn't involve the 77A.

Why not reintroduce the 50? End the 77A at the Square. It worked for years. Simple measures.

ILBondo

The 50 was far from perfect it was too infrequent. ^

Qrt

Off topic but can somebody please fix the grammar mistake in the thread title? It's been doing my head in for weeks!

dfx-

Well you could improve the frequency and it was terrible, but in terms of directness of route, you couldn't beat it. Skipping the Tallaght Village bottleneck of the 77.

Stephen15

Qrt wrote: »

Off topic but can somebody please fix the grammar mistake in the thread title? It's been doing my head in for weeks!

It's only after you mentioned it I noticed it grrrrrrrr

LeinsterDub

dfx- wrote: »

Well you could improve the frequency and it was terrible, but in terms of directness of route, you couldn't beat it. Skipping the Tallaght Village bottleneck of the 77.

You can improve the frequency of only selected routes when every bus goes to town. Or you use hubs and improve the frequency for everyone

devnull

Qrt wrote: »

Off topic but can somebody please fix the grammar mistake in the thread title? It's been doing my head in for weeks!

It has been done!

Nermal

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Further infrastructure improvements like continuous bus lanes through to Palmerstown across the M50/N4 junction and the closure of The Oval junction are part of another NTA project that goes to public consultation in October.

Would there be any details available of what the NTA are proposing here? Would the plan not have to be published in advance of October?

GarrettRodgers

Hey folks

Does anyone know how long they are accepting the online survey suggestions for?

I want to put in a couple of small suggestions, but would rather have thoroughly read the full report and gotten through most of this thread, I started at about page 100 as that was when a lot of new info came in and people started learning more about it and I'm somewhere around page 140 now. If it's closing soon I'll throw them in anyway, as I do think I'm mostly there on understanding the project.

Qrt

GarrettRodgers wrote: »

Hey folks

Does anyone know how long they are accepting the online survey suggestions for?

I want to put in a couple of small suggestions, but would rather have thoroughly read the full report and gotten through most of this thread, I started at about page 100 as that was when a lot of new info came in and people started learning more about it and I'm somewhere around page 140 now. If it's closing soon I'll throw them in anyway, as I do think I'm mostly there on understanding the project.

The consultation doesn't end until sometime in September, late September if I believe.

CatInABox

GarrettRodgers wrote: »

Hey folks

Does anyone know how long they are accepting the online survey suggestions for?

I want to put in a couple of small suggestions, but would rather have thoroughly read the full report and gotten through most of this thread, I started at about page 100 as that was when a lot of new info came in and people started learning more about it and I'm somewhere around page 140 now. If it's closing soon I'll throw them in anyway, as I do think I'm mostly there on understanding the project.

It runs until the 28th September.

You can also submit your suggestions through email:

consultations@busconnects.ie

GarrettRodgers

Thank you. I'm enjoying reading what you folks have had to say so far.

Victor

GarrettRodgers wrote: »

I want to put in a couple of small suggestions, but would rather have thoroughly read the full report and gotten through most of this thread

I systematically read from page 100 or so. There is very little that is fundamental to the plan.

Read the sections of the report that are of relevance to you and work from there.

Stevek101

Have they given an idea yet of when it'll be back out for review after the consultation changes are made?

cgcsb

In October there'll be a public release regarding the infrastructure plan in Technicolor detail. That'll have it's own public consult. I don't think there's another round of public consult on the network review planned. That'd be way too much chat for something that'll happen only a year from now. Between now and then there needs to be car bans, one way systems and some minor infrastructure put in place. Not to mention the planning process for road widening.

From this public consult what I'm hearing is a lot of people complaining that there Rush and Lusk people couldn't squish onto a train if they tried. There needs to be some fix there. Some other small bits n bobs but the Rush thing seems to be a real clanger.

Chris_5339762

There are several "Save the <insert route here>" groups appearing on Facebook. Its begun.

salmocab

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

There are several "Save the <insert route here>" groups appearing on Facebook. Its begun.

All it takes is a local politician with an eye on the dail next year and a meeting upstairs in a pub.

devnull

Stevek101 wrote: »

Have they given an idea yet of when it'll be back out for review after the consultation changes are made?

If we had a consultation about the results of a consultation every time we had one, where would the cycle end?

Spanish Eyes

salmocab wrote: »

All it takes is a local politician with an eye on the dail next year and a meeting upstairs in a pub.

Yup, all politics is local.

There are a couple of areas adversely affected for sure, but in the main, it looks good once we get used to hubs and spokes and changing buses to get there quicker etc.

I really hope parish pump politics does not destroy this chance to hopefully improve things for bus commuters at last.

Spanish Eyes

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

There are several "Save the <insert route here>" groups appearing on Facebook. Its begun.

Those complaining should have to produce their LEAP card history before having any say in the matter. If you don't use PT shut up please. And I include parish pump local politicians/councillors in that comment too

Victor

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Those complaining should have to produce their LEAP card history before having any say in the matter. If you don't use PT shut up please. And I include parish pump local politicians/councillors in that comment too

In fairness, BusConnects is aimed at drawing in non-bus users.