Anyone noticing knock on effect of new Luas line?

trellheim

Biggie trams from March by all accounts

WishUWereHere

The last week hasn't been the busiest ever, but still queues forming along the Northern Quays. I have seen some weird trends in the past week. Almost a battle to squeeze into the one lane prior to Capel Street Bridge ( including some buses which are routed up Parliament Street ). And then in Bachelors Walk, 2 lanes empty - bar the odd taxi/bus ( this was during the day after rush hour) and a queue from Capel Street Bridge all the way to the new set of traffic lights for cars etc. I noticed it got so bad that even artics are using the bus lane - absolutly no enforcement at all, and I can only see this entire situation getting progressively worse.

cgcsb

The bus lane on the quays is now 24hr. I was driving down the quays over the weekend, many cars seemed to think that it just didn't apply to them.

Patser

cgcsb wrote: »

The bus lane on the quays is now 24hr. I was driving down the quays over the weekend, many cars seemed to think that it just didn't apply to them.

Is it not only 24hrs from Halpenny Bridge and through the little lights at the Arlington? Also 24 hrs on Eden Quay section. But rest of Quays 7 - 7 Monday to Saturday

cgcsb

Patser wrote: »

Is it not only 24hrs from Halpenny Bridge and through the little lights at the Arlington? Also 24 hrs on Eden Quay section. But rest of Quays 7 - 7 Monday to Saturday

Yes that's right and you still have people going through the lights where car lane and buslane cross over even though the actual traffic lights say 'BUS' on them.

The whole bus lane on the quays needs to be 24hr.

CalRobert

Dr Brown wrote: »

If you live in the city centre you still need a car to do the shopping.

That's absurd. I live by Dublin Castle along with my wife and kid and we do just fine without a car. For the once a year we go to Ikea we go to Gocar.

wakka12

CalRobert wrote: »

That's absurd. I live by Dublin Castle along with my wife and kid and we do just fine without a car. For the once a year we go to Ikea we go to Gocar.

Well it depends on the family. My parents do a big shop once a week and have 6 or so big full heavy bags of groceries in the car coming home. If they lived in the city centre( unless they were literally two mins from the supermarket) I don't know how they'd do it really without a car

There are some great advantages to having personal cars but the disadvantages of private car ownership vastly outweigh the benefits for society overall

CalRobert

wakka12 wrote: »

There are some great advantages to having personal cars but the disadvantages of private car ownership vastly outweigh the benefits for society overall

Thank you. I mean, I think it would be great fun to take a helicopter everywhere, or a tank, but that wouldn't work very well once more than a few people decided to do the same, would it?

My point was to the absurdity of saying you HAVE to have a car in the city centre when obviously thousands of people manage to do it just fine. Even, *gasp* working families like my own.

listermint

wakka12 wrote: »

Well it depends on the family. My parents do a big shop once a week and have 6 or so big full heavy bags of groceries in the car coming home. If they lived in the city centre( unless they were literally two mins from the supermarket) I don't know how they'd do it really without a car

There are some great advantages to having personal cars but the disadvantages of private car ownership vastly outweigh the benefits for society overall

Taxi, Go Car or god forbid.... tesco home delivery.

Any of the above is cheaper than owning a car

CalRobert

Of course, there's a more practical option than a blanket car ban - one that lets you say "I'm exhausted and I need to move this furniture and THEN go pick up my kid and THEN stop by the GP and THEN drive to Waterford" for the 3 times a year stuff like that happens. AND it means you can do all of the above without sitting in traffic!

It's congestion charging.

markpb

wakka12 wrote: »

Well it depends on the family. My parents do a big shop once a week and have 6 or so big full heavy bags of groceries in the car coming home. If they lived in the city centre( unless they were literally two mins from the supermarket) I don't know how they'd do it really without a car

I lived in Dublin for over 10 years before I bought a car. Shopping was done by walking or bus to the nearest Dunnes/Tesco and getting a taxi back. All the local shopping centres have some taxis hanging around that are only there to do short trips. If you're spending €70+ on shopping, a fiver for a taxi isn't much and it's still cheaper than owning a car.

A Disgrace

wakka12 wrote: »

Well it depends on the family. My parents do a big shop once a week and have 6 or so big full heavy bags of groceries in the car coming home. If they lived in the city centre( unless they were literally two mins from the supermarket) I don't know how they'd do it really without a car

One of the many benefits of living in the City Centre is that you don't need to do a big weekly shop

humberklog

Longer trams coming this week and more frequent soon after.


Since Xmas I thought general traffic flow had got better with the exception of a bus log jam at College St. to College Green. I'm on the 15 north to south about 10a.m. Dublin Bus came some way to alleviating the issue by diverting 17 routes but even that amount hasn't cured that problem.

I wonder has the number of passengers using the Cross City rose significantly enough to warrant the system requiring longer and more frequent trams right now?

They don't look particularly full when I see them.

It strikes me as being a little previous introducing the new measures now.

CalRobert

They seem plenty full to me around 9 AM. I watch them from my bike through college green and fleet street.

"It strikes me as being a little previous introducing the new measures now. "

huh?

humberklog

CalRobert wrote: »

They seem plenty full to me around 9 AM. I watch them from my bike through college green and fleet street.

"It strikes me as being a little previous introducing the new measures now. "

huh?

They could wait another few months before introducing the longer trams more frequently. Maybe even continue with the trams as are for now but highten the frequency of them.

I think there's something to be said for holding back and fine tuning traffic management...and maybe another mass.

wakka12

I too wonder if the expense of new trams is worth it, the only time when luas is busy is rush hour. During rush hour is crazily busy. But Ive often taken luas in late evenings home from city centre some days and been one of about 5 people on the entire tram

Gratzi22

I got the tram from Balally as usual this morning around 8.10 going into town and at the Dundrum stop, the driver announced 'Welcome on board Luas Tram No....' and I thought nice PR exercise, but over the top. He then informed passengers that we were travelling on the new first 54m long tram voyage. Didn't really acknowledge it as it was still jammers but look forward to getting on board the Luas at Charlemont and not waiting up to the 4th one to come along before I can board as happens now and then. A very welcome addition though.

awec

wakka12 wrote: »

I too wonder if the expense of new trams is worth it, the only time when luas is busy is rush hour. During rush hour is crazily busy. But Ive often taken luas in late evenings home from city centre some days and been one of about 5 people on the entire tram

The nature of the Luas means it must be set up to cater for the most in-demand period. If 5 people get on at 9pm it doesn't matter, the trams need to cater for the hundreds that use it at 8am.

Gavin "shels"

https://www.facebook.com/wishbonewings1/photos/a.324016994657562.1073741829.270836946642234/572460169813242/?type=3&theater

6pm Monday

prinzeugen

humberklog wrote: »

Longer trams coming this week and more frequent soon after.


Since Xmas I thought general traffic flow had got better with the exception of a bus log jam at College St. to College Green. I'm on the 15 north to south about 10a.m. Dublin Bus came some way to alleviating the issue by diverting 17 routes but even that amount hasn't cured that problem.

I wonder has the number of passengers using the Cross City rose significantly enough to warrant the system requiring longer and more frequent trams right now?

They don't look particularly full when I see them.

It strikes me as being a little previous introducing the new measures now.

It was DDC that diverted the bus routes and are planning to divert more. They want this plaza at any cost. They don't care how many people they make traveling hell for.

Any cross city trams I have seen are almost empty. The long trams should be for the green line and turn back at St Stephens Green as the demand is there for them.

CalRobert

prinzeugen wrote: »

It was DDC that diverted the bus routes and are planning to divert more.

The plan was to make much of the north quays closed to private transport and ease life for buses. However, they got weak when the car park owners bitched and moaned about it, so the quays remain a traffic-choked hellhole.

Get rid of the damn taxis and the buses will get through fine. The buses in these pictures are carrying a LOT more people than those taxis.

https://twitter.com/dublincycling/status/961264477835616256

humberklog

Apparently the longer tram got "stuck" on O'Connell Bridge this morning. A car hadn't fully cleared the box holding the Luas on the bridge and so blocking traffic on south quays.