So Patrick street is bus only from Thursday 9th August

namloc1980

macraignil wrote: »

I was replying to the suggestion that Patrick street should be completely closed to cars at all times which I would think would persuade quite a few retailers to reconsider trading there.

Schools are still off so sticking with my opinion evening gridlock will get worse when the Easter holidays are over.

Of course it'll get worse. Honestly it seems like there is a belief there was never traffic in the city until 2 weeks ago.

AndrewJRenko

nostro wrote: »

Owner of a Chinese restaurant on the Echo saying he would be forced out of business if cars can't drive up Patrick Street and park outside his place while they are collecting their take away Chinese meals.

Maybe he should have picked a location with legal parking when he took out or renewed his lease, instead of expecting the public to subsidise his business facilities?

namloc1980 wrote: »

Where do these cars park up on Patrick Street when they're collecting their food? Zero spaces outside that restaurant unless they are parking illegally in loading bays or bus stops so I'm curious to know where they park?

You've answered your own question there.

fin12 wrote: »

Where the Mass card shop is, they put a huge footpath there, before they did that you could park the car along there while collecting someone from town or be collected and then you could drive straight up the hill out to Blackpool but you can’t do that anymore you have to go down into the road and can only get out now by the end of Shannon street, before putting the huge footpath you could avoid all that traffic and that route.

Could they not just pray the Mass cards directly to the intended recipients?

Ludo

nostro wrote: »

Owner of a Chinese restaurant on the Echo saying he would be forced out of business if cars can't drive up Patrick Street and park outside his place while they are collecting their take away Chinese meals.

Are there really that many people who collect a Chinese on Patrick Street between 3 and 6.30?

MeName

macraignil wrote: »

The quay from Grattan Street to the N22 as well. I think it's labeled R847. Broad lane was also a handy way to avoid traffic but the direction was reversed to make it useless. I think there are more as well but it seems to be a new one is being changed every week and I'm not sure which ones are due to the road resurfacing and which ones are permanent.

Unfortunately the changes to Broad Lane and the area are to specifically prevent rat running. You can still go up to Moore Street I think which can be quicker depending on the gridlock level on Grattan Street.

Coming down Sheeres Street during absolute gridlock I found it quicker to get into the junction by diverting through Peter Street and approaching the junction from that direction which is actually pretty ridiculous. Not that it felt like winning, I still spent 5 or so minutes getting to Washington Street heading East. This was before the new 24 hour bus lane and reduction in lanes on Hanover Place. I expect chaos when the schools and colleges reopen trying to get out from either street onto washinton

namloc1980

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Maybe he should have picked a location with legal parking when he took out or renewed his lease, instead of expecting the public to subsidise his business facilities?

Another thing that doesn't stack up is he claimed business was down 40%. The car ban is from 3-6.30, meaning main lunch time and evening meal trade is unaffected meaning you'd have to believe that the vast majority of that restaurants business occurs at off peak times. Possible but not probable.

grogi

macraignil wrote: »

What change do you mean, the retailers being forced out of Patrick Street or commuters getting even more gridlocked on the remaining routes?

If the street is closed completely, the traffic lights with the Lavitt's Quay could be reprogrammed and be green only when a bus waits there. Or, which would work even better, there should be a contra-lane done on the south side of the Quay for the busses coming from the St Patricks toward the Parnell Place.

The biggest issue in the city centre is the bandwidth of the bridges. Closing down a street does not affect it at all.

macraignil

namloc1980 wrote: »

Of course it'll get worse. Honestly it seems like there is a belief there was never traffic in the city until 2 weeks ago.

I would have hoped the city council would make changes to improve traffic flow like the proposed north ring road, not just close roads to normal traffic and make others one way so there are less and less options for getting in and out of the city. I realise there have been problems with traffic in Cork before the changes that are going on, but my point is that they are not improving things and are in fact making the gridlock worse. Whatever way you are traveling you coudn't buy a takeaway meal on Patrick street after finishing work and have any hope it would still be hot when you get out of the city centre.

cgcsb

Why complain about gridlock? The only way to tackle grid lock in City Centres is to improve public transport and reduce the utility of the private car which is exactly what this measure does. If you want to tackle grid lock you should be advocating a 07:00-19:00 car ban across the city centre.

macraignil

grogi wrote: »

If the street is closed completely, the traffic lights with the Lavitt's Quay could be reprogrammed and be green only when a bus waits there. Or, which would work even better, there should be a contra-lane done on the south side of the Quay for the busses coming from the St Patricks toward the Parnell Place.

The biggest issue in the city centre is the bandwidth of the bridges. Closing down a street does not affect it at all.

If you change the lights as you suggest what happens to the car traffic traveling up the river (not from Patrick street)?

A "contralane" bus lane from Patrick street towards Parnell place would only allow them cross to the north side of the river at Anderson Quay and then need to come all the way back up the quay on the other side to get back to their normal routes. I don't understand how that helps anyone.

namloc1980

macraignil wrote: »

I would have hoped the city council would make changes to improve traffic flow like the proposed north ring road, not just close roads to normal traffic and make others one way so there are less and less options for getting in and out of the city. I realise there have been problems with traffic in Cork before the changes that are going on, but my point is that they are not improving things and are in fact making the gridlock worse. Whatever way you are traveling you coudn't buy a takeaway meal on Patrick street after finishing work and have any hope it would still be hot when you get out of the city centre.

That's the case no matter what unless you truly believe there was zero traffic up to 2 weeks ago.

Traffic today was fine so gridlock wasn't worse and also the proposed North ring road is absolutely nothing to do with the city council. TII are responsible for large scale road infrastructure, not the city council. Why people can't wait for things to bed down is beyond me. There were people calling for the car ban to be reversed on the day it was launched! Farcical carry on.

macraignil

namloc1980 wrote: »

Problem is people don't complain or make their voices heard during consultation periods but then when changes happen the moaning begins. For instance there was a two month consultation period on the proposed bridge between merchants quay and Patrick's Quay..... Number of submission were zero, nada, none. Guaranteed people will be moaning when works begin though.

What streets were recently changed to 1 way system?

On one hand you put down people making their views known on the topic and then you complain about people not complaining. You can't have it both ways.

j8wk2feszrnpao

namloc1980 wrote: »

Why people can't wait for things to bed down is beyond me. There were people calling for the car ban to be reversed on the day it was launched! Farcical carry on.

Then get over it. You're great to pass on that advise, but not so great to apply it to yourself.

namloc1980

munstermagic11 wrote: »

Then get over it. You're great to pass on that advise, but not so great to apply it to yourself.

No idea what you're on about.

fin12

macraignil wrote: »

The quay from Grattan Street to the N22 as well. I think it's labeled R847. Broad lane was also a handy way to avoid traffic but the direction was reversed to make it useless. I think there are more as well but it seems to be a new one is being changed every week and I'm not sure which ones are due to the road resurfacing and which ones are permanent.

Ya I used always take the right there to go out on to the quays to get to the north side, now have to go on to Washington street.

fin12

namloc1980 wrote: »

Ridiculous hyperbole to be honest. Can you tell us of one retailer who has been "forced" out of Patrick Street in the last 2 weeks? Any comment on the traffic this evening which was fine and moving well. No gridlock today.

Sorry the traffic was not fine, there is gridlock every evening, what the f*ck are you on about? You clearly haven’t driven a car around cork city in a long time.

j8wk2feszrnpao

namloc1980 wrote: »

No idea what you're on about.

Yeah.......I guessed as much. Sigh.

namloc1980

fin12 wrote: »

Sorry the traffic was not fine, there is gridlock every evening, what the f*ck are you on about? You clearly haven’t driven a car around cork city in a long time.

I drove across the city yesterday at 5 to drop someone at the train station and back again so don't presume you know anything about me.

Ludo

fin12 wrote: »

Sorry the traffic was not fine, there is gridlock every evening, what the f*ck are you on about? You clearly haven’t driven a car around cork city in a long time.

So how long were you stuck to say it was not fine? Not saying it was or wasn't fine as I haven't a clue but would like to know what you consider gridlock in a city centre to be. Stuck in the city centre for 5 mins, 15 mins, 30 mins?

Asking as you previously said:

fin12 wrote: »

Cork city traffic is bad enough without this bullsh*t idea. I was driving down Washington Street today, f*ckin disaster, wait till it’s a week day.

But when I asked how long you were stuck that time you said you nipped around it so you actually didn't really know if it was a disaster or not. You saw traffic stopped (which happens) and assumed it was a disaster but it may well have moved a minute later.

nostro

nostro wrote: »

Owner of a Chinese restaurant on the Echo saying he would be forced out of business if cars can't drive up Patrick Street and park outside his place while they are collecting their take away Chinese meals.

Well that's not the case currently but I would think an all day car ban isn't that far away ( a few years).

As others have said there's no parking on Patrick Street anyway ....... it's mostly loading bays and taxi spaces. The loading bays can be used for parking on Sat and Sun alright but no one would plan on there being one free to pull in to collect a Chinese I reckon.

In the greater scheme of things though ............ tough sh1t etc etc etc

the beer revolu

I heard that a shop in Mallow had poor takings last week. They've blamed the new traffic regulations on St. Patrick's Street.

The nature of retail is that takings vary. Good days, bad days. Good weeks, bad weeks. Weather, time of year, day of the week - all affect trade. To use the anecdotal "evidence" of a trader allegedly having a bad week as proof that the new system will adversely affect trade on St. Patrick's Street is ridiculous in the extreme, particularly as we are in only the second week of the new system.

Ludo

the beer revolu wrote: »

I heard that a shop in Mallow had poor takings last week. They've blamed the new traffic regulations on St. Patrick's Street.

The nature of retail is that takings vary. Good days, bad days. Good weeks, bad weeks. Weather, time of year, day of the week - all affect trade. To use the anecdotal "evidence" of a trader allegedly having a bad week as proof that the new system will adversely affect trade on St. Patrick's Street is ridiculous in the extreme, particularly as we are in only the second week of the new system.

It is also mid-term break time. A lot of people are away and normal routines are disrupted. This affects turnover also. I know in my office it is a lot quieter than normal with people taking days here and there to mind the kids.

Mardyke

I think the new Patrick St restrictions are fantastic. They should make it an all-day thing sooner rather than later.

Got the bus in town the other day. It was great that the bus was able to turn onto Washington St and move quickly up onto Grand Parade without traffic.

On top of that the experience on Patrick St is much better without a constant stream of traffic.

I never realised before that all the traffic was by people getting their Chinese takeaways!

Fair play on Popes Quay. Good to hear that ignorant people can no longer double park while they " just stop for a minute "

I hope they finally do something to stop illegal parking on the plaza on Coal Quay / Cornmarket St. It would be great if that was pedestrian only in fact.

the beer revolu

Mardyke wrote: »

I hope they finally do something to stop illegal parking on the plaza on Coal Quay / Cornmarket St. It would be great if that was pedestrian only in fact.

Well, they have stopped the parking at the north end but down by the Bodega and the Cornstore is as bad as ever, although with less opportunity to park.

cgcsb

Mardyke wrote: »

I think the new Patrick St restrictions are fantastic. They should make it an all-day thing sooner rather than later.

Got the bus in town the other day. It was great that the bus was able to turn onto Washington St and move quickly up onto Grand Parade without traffic.

On top of that the experience on Patrick St is much better without a constant stream of traffic.

I never realised before that all the traffic was by people getting their Chinese takeaways!

Fair play on Popes Quay. Good to hear that ignorant people can no longer double park while they " just stop for a minute "

I hope they finally do something to stop illegal parking on the plaza on Coal Quay / Cornmarket St. It would be great if that was pedestrian only in fact.

Great post thanks. Love the positivity. It's good to hear the flow of buses has improved. I'd like to see a morning ban also to facilitate rush hour buses

macraignil

cgcsb wrote: »

Great post thanks. Love the positivity. It's good to hear the flow of buses has improved. I'd like to see a morning ban also to facilitate rush hour buses

So getting to work in the city for people not served by public transport is even more difficult? Not fair in my opinion. Seems to me to be a lot of people on this thread who think only those served by public transport should be able to work in the city.

nostro

macraignil wrote: »

So getting to work in the city for people not served by public transport is even more difficult? Not fair in my opinion. Seems to me to be a lot of people on this thread who think only those served by public transport should be able to work in the city.

Why do those who work in the city need to drive through the city center?

macraignil

nostro wrote: »

Why do those who work in the city need to drive through the city center?

To get to work.

cgcsb

macraignil wrote: »

So getting to work in the city for people not served by public transport is even more difficult? Not fair in my opinion. Seems to me to be a lot of people on this thread who think only those served by public transport should be able to work in the city.

Who working in the city centre is not served by public transport? And yes public transport should always have priority. That's how cities work

macraignil

cgcsb wrote: »

Who working in the city centre is not served by public transport? And yes public transport should always have priority. That's how cities work

Me and a number of other people working in the same department and I'm sure many more I don't know. I have no problem with promoting public transport but outlawing the use of private transport is too extreme a measure in my opinion.

Frostybrew

macraignil wrote: »

So getting to work in the city for people not served by public transport is even more difficult? Not fair in my opinion. Seems to me to be a lot of people on this thread who think only those served by public transport should be able to work in the city.

Not fair? Thats' the laws of physics for you. It's not possible to walk through walls, it's not possible to travel back in time; and it's not possible in a city the size of Cork for everybody to commute to work using only one mode of transport, without the city grinding to a halt.

It's a simple mathematical equation. There's not enough road space to facilitate everyone commuting to work in their own cars.

It is possible with public transport or cycling, as the use of road space is far more efficient.

Far far more efficient.