Galway's traffic issues

John_Rambo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

In ireland, a lovely plaza at 2pm can be an absolute zoo at 2am.

Yeah, I can see exactly where you're coming from and you make a very valid point, but it has been done and the Grand Canal Dock plaza in Dublin is a very quiet convivial place to be at 2pm and at 2am It's fairly dead with not much hassle. I know it's got to do with a lot of apartments, professional workers, people up early etc... but it works. In Ireland. Most of the civic plaza's in Dublin are actually ok after midnight. They're either closed or in the case of the GCD surrounded by people living there that use the plaza.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

In ireland, a lovely plaza at 2pm can be an absolute zoo at 2am.

2 points

First, as can the footpath outside a pub, club, chipper, taxi rank, etc.

Second, a potential, alternate use for something is not a valid reason against anything, ever

xckjoo

Deleted User wrote: »

Fyi, they have little to no impact on the developments of infrastructure in the city apart from a rubber stamping role

Councillors have very little power over anything much

They don't have direct power, but they have influence and use it heavily. They've gotten very good in recent years at abdicating responsibility for anything.

Deleted User wrote: »

2 points

First, as can the footpath outside a pub, club, chipper, taxi rank, etc.

Second, a potential, alternate use for something is not a valid reason against anything, ever

Yes! Some people make it sound like car traffic is the only thing preventing society crumbling into anarchy.

cgcsb

Has the Galway transport strategy been abandoned or is it being rebranded?
https://www.galwaycity.ie/galway-transport-strategy

what_traffic

cgcsb wrote: »

Has the Galway transport strategy been abandoned or is it being rebranded?
https://www.galwaycity.ie/galway-transport-strategy

More like a - pick and choose strategy. Some stuff will be implemented, other stuff abandoned.

Mrs OBumble

John_Rambo wrote: »

Yeah, I can see exactly where you're coming from and you make a very valid point, but it has been done and the Grand Canal Dock plaza in Dublin is a very quiet convivial place to be at 2pm and at 2am It's fairly dead with not much hassle. I know it's got to do with a lot of apartments, professional workers, people up early etc... but it works. In Ireland. Most of the civic plaza's in Dublin are actually ok after midnight. They're either closed or in the case of the GCD surrounded by people living there that use the plaza.

So let's consider Galway: Shop / High / Quay streets are one big pedestrian plaza. There are only three buildings I know of that still have people living upstairs in them. There may be a few more that I haven't spotted, but I'm sure there aren't many. Unlike the surrounding non-pedestrianised streets that are full of above-the-shop residents. Why have people moved out of Shop etc streets? Based on what I've seen and heard, street noise is a major factor.

Deleted User wrote: »

2 points

First, as can the footpath outside a pub, club, chipper, taxi rank, etc.

Second, a potential, alternate use for something is not a valid reason against anything, ever

Architecture can and does either increase or decrease the likelihood and consequence of behaviours. Open plazas encourage mobs to form - think "who's a sexy garda" outside Supermacs at 2am: on footpath there's just less potential for large round crowd which takes on mob characteristics.

Likely alternative uses are absolutely valid reasons for design choices.

You are using rag week as your argument?

Alrighty then

Please outline what you would like Eyre Square turned into so.

And Shop street etc.

Don't forget to clarify how it will eliminate drunken students singing at 2am during rag week

I'm honestly curious

Oh, and the reasons you outlined above are still not sufficient to not go ahead with improvements

connemara man

MOD NOTE

What does the above have to do with the traffic plan?

Keep the thread on topic!

John_Rambo

connemara man wrote: »

MOD NOTE

What does the above have to do with the traffic plan?

Keep the thread on topic!

To answer that you've asked, I'm guessing MrsOBumble is worried about the impact that the traffic plans will have on Galway city dwellers like herself. She's obviously worried that further pedestrianisation will impact her quality of life. I personally believe the radical changes to Galways city traffic flow will affect her, but in a positive way. MrsOBumble doesn't believe so, other's disagree and they're posting their reasons why. I think it's on topic and MrsOBumbles concerns are legit, she makes valid points, and the posters that disagree with her are legit, they make valid points and the whole thread is very much on topic.

connemara man

John_Rambo wrote: »

To answer that you've asked, I'm guessing MrsOBumble is worried about the impact that the traffic plans will have on Galway city dwellers like herself. She's obviously worried that further pedestrianisation will impact her quality of life. I personally believe the radical changes to Galways city traffic flow will affect her, but in a positive way. MrsOBumble doesn't believe so, other's disagree and they're posting their reasons why. I think it's on topic and MrsOBumbles concerns are legit, she makes valid points, and the posters that disagree with her are legit, they make valid points and the whole thread is very much on topic.

Conversations about a Plaza in a thread about a plan with no plaza is off topic

xckjoo

Same general topic though no? Is there no allowance for the free flow of conversation anymore?

Johnny_BravoIII

The conversation about Galway's Traffic plan cannot include spatial planning, urban design or public realm issues??? The reason the plan is bad is for these reasons. Can we just rename the thread? "Solving Galway's Traffic Issues" and open it up a bit.

joeKel73

xckjoo wrote: »

Is there no allowance for the free flow of conversation anymore?

This is why Galway City boards has been dying off. Any deviation away from the opening post and discussion is stopped or split into a new thread where you can only talk about that specific related point.

Boards.ie is self described as "discussion forum" but over moderation has turned this forum into nothing more than a notice board.

grbear

Johnny_BravoIII wrote: »

Travelled this evening from Salthill to the Tuam road via lough Atalia at 6pm took approximately 45mins. I couldn't imagine travelling to claregalway or gort at this time. Does anybody know the approximate average commute time from/to Claregalway, Athenry, Oranmore, Gort, Spiddal, Moycullen at peak traffic?

These are all places from which people should not be commuting to the city by car (single occupant). Any transport plan which doesnt address this fact is madness.

When I was going to college in Galway the reason I started driving instead of taking the bus was that there wasn't a Bus Eireann service going from Galway to Tuam after 1815. Only option was to wait for a Burke's Bus at 2100. Anyone from near Tuam working in Galway would have the same rubbish options. A quick look at the Bus Eireann site suggests that hasn't changed. Silly set up.

Johnny_BravoIII

grbear wrote: »

When I was going to college in Galway the reason I started driving instead of taking the bus was that there wasn't a Bus Eireann service going from Galway to Tuam after 1815. Only option was to wait for a Burke's Bus at 2100. Anyone from near Tuam working in Galway would have the same rubbish options. A quick look at the Bus Eireann site suggests that hasn't changed. Silly set up.

.

Best practice globally is to invest heavily in public transport then actively restrict cars. Instead of another motorway which blows the population further away from cities, we should put the money towards rail and bus.

If there was a train every 5 minutes during peak hours from and to tuam, claregalway, oranmore, gort, moycullen, spiddal etc...with an additional €5 tax on single-occupant cars entering the city.....would we need the motorway?

brutes1

Johnny_BravoIII wrote: »

.

Best practice globally is to invest heavily in public transport then actively restrict cars. Instead of another motorway which blows the population further away from cities we should put the money towards rail and bus.

If there was a train every 5 minutes during peak hours from and to tuam, claregalway, oranmore, gort etc...with an additional €5 tax on single occupant cars entering the city.....would we need the motorway?

Doubt it.
Trains, buses and the greenways out West would make it So much easier getting in and out and around town . Should just be done

cgcsb

Johnny_BravoIII wrote: »

.

Best practice globally is to invest heavily in public transport then actively restrict cars. Instead of another motorway which blows the population further away from cities we should put the money towards rail and bus.

If there was a train every 5 minutes during peak hours from and to tuam, claregalway, oranmore, gort etc...with an additional €5 tax on single occupant cars entering the city.....would we need the motorway?

There's no need for the M17 as it is, complete road overkill. That money could have built an impressive high frequency bus system in the city. My 2 experiences of using the M17, the only other road users I seen didn't seem to know how to drive, much less drive on a motorway. They were going up the hard shoulder, almost stopping in the over taking lane and not an indicator between them.

grbear

grbear wrote: »

When I was going to college in Galway the reason I started driving instead of taking the bus was that there wasn't a Bus Eireann service going from Galway to Tuam after 1815. Only option was to wait for a Burke's Bus at 2100. Anyone from near Tuam working in Galway would have the same rubbish options. A quick look at the Bus Eireann site suggests that hasn't changed. Silly set up.

Blame the planning system which allows the building of one-off houses on every road everywhere.

Without critical mass, you cannot run an adequate public transport system.

Imagine the kind of public transport that might be a realistic possibility if all the population within 7-8 miles of the town, were actually in it.

Mrs OBumble

connemara man wrote: »

Conversations about a Plaza in a thread about a plan with no plaza is off topic

We don't actually know what the plan includes. The opening post points to a short-form only article which lists some but not all of tbe plan features.

I responded to a comment about plazas, on the basis that it was made by someone who had seen the whole plan and knew that it it did. My bad if it didn't.

Johnny_BravoIII

2019-02-25_2002.png

Whilst traffic-flow needs to be managed and optimised, my view is there are too many vehicles travelling into the city centre.

Is there a thread to discuss the new motorway?
Is just so desperately sad to think that the new motorway would run right through beautiful sports and walking amenity in Dangan.

grbear

Deleted User wrote: »

grbear wrote: »

When I was going to college in Galway the reason I started driving instead of taking the bus was that there wasn't a Bus Eireann service going from Galway to Tuam after 1815. Only option was to wait for a Burke's Bus at 2100. Anyone from near Tuam working in Galway would have the same rubbish options. A quick look at the Bus Eireann site suggests that hasn't changed. Silly set up.

Blame the planning system which allows the building of one-off houses on every road everywhere.

Without critical mass, you cannot run an adequate public transport system.

Imagine the kind of public transport that might be a realistic possibility if all the population within 7-8 miles of the town, were actually in it.

I agree about our shoddy planning making things awkward for ourselves but surely it'd be a sensible policy to implement simple measures that make using public transport more attractive? Even something basic and relatively cheap like providing a secure place for people in Athenry and Tuam to store a bike for the day while they get a bus into Galway. Instead of that we have people campaigning for a greenway between Athenry and Tuam.

xckjoo

Johnny_BravoIII wrote: »

2019-02-25_2002.png

Whilst traffic-flow needs to be managed and optimised, my view is there are too many vehicles travelling into the city centre.

Is there a thread to discuss the new motorway?
Is just so desperately sad to think that the new motorway would run right through beautiful sports and walking amenity in Dangan.

That area is one of the nicest areas we have in the city. Very under appreciated. It'll be such a loss if they build a road through it

John_Rambo

grbear wrote: »

I agree about our shoddy planning making things awkward for ourselves but surely it'd be a sensible policy to implement simple measures that make using public transport more attractive? Even something basic and relatively cheap like providing a secure place for people in Athenry and Tuam to store a bike for the day while they get a bus into Galway. Instead of that we have people campaigning for a greenway between Athenry and Tuam.

With the amount of bad planning and one of housing around the city regular public transport is never going to work. The houses are simply to sprawled out to service properly. Everyone is going to want to leave their houses in their cars, so park and ride and park and cycle facilities seem to be viable.

Large hard stand areas for parking serviced serviced very regularly by buses and with good cycle lanes in to the city could work. The only problem is disincentivising single occupant drivers from driving in to the city centre every day.

Mrs OBumble

John_Rambo wrote: »

With the amount of bad planning and one of housing around the city regular public transport is never going to work. The houses are simply to sprawled out to service properly. Everyone is going to want to leave their houses in their cars, so park and ride and park and cycle facilities seem to be viable.

Large hard stand areas for parking serviced serviced very regularly by buses and with good cycle lanes in to the city could work. The only problem is disincentivising single occupant drivers from driving in to the city centre every day.

The biggest problems aren't with the city centre though. They're with the employment sites in the city outskirts and just outside the city border.

xckjoo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The biggest problems aren't with the city centre though. They're with the employment sites in the city outskirts and just outside the city border.

They might be the worst areas at certain times but the rest of the city gets fairly clogged constantly

what_traffic

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The biggest problems aren't with the city centre though. They're with the employment sites in the city outskirts and just outside the city border.

No this is not true.
Issues on the outskirts occur at Peak "commuter times". For example very little Car traffic issues in the Parkmore area from 09h30 to 16h30 Mon -Thurs (Friday afternoon occurs earlier).

I am surprised you say this knowing the time delays faced by buses close to the City Centre.

biko

Johnny_BravoIII wrote: »

The conversation about Galway's Traffic plan cannot include spatial planning, urban design or public realm issues??? The reason the plan is bad is for these reasons. Can we just rename the thread? "Solving Galway's Traffic Issues" and open it up a bit.

Sure

Mrs OBumble

what_traffic wrote: »

I am surprised you say this knowing the time delays faced by buses close to the City Centre.

Most of the delays I experience are at the GMIT roundabout, Doughiska Rd, Briarhill junction. The city centre delays are generally due to incidents outside the city centre, eg a sunny afternoon in Salthill causes gridlock on College Rd.

John_Rambo

I see we are getting back to the whole “we should force people to live where we want to live” narrative. There are large numbers of reasons people want or need to live in rural areas and those who want to be stuck living in cities or estates should just accept that not everyone wants to live where they do.

John_Rambo wrote: »

With the amount of bad planning and one of housing around the city regular public transport is never going to work. The houses are simply to sprawled out to service properly. Everyone is going to want to leave their houses in their cars, so park and ride and park and cycle facilities seem to be viable.

Large hard stand areas for parking serviced serviced very regularly by buses and with good cycle lanes in to the city could work. The only problem is disincentivising single occupant drivers from driving in to the city centre every day.

Park and ride is unsuitable for many people for various different reasons. I can park within touching distance of the office door no way on earth am I going to go through the hardship of park and ride. On top of that I often need to drive place at lunch like dropping or collecting things, going to the bank, I travel around to different parts of the city to eat lunch, I occasionally travel directly to places like the swimming pool after work.

I also leave at different times and arrive in at different times and trying to time that with busses is just a pain. I also travel to/from work outside the peak traffic times so despite traveling in from well out the county I have no traffic issues at all.

That being said I’ve no problem with park and ride and it may suit some people so by all means set it up as it may get more cars off the road leaving it freer for me but park and ride should under no circumstances be accompanied by restrictions on cars driving into the city.

xckjoo

Gwen Shallow Raccoon wrote: »

I see we are getting back to the whole “we should force people to live where we want to live” narrative. There are large numbers of reasons people want or need to live in rural areas and those who want to be stuck living in cities or estates should just accept that not everyone wants to live where they do.

The counter to this being the fairly obvious statement that you can't expect a city to live in gridlock because some people want to throw up a house wherever they want. There's compromises with everywhere you live. I'm not for forced high-rise living, but there has to be forward planning on where and how we live.