Clontarf to City Centre Cycle & Bus Priority Project discussion (renamed)

I was down there Monday when the Gardai were enforcing it, spoke to them and said the only rule/law being broken is crossing the white line in the middle of the road, so they stopped people turning into Westwood traelling outbound, and people exiting Westwood and turning right. No issue stopping in a bus lane to turn into WW.

I think it would resolve the issue a ittle, as people coming from Clontarf area would be more likely to use the overflow carpark, so should relieve strain on the main. Also, people coming from Marino direction wouldn't stop traffic turning right.

It would be great if they could work with Irish Rail to use the access road along the rail line to create a one way flow through the main car park.

It would also encourage people to use the overflow, as that access road is 50m closer to the overflow entrance. If you see cars queuing up ahead you're likely to just use the overflow.

The Westwood problem is down to bad driving and lack of enforcement, pure and simple. People calling for more car parks are forgetting that the whole city is a car park. It’s just a question of entitlement- people feeling they have a right to park within 30m of the door and to hell with parking on footpaths and bus lanes and cycle lanes while waiting. I ran past there at 8:30 tonight and it was worse than ever - actually had to squeeze between two cars and one driver gave me the finger when I told him he is parked on a footpath (it’s not a driveway). There’s a similar problem down at the astroturf pitches entrance, but at least that doesn’t manifest all day, like the gym. Park the f*ck somewhere else, gym people!

/rant

Dublin should be a parking wardens paradise and it would be extra money for the council if they ticketed all the illegal parking.

Why doesnt it happen?

Yep. It does feel like laws are optional in Ireland.

Not just traffic laws either.

My recent observations on the 24/7 bus lanes along Drumcondra road is that compliance is way up. If all bus lanes in the city were made 24/7, then drivers would have no excuse to justify to themselves. The vast majority of people want to respect the rules, but when there is ambiguity on the rules (only some lanes are 24/7), people abuse that ambiguity.

Fully segregated lanes would be great, but for much of the city it's not possible given the level of driveways etc. Also, I'm not sure how well automatic cameras would work in practice given the shear level of driveways and side roads, plus at junctions you need to move into a bus lane to turn left etc.?

I think static cameras at pinch points is good and definitely for cars who use a bus lane to go straight through a junction.

But any aggressive level of cameras is unrealistic. For example, it's unreasonable to expect someone to stay in a traffic jam for 5 minutes when their driveway or minor side road is only 50 metres up ahead. If they wait in the general traffic lane until right outside their driveway/side road, they will hold up all the traffic while they wait for buses, cyclists and pedestrians to clear out of the way.

It's safer for them to use the bus lane for a short space rather than crossing a bus lane, cycle lane and pedestrian path in one move.

My only point here is that over aggressive use of camera enforcement for bus lanes is unworkable when there are driveways and side roads every 20 metres.

At junctions, yes. Bus gates, definitely. Other than that, it's not workable and unnecessary. It's not safe to cross multiple lanes in one movement.

With on-bus cameras, I don't think people pulling into driveways would be an issue. A fine would be issued but the driver could challenge it, the footage reviewed and if it shows that they did turn into a driveway a short distance ahead, the fine cancelled. Those abusing it would not be seen turning on camera and their fine would stand. I don't see why it wouldn't work.

they're using a different entrance this weekend, interesting

Great to hear they are having a meeting about it being difficult short term, for members to black the cycle lane and footpath.

Didn’t interview one person who used PT. 🙄

No suggestion at all in that blog post or related ones that members might consider parking elsewhere or using alternative means. 🙄