The long-awaited Dublin City Centre Transport Plan will start to become a reality this Sunday with the rollout of ‘bus gates’ at O’Connell Bridge stopping through traffic on the quays.
Bus gates are often not physical barriers but a series of restrictions on which way motorists can move, for example, at College Green. In this case, the bus gates will be made up of restrictions on driving straight ahead.
From Sunday, motorists will no longer be able to drive straight from Bachelors Walk to Eden Quay or from Burgh Quay to Aston Quay. The existing ban on motorists turning from the north quays into O’Connell Bridge southbound will also remain in place.
If motorists are driving through the area, diverting earlier or using other means of transport is highly recommended.
Motorists seeking local access via Bachelors Walk must turn left onto O’Connell Street. While those on Burgh Quay will have the choice of turning left into D’Olier Street or right onto O’Connell Bridge.
The bus priority measures are planned for the busiest areas for buses in the city, and where private cars carry only around 2% of the people in the area. Dublin City Council said that traffic surveys found that 60% of the car traffic is through traffic that does not stop in the core city centre.
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As this website reported earlier this month, the bus gates on Dublin quays are set to start with minimal changes to the road layouts besides telling motorists to divert.
Some moves to delay the plan were made, mainly by businesses linked to car parks. However, the leaders of political groupings on the council, representing a large majority of Dublin City councillors, expressed the view that the transport plan should go ahead; this followed a majority of councillors twice blocking attempts to delay the plan.
The plan also gained 80% public support at its public consultation stage, which was comprehensively covered in the media across online, in print, and on-air formats.
In a press release issued by Dublin City Council this afternoon, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr James Geoghegan, said: “From Sunday, general traffic will not be able to go straight from Bachelors Walk towards Eden Quay on the north quays between 7am and 7pm. Similarly, on the south quays private motor vehicles won’t be able to go straight from Burgh Quay towards Aston Quay.”
The council said that a working group chaired by the Lord Mayor of Dublin is “being put together to monitor the impact of the changes included in the transport plan and the first meeting of that group will take place in September.”
The council said that it has contacted navigation providers such as Google Maps to ensure that the changes are in their systems by Sunday.
Cllr Geoghegan said: “What’s really important at the beginning of these changes is for people to plan their journeys. Traffic and transport officials in Dublin City Council have been in touch with Sat Nav providers and Google Maps to ensure that they are up to date and ready to go for the start of the plan on Sunday.”
He added: “We will have people on the ground from the beginning of these changes on Sunday monitoring the impact of the changes and responding where necessary… There are no changes to disabled bays, loading bays or taxi ranks. The vast majority of routes to hospitals will remain the same, as will the majority of routes to city centre car parks. Access for residents will be maintained although there may be a different route to or from the area.”
The council said that live traffic updates will be available between 7- 10am and 4 – 7pm on 103.2fm.
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Oh my goodness! Businesses will be shutting down by the dozen!!
I never go into the city by car any more I am not much of a cyclist either. I drove all my life but it is time to rid a lot cars driving on the congested streets. I do welcome the move . I attend St James hospital a bit when I get off the Luas and heading for the hospital main entrance It’s amazing to see drivers bumper to bumper containing only the vehicle driver in a lot of vehicles in moving a few inches every 10 minutes to get into the hospital carpark it is so bad there are car park staff out directing the traffic while the Luas running every few minutes stopping at the hospital I think if there were more car parks within public transport at a reduced price vehicle owners would avail of public transport a lot more than they do at the moment
What a biased report & also untrue ..notice u didn’t quote pat kennys show & it categorically did not get 80% of the public vote..businesses will close now except for pubs ..so enjoy that..we have the worst public transport system in Europe to quote the FT..cart before the horse as usual
Hi Camilla,
The article is accurate and factual.
Re that I “didn’t quote pat kennys show” — I’m not sure why I would quote Newstalk.
The public consultation categorically did get around 80% supportive submission. Consultation however is not a “public vote” — I noticed how you did not dispute that a majority of councillors just re elected by the people of Dublin support the plan not being delayed.
It’s nonsense to claim that “businesses will close now except for pubs” — the majority of shoppers are already coming into town by means other than cars and access is being maintained to car parks.
Retailers and people like you are doing more to scare car users away than the actual plan.
Re “we have the worst public transport system in Europe to quote the FT..cart before the horse as usual” — there’s now more people than ever using buses, those customers are stuck in traffic due to a relatively small number of cars blocking up key routes, and extra services are being rolled out.
You have the analogy wrong — putting the cart ahead of the horse is providing extra buses without putting the support in place to give them priority. These measures go some way to correct that.
Makes no odds, car drivers will still do what they want. I see it all the time private cars using college green bus gate and bus lanes as a faster way to get where they want.
The problem is the lack of enforcement
Do what they do in the UK use bus cameras to enforce the law.
There’s a significant issue with lack of enforcement. But the College Green bus gate is still hugely better than before it was put in place.
It’s worth also keeping in mind that the College Green Plaza was not just about providing a plaza but also part of the traffic issue to deal with Luas Cross City. Without taking buses on Dame Street closer to TCD, the junction outside the front gates of TCD is overloaded and doesn’t really function.
The traffic plan now looks to address those issues and more.