A Government pilot scheme to allow car pool vehicles to share Dublin's bus lanes would cause mayhem, it was claimed today.
Allowing car pool vehicles to use bus lanes would cause mayhem it was claimed today
The proposal was put forward by the Automobile Association during a meeting between key transport agencies and Junior Transport Minister Ivor Callely yesterday.
AA spokesman Conor Faughnan explained that the car must be occupied by at least three people and would have a designated Dublin City Council badge on the windscreen.
But Greens transport spokesman Eamon Ryan said today allowing private cars access to bus lanes could create "administrative and transport mayhem" across the city.
"Dublin's bus service is already desperately trying to cope with the overbearing demands of a gridlocked city," he said.
"Bus lanes have been designed so that buses can get through traffic lights with minimum queuing."
Mr Callely told yesterday's meeting in central Dublin that it was likely the AA scheme could be carried out on a pilot basis, once a roadway was identified.
But Mr Ryan said the recent proliferation of taxis meant that bus lanes are already stretched to the limit.
"The introduction of private vehicles into bus lanes would have a very real and negative effect on Dublin's bus service," he said.
The Dublin TD warned Mr Callely that no amount of tinkering with the traffic management system was going to solve the capital's gridlock problem.