Call for radical review as buses slow to a crawl

Dublin Bus has called for a radical rethink of traffic management for the city after new research reveals that the speed of its vehicles in the city centre is at walking pace at rush hour.

A detailed study of the 16A bus has shown that it takes an average of 14 minutes during peak morning rush hour to travel the 1km journey from O'Connell Street to South Great George's Street - a speed of just 4.3km/h. In the evening rush hour it is 5.5km/h.

The research was carried out in October, traditionally one of the worst months for congestion as the weather gets worse and the days shorten, but Dublin Bus says the situation has deteriorated in recent months.

Last month a 46A took 67 minutes to get from Mountjoy Square to Kildare Street, a 123 took 54 minutes to get from Cathal Brugha Street to Lord Edward Street and an 84X took 20 minutes to travel the short distance from Eden Quay to Trinity College, a journey that could be made in half that time on foot.

Last week Dublin Bus shot video footage from the front of a bus which took 47 minutes to travel down O'Connell Street at rush hour.

Dublin Bus operations manager Mick Matthews said ever-increasing traffic and the priority given to the Luas at critical junctions, notably at Amiens Street and O'Connell Street, was leaving services "absolutely crippled" at rush hour.

The Dublin Transportation Office has drawn up a city centre traffic management plan which was reviewed and approved by the board of Dublin Bus and is currently before Dublin City Council. Mr Matthews said there was a need for more urgent action which the DTO should address at their steering group meeting later this month.

"It has shocked us that this kind of congestion is happening in April and May. There has been a marked deterioration in the last six weeks. There is a need for a new traffic management plan as a matter of urgency. Something has got to give."

He said the construction of a new bridge at Macken Street should be speeded up as most traffic crossing the city is funnelled across either O'Connell or Butt Bridge causing congestion that can stretch from the North Strand to St Stephen's Green.

Dublin Bus also believes that the proposed Luas line BX, connecting the red and green lines which will run past Trinity College Dublin should be rerouted as it will cause huge disruption.

"The most that this service will carry is five million passengers a year," Mr Matthews said. "It is not necessary to inconvenience 58 million passengers when the new metro line can do the job of linking up the two lines just as well."

Dublin Bus also wants its vehicles to be given the same priority at junctions as Luas with the capacity to change the light sequences, while buses should be allowed exclusive access to the roads that run along the Luas line from Heuston Station to Middle Abbey Street, and a ban should be imposed on private cars accessing O'Connell Street through Dame Street and Westmoreland Street.

A Dublin City Council spokesman said Dublin Bus had been involved in all discussions relating to public transport and a series of measures, including new bridges across the Liffey, a bus lane along the quays and the ban on HGVs in the city centre, was being implemented.