Dublin Bus has formally complained to the agency responsible for the Luas, saying a trial run of the light rail system resulted in "severe traffic congestion" and caused some city centre buses to run up to 30 minutes late on Tuesday. Carl O'Brien reports
In a letter to the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA), which is responsible for the Luas, Dublin Bus says the sequencing of traffic lights appeared to be the source of serious traffic problems. It has asked that the situation be monitored closely before the Luas opens for business next week.
However, the RPA yesterday said bad weather rather than testing of the light rail system was more than likely to blame for recent traffic problems.
"We've been doing tests for four weeks, and haven't had any significant problems. There was traffic congestion yesterday but that had nothing to do with us," a spokesman for the RPA said.
Traffic officials with Dublin City Council yesterday confirmed there had been an "unusual" level of traffic disruption in the city-centre on Tuesday, especially in roads approaching St Stephen's Green, where Luas tests were being conducted.
A spokeswoman for the council said the sequencing of traffic lights along the Luas route was an "issue", but it could not be remedied until early July, a week after the official launch of service.
"The Luas probably played a part in the traffic problems, but so too did the bad weather. Until the signalling is properly aligned and plans to reverse traffic flow around St Stephen's Green are implemented, we can expect some disruption," said the council's spokeswoman, Ms Deirdre Ní Raghallaigh.
Dublin Bus said yesterday it had received a large volume of complaints recently over delays in bus schedules, and confirmed that a letter had been sent to the RPA voicing concern over traffic congestion.
AA Roadwatch's Mr Conor Faughnan yesterday said it was inevitable there would be some traffic problems caused by the introduction of the Luas, but cautioned against linking all traffic problems to the new rail system.
"There has been a strong tendency to blame every traffic jam on Luas, which I am reluctant to do. They are trying live testing, and it's inevitable they won't get it right the first time. A lot of fine-tuning will be needed."
The dispute between Dublin Bus and the RPA over traffic congestion is one of a number of contentious issues, such as the integration of services and ticketing, which have arisen between the two groups.