Bus lanes planned for Cork and Galway

BUS lanes are to be introduced in Cork and Galway over the next year in a nationwide expansion which will also see the number of lanes in Dublin double.

Cork will initially have two lanes, or quality bus corridors (QBCs), on the numbers 6 and 8 bus routes, and Galway will get one, but further expansion is planned and the scheme will eventually be extended to all cities.

The biggest expansion will be in Dublin where the number of QBCs will initially increase from nine to 18. With the cost of bus lanes averaging half a million euro per kilometre, the total expenditure will run to tens of millions of euro.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan, who announced the package yesterday, stressed the need to have the lanes in operation without delay and implored all the local authorities and other public bodies involved to bring their plans forward so the 12-month target completion time could be met.

He said the last thing anyone needed was more studies about traffic problems. “We need less theorising and more practical solutions,” he said.

QBCs have had mixed results in Dublin where they were first introduced in 1997 but marked successes have been recorded along some routes, in particular the Stillorgan corridor running south of the city.

Chief executive of Dublin Transportation Office, John Henry, said the number of people using Dublin Bus had increased 40% since 1997, with practically all the increases in areas served by QBCs.

Mr Brennan said this effect could be multiplied with the swift introduction of more dedicated lanes. “The challenge is to get more people out of motor cars and into using public transport. Let’s try to give the city back to public transport,” he said.

Among the first of the new corridors to be introduced in Dublin will be routes running between Dun Laoghaire and Stillorgan, Ballymun and the city centre, South Clondalkin and the city centre and Tallaght and the airport, but in all there are about 20 proposals which could be among the next tranche.

The minister also stressed the need for all public bodies to work together on traffic issues and said he would be inviting representatives to operate with his department as a coherent unit.

“The various bodies can not afford to be acting even parallel to each other. They need to be acting together,” he said.

Mr Brennan is known to be keen to promote co-operation to avoid the kind of fiasco which resulted in the costly scrapping of new direction signs commissioned by Dublin City Council last year. The minister, who knew nothing about them before their unveiling, declared them too confusing.

Mr Brennan yesterday launched the country’s first comprehensive set of traffic management guidelines for developers, local authorities and government departments.

The guidelines set standards for the design and quality of existing and new roads, footpaths, public transport corridors, cycle lanes, safety features and aids for people with physical disabilities.

Mr Brennan said while the guidelines were not statutory, he had undertakings from public bodies they would comply and he would consider making them mandatory if necessary.