Via CassandraVoices:

The real issue is that, if realised, BusConnects will make permanent space for private motor cars. This would be achieved at the cost of the city’s built heritage and green infrastructure – including thousands of road side and privately owned trees.

As such, this element appears to contravene both the Dublin City Development Plan and the EU Habitats Directive.

Thus, Objective GIO27 commits:

To protect trees, hedgerows or groups of trees which function as wildlife corridors or ‘stepping stones’ in accordance with Article 10 of the EU Habitats Directive.’

While Policy SC15 seeks:

To recognise and promote green infrastructure and landscape as an integral part of the form and structure of the city, including streets and public spaces.’

And Policy SC12 aims:

To ensure that development within or affecting Dublin’s villages protects their character.’

It is noted that at a public meeting earlier this year in the Clayton Hotel off Leeson Street, on behalf of the National Transport Agency (NTA), Hugh Cregan, stated that plans have not yet been prepared for replacement of trees.

Given the massive scope of the scheme, it seems essential to provide plans for what will occur after the initial destructive phase – otherwise, the plan is missing key elements, and is premature.

Road-widening schemes for Dublin during the 1970s and 1980s were not a solution to our transport ills then – and do not provide one now.[More at link below]

Dubliners Deserve Better Than Bus Connects (Ruadhan MacEoin, CassandraVoices)

Top pic: Rollingnews

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16 thoughts on “Disconnects

  1. postmanpat

    The only group that needs this is building firms. Who have already spent and invested the projected profits so the powers that be have to push the narrative that its in the public interest. (which it isn’t) . There’s probably no stopping this , the lawyers will threaten to sue the government for breach of contracts and because our public representatives that have a proven history blindly signing one sided contracts (children’s hospital/ Ringsend incinerator) and the public solicitors are inept/corrupt themselves so its a done deal. Next step: 400% cost overrun. (which the building firms were counting on and worked into the contracts small print so we will have to eat the cost) Make no mistake the money is already rolling into connected persons accounts. What we need is a few thousand tree hunger volunteers to chain-link themselves to the trees to disrupt the construction. The tax paying public have lost the money for this project, that cant be helped now , but we can at least save the trees.

  2. Pavel

    Dublin Bus carried 143 million passengers in 2018 compared to the Luas (41.8m) and Irish Rail (48 m). Huge parts of Dublin have no public transport option but the bus, and saying people prefer the Luas or DART completely ignores that reality. People can either give up their gardens for the buses, or give up the idea of being able to drive into the city centre as and when they feel like it. The current situation is simply not sustainable.

    1. postmanpat

      The current situation is fine. Bus connect is a building project for the sake of builders disguised as a much needed upgrade to the city. Its not needed, when finished, the travel times will be fractionally faster (if even), and when you factor the massive disruption it will cost to commuter during the construction, it will take years to cancel each other out. And you know the cost overrun and construction delays will make matters worse. The widening of the roads will just incentivize motorists to continue to purchase use private cars. more and more SUVS are popping up on the public reoad The bus is too expensive to travel on and you have less freedom. Also the bus fare will increase an extra few euro a trip when the (pre-counted-on cynically calculated ) cost overrun need cash from somewhere. Cyclists can cycle on the normal roads, its fine, I’ve been okay for the last 30 years and the dangers are just propaganda to push this plan. We don’t need extra cycling lanes/bus lanes going through peoples front gardens, leave the roads the way they are , (With trees) its not ideal but 100x better than this busconnect. farce.

      1. Pavel

        If your starting from the position that the current situation is “fine”, when Dublin has some of the worst traffic congestion in the world, I don’t think we are going to find any common ground to agree on.

        1. postmanpat

          “Fine” is a matter of comparison, This building project wont make matters better, it will make them worse. Get back to me when this fiasco gets going and tell me how bad things used to be when your sitting in a traffic jam on a widened road with no trees in 3 years time. OH . I get it.. you looked at the PR releases and the artist rendition of the realized project and thought it would be the way it actually terns out. You believe this whole exercise is for the public good after all the resent construction scandals? you believe authority? good for you. what’s that like?

        1. postmanpat

          But it is fine, slow sure but what can you do?. Bit of traffic plus trees, versus bit of traffic minus trees plus overblown budget that will balloon up to 400% the original quote and cause massive disruption during construction. End result: still slow traffic , wider roads and no trees filled with SUVs (which I see more and more clowns driving everyday) . Builders get rich off the sub sub sub sub contracting yet clam bankruptcy next economic crash? until then, more incentive for tools to go out buy bigger and bigger SUVs. People who don’t get the bus now aren’t going to start.

  3. Mr.Fart

    build an underground. and then when that gets overcrowded, an overground. essentially a second story of road over the roads we have already. or.. and this is mad .. OR .. develop some of our other port cities. Bring Waterford to life, there’s a whole empty, overlooked city there, you could build loads of offices and apartments, get brexit scared businessess to come move there. closer to europe, best weather in the country, a city that desp needs some life, great train service for getting to other cities, eg. dublin in 2 hours or less. then your staff can go on holidays or weekends to tramore, dunmore east, ardmore etc., .. take some heat off dublin.

    1. postmanpat

      I like you Waterford port plan. A two hour trip down to Waterford is a lot more appealing that a two hour trip to up to bang bang Belfast.

    2. Slightly Bemused

      I would agree. They really should develop other parts of the country. apart from the fairly obvious issues over infrastructure and facilities, if everything is shoved into Dublin the risk of catastrophic failure causing complete shutdown of the country expands immensely. Even a few people protesting on O’Connell Bridge shuts down the city, a big accident on the M50 cuts Dublin off from the rest of the country. Having all industry centred in Dublin is foolhardy. Not having the ability to spread the load is ridiculous.

      I seem to recall that our forebears knew about this. Something about eggs and only one basket….

    3. Mr.Fart

      the government spoke of the opportunity to poach companies from Britain to move here after Brexit, and they don’t anymore, because they aren’t moving here. Mostly because infrastructure and nowhere for staff to live. And then that was it. Opportunity over. Instead of doing some actual work to decentralise. The gov. can’t see past Dublin, which is just one big tourist park now anyway.

  4. Janet, I ate my avatar

    just been forced I to getting a motor after one year back and years of living in a city where a car was a handicap, why ? The transport is brutal , just brutal, unreliable, dirty and peppered with uncivil people and that’s just the drivers

  5. Slightly Bemused

    I cannot comment on the Bus Connects plan – I know too little about it and do not currently live or work in Dublin, to give any kind of informed judgement.

    That being said, buses are my preferred method of movement around a city. I like looking out at the passing scenery and tapestry of a city, particularly one that may be new to me. Even in one I am familiar with (such as Dublin) the scenery may be the same each day, but the pedestrians always change, and I love people watching. I also use the visual cues to know when to get up and make my way to the exits.
    Undergrounds (such as the London Tube) all look the same to me, and trigger my slight claustrophobia. Especially at peak times, I have difficulties with packed carriages in tunnels.

  6. max

    I prefer trains like most people but i wont walk 40 min to get to the nearest train station when a perfectly good bus is 10 min away.

  7. Termagant

    Wouldn’t you have to clear the trees for a Luas anyway? With the overhead lines, I’m sure there’s a health and safety issue there with overhanging trees

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