A controversial "Quality Bus Corridor" from the south side of Dublin to the city centre is to open next Monday, despite its critics' arguments that it will increase traffic problems on a major commuter route.
At a press conference yesterday the city's transport authorities said the Stillorgan QBC, stretching 10km from Foxrock Church to St Stephen's Green, would not cause extra traffic congestion.
Mr Conor McCarthy, chairman of the Dublin Transportation Office, disputed the contention of the AA that it would bring lengthy delays, and that it was in fact no more than a bus lane without the extra features a QBC needs.
The authorities have been criticised for the lack of park-and-ride facilities, integrated ticketing, "real-time" displays and quality bus shelters, which have previously been included in the definition of a proper QBC.
While Mr McCarthy accepted that "certainly it would be much better if we had park-and-ride sites" which allow motorists to change to public transport, he said it was a very difficult thing to achieve in the right place.
He added that the DTO hoped to see an additional 2,000 park-and-ride spaces this year, but he acknowledged they would be at DART and suburban rail stations.
The authorities were still working on park-and-ride sites, he said.
Mr McCarthy emphasised that any traffic congestion would be due to the number of cars on the roads rather than the special lane operating between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. for buses.
He said the schools would add an extra 11,000 cars to Dublin roads, while the capacity of one lane was 1,000 cars per hour.
Pressed on the reduction of traffic lanes from two to one, between Donnybrook and Stillorgan, he said: "We don't believe that there will be increased congestion because of the QBC. There will be increased congestion because of the fact that there are more vehicles trying to use the road space."
The managing director of Dublin Bus, Dr Alan Westwell, rejected criticism that the absence of park-and-ride facilities and integrated ticketing (allowing passengers to switch between buses), of updated information displays at bus stops and better bus shelters, meant the QBC was in effect no more than a line painted on a road.
He said it was important to understand the magnitude of the project. There had been "consultation with shopkeepers, the repositioning of their car-parking, side-streets, traffic calming, the laying of streets for the cycle lanes" and added: "It is only after having satisfied all those circumstances that there is agreement for the passage for the bus."
Dr Westwell said there were 250 outlets with "an excellent range of pre-paid tickets from one-journey, two-journey to a full day where you can go from bus to bus. So although you might say that you don't want to use the bus until there is direct ticketing, that's probably just another reason to say, delay it. It has to progress."
Real-time displays were being introduced at 15 sites on the Lucan QBC and would be extended at a cost of £1 million per corridor. Supt Liam Collins said the Garda's efforts would initially designed towards education. "If someone parks on a box junction at one set of traffic lights it slows the whole route down by about six minutes."
Mr Owen Keegan, director of traffic with Dublin Corporation, said it was critical that motorists co-operate to prevent delays.
The bus lanes would, he said, stop well short of junctions and motorists should use the inside lane, pass through the junction and then co-operate with each other so they could merge back to the outside lane.
"It is really in the motorists' own hands, the extent of the congestion. If they persist in the outside lane and refuse to accommodate the people who move in at junctions they are going to pay the price."
Mr Keegan said there had been significant investment in the computer control along the route designed to smooth the flow of traffic.
However, while the Lucan and Malahide QBC routes were referred to as successful, Mr Keegan acknowledged that the overall numbers of people using the routes had fallen since the introduction of the QBC.
