Rush hour bus journey times in Dublin have been cut by a quarter on the Liffey’s north quays, and almost one third on the south quays, since restrictions on private traffic were introduced last August, according to the National Transport Authority (NTA).
The Dublin City Centre Transport Plan prohibits private cars and commercial vehicles from travelling directly east or west along the Liffey at either side of O’Connell Bridge from 7am to 7pm daily.
Figures presented by the authority’s chief executive, Anne Graham, to Dublin City Council on Wednesday show that bus travel times at the 8am-9am peak have fallen by 25 per cent on the north quays.
From 5pm-6pm, evening peak on the south quays as commuters leave the city, journey times have reduced by 32 per cent.
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Over the course of the day as a whole, bus travel times on both sides of the quays are down by 28 per cent, the figures show.
Since August 25th, during the operational hours of the restrictions, cars and commercial vehicles on the north quays at Bachelors Walk have to turn left on to O’Connell Street and cannot go straight on to Eden Quay towards Dublin Port. Private traffic was already banned from turning right from Bachelors Walk on to O’Connell Bridge to head southwards.
On the southside, motorists are not permitted to drive straight from Burgh Quay to Aston Quay. The left turn from Westmoreland Street to Aston Quay is also restricted to public transport and cyclists.
All of the city’s car parks remain accessible and motorists can still cross any Liffey bridge previously open to cars. The measures aim to “remove traffic that has no destination in the city”, with 60 per cent of motorists previously passing through rather than stopping in town.
In October, the Dublin City Centre Traders Alliance, a group which includes retailer Brown Thomas Arnotts, car park owners and other businesses, initiated judicial review proceedings against the restrictions, which aimed to significantly increase the reliability of bus services.
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Ms Graham said public transport usage in the city has increased dramatically in recent years, with bus passenger numbers now 25 per cent higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, and Luas passenger numbers up 23 per cent.
The number of taxis in the city is up 8.2 per cent in comparison to pre-pandemic levels, Ms Graham told the council’s mobility committee, with a 14 per cent increase in new licences compared to this time last year. Taxi numbers have increased from 15,390 in March 2020 to 16,228 last October.
She said the proportion of commuters using public transport to access Dublin city each morning now stands at 58 per cent, with 35 per cent arriving by bus and 23 per cent on a train, Luas or Dart.
However, Ms Graham said, the authority has a “significant concerns” about the punctuality of Dart services, which is determined by the number of services arriving within five minutes of their scheduled time. This is running at 87 per cent in the morning peak and just 71 per cent in the evening peak.
“Operational performance on the train is actually quite poor and would be of concern to us,” she said. The reliability of Dart services particularly in the evening were “certainty below where we would like them to be.”
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