Dublin to get two high-speed bus corridors

Date: 14/11/2012

Two high-speed bus corridors are planned for Dublin in a scheme that will cost €450 million (£360 million), transport bosses have announced.

As many as 3,600 passengers could be carried each hour on the routes from Blanchardstown to University College Dublin and from Clongriffin on the Malahide Road to Tallaght.

The (NTA) National Transport Authority has decided on the bus corridors over a Luas or Metro system, as a cheaper option, reports the Irish Independent.

As it is, the new system will cost around €40 million a year to run and maintain, after the initial start-up costs.

The Department of Transport stated that the proposals will not be put into action prior to 2016, as there is no funding for implementation in the medium-term.

(BRT) Bus Rapid Transport works by segregating buses entirely in their own lanes, apart from all other traffic including taxis.

Under the proposals, which are set out in a feasibility study, buses will be given priority at traffic lights.

Up to 30 buses could run on each route every hour with a capacity of 120 passengers per bus, making it a rapid way to carry people around on public transport.

In order to try and persuade commuters to use the buses over their cars, the vehicles would be guaranteed to travel at speeds between 15 kilometres per hour and 25 kilometres per hour.

The study states: "One of the successes of Luas is the accessibility in that people of all ages and mobility are able to easily board and alight from it.

"It is considered essential that the BRT system aspires to match the accessibility of Luas insofar as possible."

Luas is the light rail system, which already runs in Dublin with several routes going between the docklands, Saggart, Tallaght, St Stephen's Green and Brides Green.

If the 16.5 kilometre long BRT system is put into place, Dublin will be following in the footsteps of the likes of the United States and Australia as well as parts of South America and Europe, which have already adopted a similar arrangement.

Posted by Nick Anderson

International Transport News and Sustainable Transport News