Dublin Corporation has announced plans for a Quality Bus Corridor from South Clondalkin to the City Centre. It sounds almost as good as a Luas of our own. When you look at the plans it is a lot less impressive. There are to be new bus lanes in places where the road is wide enough, like the last stretch of Crumlin Road. There are to be new cycle lanes on each side of the road.
This is fine as far as it goes. It should give a little help to the 54% of commuters who cross Dolphin's Barn Bridge by bus and help to increase the 2% who cross by bicycle (November 1997 figures).
But the way the Bus Corridor was announced, you would think that it stretched all the way into town. It does, on the map. But when you look at it more carefully, there is virtually no change happening in this zone. There isn't room on Cork Street to fit a bus-lane. The scheme for widening Cork Street is not yet finally decided on, and of course it is the experience of all road-widening schemes that they soon full up with extra traffic unless they are carefully designed to prevent this.
It was hoped that the Luas would make a difference to the traffic. Particularly with its new route along Davitt Road, many of the people now commuting along Crumlin Road could be expected to take this route instead. But because of the Governmentıs appalling decision on Luas, it now has to be replanned. And the extra expense may mean a lot of changes in the plans.
John Goodwillie