Footfall is up in Dublin City Centre after traffic restrictions were rollout on quays, while bus journey times along the quays have reduced overall by over 20%, according to Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr James Geoghegan.
The data is tracked by the business group DublinTown to measure the number of people on central shopping streets. Meanwhile, Dublin Bus and the National Transport Authority have said buses are moving more freely, and Dublin City Council has said the level of traffic on the central sections of the quays is down by more than 60%.
The Lord Mayor released the information in a statement after hosting the first post-implementation working group meeting set up to monitor the impact of the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan.
Cllr Geoghegan (FG) said: “We held a very constructive first meeting today,” said the Lord Mayor. “We heard from the NTA, who indicated that their data shows public transport journey times have reduced by over 20% on routes which include the North and South quays.”
“Several retail and business representative associations were present and Dublin Town, who deploy footfall counters throughout the city, indicated that footfall in the city has, in fact, increased in the month of September during the period of the traffic plan’s introduction,” he said.
For just under a month now, through traffic has been blocked between 7am and 7pm from passing O’Connell Bridge on the north and south quays.
Motorists seeking local access via Bachelors Walk must turn left onto O’Connell Street, while those on Burgh Quay will have the choice of turning left into D’Olier Street or right onto O’Connell Bridge.
The Lord Mayor said: “Representatives from Disability Persons Organisations were also present and proposals were put forward about blue badge holders being able to access routes where bus gates are present. The NTA committed to exploring this proposal.
He said the meeting was concluded by focussing on how to encourage more people to come into the city in the coming months in the run-up to Christmas.
Cllr Geoghegan added: “We committed to ensuring that this forum is the vehicle for ongoing and future engagement with all affected stakeholders as transport plans for the city evolve.”
Billy Hann, CEO of Dublin Bus, after the forum’s meeting, said: “Today, I represented Dublin Bus at the Lord Mayor’s working group for the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan. Early feedback is clear – the plan is improving journey times. I advocated for this forum and will keep working with all stakeholders to ensure the plan’s success.”
The bus priority measures are in place in the busiest areas for buses in Dublin, where before the restrictions, private cars carried only around 2% of the people in the area. Dublin City Council said that traffic surveys found that 60% of the car traffic was through traffic that did not stop in the core city centre.
UPDATED: This article was updated with a quote from CEO of Dublin Bus.
