Transport minister Seamus Brennan has again raised the prospect of buses being allowed to use the hard shoulders of motorways and dual carriageways in and around Dublin as a means of reducing traffic congestion on the major radial routes.
Speaking in Dublin recently Minister Brennan stated that his department was continuing to examine options in this regard.
While the proposal may have some merits at first sight, particularly from the point of view of passengers on regional bus services who have to endure the chronic traffic congestion on a daily basis, it has received little support and strong opposition from organisations such as the Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC) and the AA.
"There has been absolutely zero consultation with the DCC or other representatives of cyclists and pedestrians on this proposal," says David Maher, press relations officer with the DCC which was established 11 years ago to campaign for better conditions for Dublin's commuter cyclists. "We already have a situation where there is a lot of illegal driving on hard shoulders and this has caused the death of a number of cyclists over the years. This will simply make the situation worse."
The DCC is broadly in favour of giving increased road space to buses, but not at cost of compromising the safety of cyclists. "We are in favour of combined bus and cycle lanes," says Maher. "These work well in centre city areas where traffic speeds are low. But in the outer areas where speeds get up to 50 and 60 mph, it's a different matter. You need 4.5 metres for a combined bus and cycle lane, a bus is 3 metres wide and it needs 1.5 metres to manoeuvre around a cyclist. Most hard shoulders are not wide enough and this would be very dangerous for cyclists."
Conor Faughnan of the AA understands the minister's intentions but still opposes them: "I have a lot of sympathy with what Seamus Brennan is trying to do," he says. "We do need priority for buses but we can't compromise safety. Making an extra effort to facilitate bus transport is sensible but this is not the way to do it.
"The hard shoulder is there to provide access for emergency vehicles," he continues. "If you were to allow them to be blocked, even for short periods, it would mean that ambulances, fire engines, and police cars could not get through to where they were needed. While nobody likes spending millions of euro on road space that will seldom be used, the fact is that it's necessary for safety reasons.
"It would be like a restaurateur saying he needs the space taken up by the fire exit at peak times to accommodate extra diners. It's just not acceptable. If they were serious about reducing congestion, they would make the Westlink bridge toll-free at peak times."
Britain is also considering a similar move with a pilot scheme allowing normal traffic use the hard shoulders on the M42 in the Midlands due to begin next year. British motoring organisations have already expressed safety concerns regarding the proposed scheme. Such schemes are already in use in the Netherlands where traffic using the hard shoulder is monitored by CCTV cameras, designed to alert emergency vehicles of accidents and other emergency situations.