Corporation urged to learn from northside bus corridor `mistakes'

The north Dublin suburb of Fairview became known to commuters as "the library" because drivers would have time to read books while stuck in traffic jams after the Malahide Quality Bus Corridor (QBC) was introduced there, the Dublin North TD, Mrs Nora Owen, said yesterday.

The former minister was deeply critical of the effect the QBC has had on local traffic congestion and called on Dublin Corporation "to learn from the mistakes of the north side" and not to open the Stillorgan QBC until feeder buses and park-and-ride sites were included in the proposal.

Mrs Owen claimed that commuters "could read half of War and Peace during morning traffic jams and the other half in the evenings on the way back.'

At the same time, she said, the views had improved "as there are no buses in the QBC to block the scenery".

As a northsider she was particularly critical of what, she said, was the assertion of Dublin Corporation's director of traffic, Mr Owen Keegan, that the mistakes that had been made with the Malahide QBC would not be repeated in the Stillorgan QBC.

"They said they wouldn't open the southside one until all the roadworks were done, because they opened the northside one and they still had to do major works on the Artane roundabout.

"We got up one morning and found mysterious things had happened. A strange set of new traffic lights had been installed at Donnycarney Church. Now to this day, nearly a year later, I have no idea what they are for. We were told they were for some kind of a bus gate, but the trouble is there aren't enough buses to make it work properly, so there is a little set of traffic lights and then the main set of lights at Donnycarney Church."

Mrs Owen added that the "situation in Fairview is that it is one lane into town, and there are two lanes coming out. And you are sitting there in the single lane and there is nothing on your left-hand side because there aren't enough buses. You know the buses weren't ordered until three months after our QBC was opened."

She said she was urging the director of traffic not to open the Stillorgan QBC until feeder buses and park-and-ride facilities were provided. "We've learnt the hard way, out here on the north side," she said.

In response, Mr Keegan said that "whatever new mistakes we made on the Malahide QBC, we certainly won't be repeating the same mistakes on the Stillorgan QBC."

He said that from Monday the roadworks would be complete and the new signalling would be in place. Some 4,500 cars use the Stillorgan inbound route, bringing in about 6,500 people each weekday morning, but Dublin Bus will have the capacity for 5,000 at the peak period.