Sir, – In her opposition to Bus Connects, Lorna Callanan (April 27th) conjures up a vision of “pedestrians battling through cyclists to get to the bus stop”. As a bus user who is old enough to fear resuming cycling, I would love to see that day. – Yours, etc,
JOHN GOODWILLIE,
Crumlin,
Dublin 12.
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Sir, – The solution that European cities such as Montpellier in France and The Hague in the Netherlands, for example, have applied successfully is to encourage short journeys on foot and by bike by creating more welcoming road environments for pedestrians and cyclists, ie wide tree-lined pavements and segregated cycle ways not adjacent to high-speed highways for traffic.
These cities also give permanent priority to public transport, pedestrian and cycle traffic so that car journeys are the least attractive option. Buses and trams are fitted with sensors that change traffic lights when they approach to allow them to pass ahead of car traffic.
These newer systems have been applied throughout Europe, and there is no reason why Dublin should seek to apply outdated and discredited approaches to problems that have already been solved elsewhere without bus lanes and road widening. – Yours, etc,
ANTHONY
GAJADHARSINGH
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – Lorna Callanan (Letters, April 29th) writes that the maximum journey time on the 7km stretch of the Rathfarnham to city centre route impacted by Bus Connects is 28 minutes. The figure she quotes from page 311 of the CBC report is actually the peak “average journey time ... over the course of a normal weekday”.
Without disappearing down a statistical wormhole, an average maximum is not the same as a maximum. The National Transport Authority also states on page 16 of the CBC consultation brochure that current route journey times can take up to 75 minutes.
One imagines that this might occur on very poor weather days during school term-time when car traffic increases significantly.
BusConnects will supposedly regularise the journey time to under 25 minutes by separating buses from the variable impact of competing car traffic, and hence savings of up to 50 minutes per trip are possible.
Nevertheless Ms Callanan is successful in highlighting the confusing and conflicting information produced by the NTA around the Bus Connects plan, with key pieces of related information either missing entirely or in different documents. How it expects to win over sceptical hearts and minds with such unclear and often apparently self-contradictory supporting documentation is a mystery. – Yours, etc,
JOHN THOMPSON,
Phibsboro,
Dublin 7.