Stillorgan bus corridor designed to `punish motorists'

The Stillorgan quality bus corridor (QBC) due to be introduced later this month is designed to "punish Dublin motorists and frustrate traffic" rather than relieve congestion, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry has said.

As fears grow among motorists over the possible impact of the initiative, the SIMI said it reflected a "lack of imagination" on the part of the city's traffic planners.

"Instead of investing in park-and-ride facilities or new infrastructure, they are taking the cheapest option and painting a white line on the road. This is going to cause a lot of anger and huge amount of disruption," said the society's chief executive, Mr Cyril McHugh.

The criticism was rejected by Mr John Henry, director of the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO): "It is not intended to be a punishment at all. It's just that you cannot solve the traffic problems of any city by using cars. You have to look at other solutions." The DTO, Garda Siochana, Dublin Corporation, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and Dublin Bus are to hold a final series of meetings this week before deciding on an opening date for the corridor. The intention is to introduce it a couple of weeks before schools reopen next month to give motorists time to adjust.

Operating between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., the QBC will take up one of two existing lanes through Donnybrook and along most of the remaining journey into the city.

Only a small amount of engineering work remains outstanding, such as the lengthening of the slip lane for vehicles turning right off the Stillorgan Road on to Nutley Lane.

Dublin Bus intends to increase the number of inward-bound buses on the route from 52 to 72 in the 710 a.m. period, thus catering for up to 1,800 additional passengers. The extra vehicles will feed into the 46A route at Foxrock church and Stillorgan, rather than start at Dun Laoghaire, to maximise their effectiveness.

Passenger numbers are expected to increase by up to 20 per cent, as was the case after the Malahide and Lucan QBCs were introduced. Dublin Bus also estimates that the journey-time for passengers into the city centre from Foxrock will be reduced by at least 10 minutes.

In contrast, the AA has warned motorists they can expect at least 30 minutes added to their rush-hour journey times.

Mr Conor Faughnan, the company's public affair's manager, said it did not oppose QBCs in principle. "But this proposal is an insult to motorists. It squeezes them off the road to make space for the same old bus service - even if it does have new vehicles."

For the corridor to be effective, he said, there should be park-and-ride sites linking it with other areas, integrated ticketing, proper bus shelters, and real-time information displays showing arrival and departure times of buses.

The Fine Gael spokeswoman on traffic, Ms Olivia Mitchell, also said the QBC could be "a disaster" unless park-and-ride facilities were introduced. "If you take away 50 per cent of the car space you will have to increase passenger numbers by more than 50 per cent just to stand still. The only way of doing that is by increasing the catchment area."

She said she feared the Stillorgan corridor could generate such a public outcry it would undermine the whole QBC project.

A spokesman for Dublin Bus said at this stage it was not planning to introduce park-and-ride facilities or feeder buses along the route. Such buses were expensive to operate and often didn't produce the results expected, he said.

Future QBCs are planned for Swords, Ballymun, Finglas, Blanchardstown, North Clondalkin, South Clondalkin, Tallaght, Rathfarnham and a west Dublin ring road.