The removal of the last remaining bus routes from College Green that block the development of a fully traffic-free civic plaza is expected to get underway at the end of this year, according to the National Transport Authority (NTA).
From the end of this month private cars will be permanently banned from College Green, freeing up the area for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists. Dublin City Council had hoped to progress plans this year for the long-awaited civic plaza stretching from College Green to Dame Street. However, the delays in implementing the BusConnects project, resulting from a shortage of drivers, has meant the council cannot ban buses from the area.
“There was certainly a hope that we would have more of the buses that are in College Green removed as part of the BusConnects network redesign and that simply isn’t happening, Brendan O’Brien of the council’s traffic department said.
In the interim, the council is extending the “bus gate”, which currently bans private traffic from driving through College Green from 7am to 7pm on weekdays, to a 24/7 ban from May 29th and will create a “public space” at Foster Place, at the side of the Bank of Ireland building, with extended footpaths, planning and public seating.
“We are starting with this proposal but we hope to come back in 2024 with something much more ambitious as the scale of the busses comes out of this area,” Mr O’Brien said.
Speaking at a sustainable travel event in Dublin on Tuesday, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said buses would “for certain” be rerouted from College Green.
“What’s happening now in College Green is really good news but it’s only one of the series of developments that’s needed to make the switch away from an unsustainable gridlock traffic system to one that works for everyone.”
At the same event NTA chief executive Anne Graham said the NTA was working closely with the council to amend the College Green routes so buses travelling in an east-west direction, which block the plaza development, would be rerouted. It would “likely be the end of 2023 or early 2024″ before the diversion of those remaining buses would be implemented she said.
Buses will continue to run in a north-south direction, along the same alignment as the Luas line in front of Trinity College, after the plaza is in place.
Business group Dublin Town said it welcomed the car ban, but called for “meaningful engagement with local businesses to avoid a repeat of difficulties experienced in other parts of the city centre during the transition”.
The current 7am-7pm weekday bus gate, already means private cars cannot drive through College Green during most businesses trading hours, except at weekend. However, Dublin Town chief executive Richard Guiney said “difficulties experienced when Capel Street became traffic free in 2022″ led to businesses in other parts of the city becoming sceptical about the process and withdrawing support for a ban on private cars “But potential problems can be solved if proposals are discussed and concerns addressed before they are announced,” he said.
Separately Ms Graham rejected criticism of the slow pace of implementation of contactless payments for public transport using bank cards or phones after she said on Monday the system would take “a couple of years” to introduce. Contactless payments could already be made using leap cards, she said on Tuesday. “All we haven’t got at the moment is the facility to be able to use the bank card to pay for your journey and that is coming, but at the moment we offer a very flexible ticketing arrangements across all our services.”
