Quality Bus Corridor
Encyclopedia
Bus priority
Bus priority or transit signal priority is a name for various techniques to speed up bus public transport services at intersections with traffic signals amongst other methods. Trams and light rail vehicles can also be given priority...
to buses in Dublin, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
in order to reduce journey times and improve service consistency. The aim of the initiative is to encourage people to change from cars to buses and thus reduce traffic congestion. The strategy requires close co-ordination between the local authorities, who are responsible for the road changes required, and Dublin Bus
Dublin Bus
Dublin Bus is a public transport operator in Ireland. It operates an extensive bus network of 172 radial, cross-city and peripheral routes and 18 night routes in the city of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area. The company, established in 1987, is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann which is...
who operate the vast majority of bus services. This co-ordination is managed by the Dublin Transportation Office.
There are currently sixteen QBCs in Dublin. A 2007 survey by the Dublin Transportation Office found that bus average journey times in the morning peak were less than the corresponding car average journey times in twelve out of the sixteen QBCs monitored, with it being twice as fast in some cases.
The sixteen Quality Bus Corridors are as follows:
- BallymunBallymunBallymun is an area on Dublin's Northside close to Dublin Airport, Ireland. It is infamous for the Ballymun flats, which became a symbol of poverty, drugs, alienation from the state and social problems in Ireland from the 1970s...
QBC - BlanchardstownBlanchardstownBlanchardstown is a large suburb of Dublin in the district of Fingal, Ireland. It is within the historical barony of Castleknock. It is located 10 km north-west of the city centre. The suburb is in the Dublin 15 postal area, the Dublin West electoral constituency, and Fingal County...
QBC - BrayBrayBray is a town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is a busy urban centre and seaside resort, with a population of 31,901 making it the fourth largest in Ireland as of the 2006 census...
QBC - ClontarfClontarf, DublinClontarf is a coastal suburb on the northside of Dublin, in Ireland. It is most famous for giving the name to the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, in which Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, defeated the Vikings of Dublin and their allies, the Irish of Leinster. This battle, which extended to districts...
QBC - Crumlin RoadCrumlin, DublinCrumlin is suburb in Southside Dublin, Ireland. It is the site of Ireland's largest hospital for children.-Location:Crumlin covers the area from the River Poddle near the KCR to the Drimnagh Road, to Bunting Road, and is situated not far from the city centre, on the Southside of Dublin city....
QBC - FinglasFinglas-See also:* List of towns and villages in Ireland* List of abbeys and priories in Ireland...
QBC - Howth RoadHowthHowth is an area in Fingal County near Dublin city in Ireland. Originally just a small fishing village, Howth with its surrounding rural district is now a busy suburb of Dublin, with a mix of dense residential development and wild hillside, all on the peninsula of Howth Head. The only...
QBC - Lucan QBC
- MalahideMalahideMalahide is a coastal suburban town, near Dublin city, located in the administrative county of Fingal, within the traditional County Dublin, Ireland. It has a village-like centre and extensive residential areas to the south, west and northwest.-Name:...
QBC - North ClondalkinClondalkin-Today:Modern Clondalkin is a busy satellite town of Dublin, with a population of 43,929 in 2006. Retail facilities include Tesco Ireland- and Dunnes Stores-led shopping centres, and Aldi and Lidl stores on the Fonthill Road and New Nangor Road respectively, and the village centre is a base for...
QBC - RathfarnhamRathfarnhamRathfarnham or Rathfarnam is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin County Councils.The area of Rathfarnham...
QBC - Rock Road QBC
- South ClondalkinAdamstown, DublinAdamstown is the first new town planned in Ireland since Shannon Town in 1982. The new settlement is being developed 16 km from Dublin city centre, on a 220 hectare site just south of Lucan, west of the Griffeen River and north of the Grand Canal. No date has been set for the official...
QBC - StillorganStillorganStillorgan , formerly a village in its own right, is now a suburban area of Dublin in Ireland. Stillorgan is located in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, and contains many housing estates, shops and other facilities, with the old village centre still present...
QBC - SwordsSwords, DublinSwords is the county town of Fingal in Ireland. It is about 13 km north of Dublin city centre and is part of its commuter belt.- History :...
QBC - TallaghtTallaghtTallaght is the largest town, and county town, of South Dublin County, Ireland. The village area, dating from at least the 17th century, held one of the earliest settlements known in the southern part of the island, and one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres.Up to the 1960s...
QBC
According to the Dublin Transportation Office
Dublin Transportation Office
The Dublin Transportation Office was a government agency, formed in 1996, which provides transport and land use advice to organisations operating in the Greater Dublin Area. It had relatively limited powers and is not a full transport authority...
, the number of cars entering Dublin's inner city at the canal cordon points reduced by 7849 (21.43%) from November 1997 to November 2004. Conversely the number of bus passengers entering the inner city increased by 15016 (49.17%) during the same period. However between 2003 and 2004 there was a reduction in bus passengers entering the inner city of 7.10%. In part this may be attributable to the introduction of the Luas
Luas
Luas , also promoted in the development stage as the Dublin Light Rail System, is a tram or light rail system serving Dublin, the first such system in the decades since the closure of the last of the Dublin tramways. In 2007, the system carried 28.4 million passengers, a growth of 10% since...
system, but an increase in car traffic of 5.74% was also noted.
The effectiveness of the QBCs are compromised at various pinch points along the routes. In particular, the routing of the majority of buses on the Lucan routes through Lucan and Chapelizod villages at peak mean that time savings can be frittered away on narrow congested streets filled with school traffic.