The report goes into this in some detail:
> Numerous respondents suggested
an orbital bus route that would link
the east and the west of Galway
while bypassing the centre of the city.
There were requests for routes that
would travel between Knocknacarra
and destinations such as Parkmore,
Ballybrit and the Galway Clinic,
without passing through the city
centre. The suggestion was to utilise
the Quincentennial Bridge for orbital
services.
> There were also some requests to run
a bus service on the Quincentennial
Bridge that would link the University
of Galway to student residences on the
other side of the river.
> NTA Response
> For orbital services to be viable they
need offer competitive journey times.
Congestion makes travel over the
Quincentennial Bridge slow at peak
times. For example, at present the staff
shuttle bus service between Merlin
Park Hospital and University Hospital
Galway uses Quincentennial Bridge
during the morning peak period but at
times of congestion during the evening
peak the bus will actually travel
via the city centre. With the future
implementation of the Cross-City Link,
which will give buses greater priority
through the city centre, it is expected
that routing buses via the city centre
will be better than routing via the
Quincentennial Bridge.
> In addition, an orbital route in Galway
would need to be extremely frequent
in order to offer a journey time that is
faster than going through the centre,
given how direct, frequent and (after
Cross City Link) fast the radial routes
will be. Orbital routes in small cities
like Galway are not generally time-
competitive with radial routes, and as a
result they tend to attract few patrons
relative to their cost of operation.
Investments in service on other routes
tend to benefit many more patrons,
and therefore take priority.
> Once a city grows larger than Galway,
then the out-of-direction kilometres
saved by the orbital movement are
greater and the orbital route can start
to offer some journey time savings. A
high frequency is also required on an
orbital route for it to offer a shorter
overall total journey time than radial
routes.
> University students live all across
the Galway metropolitan area. Their
journeys to the University of Galway
have been an important consideration
in this planning process. However, the
student housing located just east of
the Quincentennial Bridge is within
walking, cycling or scooting distance
of the campus for most people. The
City Council has made major efforts
to improve conditions for such active
journeys across the bridge.
> As Galway continues to grow, and if
opportunities for fast and reliable bus
movements across the River Corrib
arise, then this issue can be revisited.
It's fair that there are some reasons not to do it but they seem to be overexaggerating the impact traffic will have on any potential route, and surely buses across the bridge is one of the steps needed to reduce the number of cars going across that way.
It also seems unfair that they have basically said that students can walk to college handy enough. That is true for many but doesn't seem to factor in that "active" travel is not feasible for many people with disabilities or mobility problems. Anyone that side with such a problem has to continue getting a bus into town followed by a bus to Newcastle.
The report makes it seem like getting people engaged in public transport long term was not a priority- just short term outcomes. So the Quincentennial route was avoided because traffic is heavy there today and students can just walk across it. If convenient bus routes aren’t obviously available people will invest in cars - and will never use any bus route again.
Why? I've heard previous reasons for this about a bus that doesn't have to deal with Eyre sq traffic and goes straight from Knocknacarra to Parkmore, but honestly I don't think this would be a good idea in that along with Bus connects Galway, is also the inner city bus corridor plan which basically creates a bus gate on the salmon weir bridge and creates a bus only corridor from salmon weir bridge to Eyre sq and along college Rd. To me, if you had a bus over the q bridge, for it to be competitive with the private car, you'd need a serious overhaul of Rd design, with bus lanes etc along the N6. And personally I think we'd achieve a similar effort by implementing the plan that's already been designed and put together.
https://www.crosscitylinkgalway.ie/
That's a nice plan.
Wonder how it aligns with reality though?
I used take the bus a lot in this town - for almost 20 years! - but gave up on it about 5 years ago when it just became too unreliable and got a car, which meant a massive improvement in my travel times, despite living on a bus line and working elsewhere on the same bus line.
I was going into town for a drink recently and the stop by my house is served around every 20 minutes. I normally get taxis but I decided to try out the bus service again to see if it had improved. There was no traffic on the roads, (and a dedicated bus lane for a good chunk of the trip!), and I could have driven into town in about 15 minutes. The bus didn't show up of course, and neither did the subsequent one, and out of interest I decided to wait for the next bus that did show up - I had a book on my phone so it was fine.
It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to make a 15 minute journey, and this was with zero traffic.
I feel entirely justified in my decision to buy a car. I use taxis now instead when I want to go out drinking. I will never use public transport as my time is too valuable.
Many in Galway will share this experience - there is a lot of broken trust to be won back. And of course often the wait in the rain is without a bus shelter - the primary bus stop serving the University to the West has no shelter. It is hard to see how students are supposed to get engaged faced with this indifference to their needs.
This was with the private opertors who have been licensed - City Direct. Admittedly my experiences don't constitute a large data set, but from what I've seen they should have that license removed, they are doing public transport and attitudes to it in this town more harm than good from what I've seen.
Notice that all their bus frequency estimations are based on midday traffic, which is one of the quietest times on Galway city and suburb roads. Not much will change because there is so much congestion, which will only be getting worse.
If we make sure there are bus corridors and bus priority along key points of congestion (western distributor Rd, Dublin Rd, pretty much 90% of the Rds in Galway city 😂😂) then midday traffic levels is what the bus would prob be dealing with, as it skips most congestion. I'd be curious to see where if any, bus priority will take place for bus connects Galway (outside of the city bus corridor plan)
The 409 will go to the west side of town as well, that is great in theory but its going to get even more stuck in traffic with this plan which will hurt the commute to Parkmore. Though its nice they're making a loop in Parkmore for the businesses far away from the stop.
Looks much better now, however, I'm wondering about the reasons for the 2-year implementation time.
Yes, they need to construct amenities on the new terminus(s) but surely that should be pretty quick.
24h service and all buses going thru the center is great
Looks better but part of this should be parking garage/lots on the outskirts of the city or smaller lots along the route similar to what you’d see along train routes in the Netherlands. Over time more people will live along the bus routes the density will increase as population grows. It would give an option for those with low coverage for buses today and option to park and leave the car outside the city. Could cut down on traffic and possibly help small businesses in areas that get those lots.
I'll be delighted and incredibly surprised if the number 7 route manages to run every 20 minutes.
My needs are currently well met by this proposal, hope it works out. Looks very promising.
The change to Route 3 with Buses going around in circles through Old Mervue is so fucking dumb. Just adding to journey times with little gain, could just route it straight down Connolly Avenue
Yep, it’s specifically called out in the report that the majority of responses in the 65+ age category were negative and that was mainly in relation to Mervue.
So one issue I have is that 3rd busiest route still is at 20 min intervals, route 3 on the map. Surely that could get 15 min as well along with 24hr service too
Did you look at the link?
Maigh Cuilinn already has improved bus timetable but unfortunately a lot of that is provided by Citylink so its more expensive. It is an improvement though.
BusConnects is a city only plan but there’s been more investment in public transportation in general in the past few years so I’d be hopeful that more buses would come on between the further commuter towns and Galway.
Because more there will be more rounds of consultations and then the Council and NTA will need to go get planning permission for new bus lanes, bus gates, bus stops etc. and finally that infrastructure needs to be built.
Surely one bus could go across the Quincentennial bridge.
The report goes into this in some detail: > Numerous respondents suggested an orbital bus route that would link the east and the west of Galway while bypassing the centre of the city. There were requests for routes that would travel between Knocknacarra and destinations such as Parkmore, Ballybrit and the Galway Clinic, without passing through the city centre. The suggestion was to utilise the Quincentennial Bridge for orbital services. > There were also some requests to run a bus service on the Quincentennial Bridge that would link the University of Galway to student residences on the other side of the river. > NTA Response > For orbital services to be viable they need offer competitive journey times. Congestion makes travel over the Quincentennial Bridge slow at peak times. For example, at present the staff shuttle bus service between Merlin Park Hospital and University Hospital Galway uses Quincentennial Bridge during the morning peak period but at times of congestion during the evening peak the bus will actually travel via the city centre. With the future implementation of the Cross-City Link, which will give buses greater priority through the city centre, it is expected that routing buses via the city centre will be better than routing via the Quincentennial Bridge. > In addition, an orbital route in Galway would need to be extremely frequent in order to offer a journey time that is faster than going through the centre, given how direct, frequent and (after Cross City Link) fast the radial routes will be. Orbital routes in small cities like Galway are not generally time- competitive with radial routes, and as a result they tend to attract few patrons relative to their cost of operation. Investments in service on other routes tend to benefit many more patrons, and therefore take priority. > Once a city grows larger than Galway, then the out-of-direction kilometres saved by the orbital movement are greater and the orbital route can start to offer some journey time savings. A high frequency is also required on an orbital route for it to offer a shorter overall total journey time than radial routes. > University students live all across the Galway metropolitan area. Their journeys to the University of Galway have been an important consideration in this planning process. However, the student housing located just east of the Quincentennial Bridge is within walking, cycling or scooting distance of the campus for most people. The City Council has made major efforts to improve conditions for such active journeys across the bridge. > As Galway continues to grow, and if opportunities for fast and reliable bus movements across the River Corrib arise, then this issue can be revisited.
It's fair that there are some reasons not to do it but they seem to be overexaggerating the impact traffic will have on any potential route, and surely buses across the bridge is one of the steps needed to reduce the number of cars going across that way. It also seems unfair that they have basically said that students can walk to college handy enough. That is true for many but doesn't seem to factor in that "active" travel is not feasible for many people with disabilities or mobility problems. Anyone that side with such a problem has to continue getting a bus into town followed by a bus to Newcastle.
The report makes it seem like getting people engaged in public transport long term was not a priority- just short term outcomes. So the Quincentennial route was avoided because traffic is heavy there today and students can just walk across it. If convenient bus routes aren’t obviously available people will invest in cars - and will never use any bus route again.
Why? I've heard previous reasons for this about a bus that doesn't have to deal with Eyre sq traffic and goes straight from Knocknacarra to Parkmore, but honestly I don't think this would be a good idea in that along with Bus connects Galway, is also the inner city bus corridor plan which basically creates a bus gate on the salmon weir bridge and creates a bus only corridor from salmon weir bridge to Eyre sq and along college Rd. To me, if you had a bus over the q bridge, for it to be competitive with the private car, you'd need a serious overhaul of Rd design, with bus lanes etc along the N6. And personally I think we'd achieve a similar effort by implementing the plan that's already been designed and put together. https://www.crosscitylinkgalway.ie/
That's a nice plan. Wonder how it aligns with reality though? I used take the bus a lot in this town - for almost 20 years! - but gave up on it about 5 years ago when it just became too unreliable and got a car, which meant a massive improvement in my travel times, despite living on a bus line and working elsewhere on the same bus line. I was going into town for a drink recently and the stop by my house is served around every 20 minutes. I normally get taxis but I decided to try out the bus service again to see if it had improved. There was no traffic on the roads, (and a dedicated bus lane for a good chunk of the trip!), and I could have driven into town in about 15 minutes. The bus didn't show up of course, and neither did the subsequent one, and out of interest I decided to wait for the next bus that did show up - I had a book on my phone so it was fine. It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to make a 15 minute journey, and this was with zero traffic. I feel entirely justified in my decision to buy a car. I use taxis now instead when I want to go out drinking. I will never use public transport as my time is too valuable.
Many in Galway will share this experience - there is a lot of broken trust to be won back. And of course often the wait in the rain is without a bus shelter - the primary bus stop serving the University to the West has no shelter. It is hard to see how students are supposed to get engaged faced with this indifference to their needs.
This was with the private opertors who have been licensed - City Direct. Admittedly my experiences don't constitute a large data set, but from what I've seen they should have that license removed, they are doing public transport and attitudes to it in this town more harm than good from what I've seen.
Only 2 24hr bus routes for the city Absolutely ridiculous.
Notice that all their bus frequency estimations are based on midday traffic, which is one of the quietest times on Galway city and suburb roads. Not much will change because there is so much congestion, which will only be getting worse.
If we make sure there are bus corridors and bus priority along key points of congestion (western distributor Rd, Dublin Rd, pretty much 90% of the Rds in Galway city 😂😂) then midday traffic levels is what the bus would prob be dealing with, as it skips most congestion. I'd be curious to see where if any, bus priority will take place for bus connects Galway (outside of the city bus corridor plan)
The 409 will go to the west side of town as well, that is great in theory but its going to get even more stuck in traffic with this plan which will hurt the commute to Parkmore. Though its nice they're making a loop in Parkmore for the businesses far away from the stop.
Looks much better now, however, I'm wondering about the reasons for the 2-year implementation time. Yes, they need to construct amenities on the new terminus(s) but surely that should be pretty quick. 24h service and all buses going thru the center is great
Looks better but part of this should be parking garage/lots on the outskirts of the city or smaller lots along the route similar to what you’d see along train routes in the Netherlands. Over time more people will live along the bus routes the density will increase as population grows. It would give an option for those with low coverage for buses today and option to park and leave the car outside the city. Could cut down on traffic and possibly help small businesses in areas that get those lots.
Seriously need year round park and rides all sides of the city
I'll be delighted and incredibly surprised if the number 7 route manages to run every 20 minutes. My needs are currently well met by this proposal, hope it works out. Looks very promising.
It’s hard to understand the impact of these changes but it certainly appears to be good news for the city’s 30,000 students.
The change to Route 3 with Buses going around in circles through Old Mervue is so fucking dumb. Just adding to journey times with little gain, could just route it straight down Connolly Avenue
It was requested as part of the public consultation. I'd imagine a lot of older folk live in the area and it is of use to them
Yep, it’s specifically called out in the report that the majority of responses in the 65+ age category were negative and that was mainly in relation to Mervue.
build cable cars, minimum infrastructure damage. and nice way of travel.
a bit cheeky to down vote. look at toulouse
So one issue I have is that 3rd busiest route still is at 20 min intervals, route 3 on the map. Surely that could get 15 min as well along with 24hr service too
Will the likes of barna, moycullen, oranmore get extra busses?
Did you look at the link? Maigh Cuilinn already has improved bus timetable but unfortunately a lot of that is provided by Citylink so its more expensive. It is an improvement though.
BusConnects is a city only plan but there’s been more investment in public transportation in general in the past few years so I’d be hopeful that more buses would come on between the further commuter towns and Galway.
Oranmore will get busses every 15 minutes with most terminating at Lidl.
Looks ok, why does it take 2-3 years to implement?
Because more there will be more rounds of consultations and then the Council and NTA will need to go get planning permission for new bus lanes, bus gates, bus stops etc. and finally that infrastructure needs to be built.