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Bus access problems in park

Dublin Bus has announced serious difficulties with proposals to run some bus services through Phoenix Park at peak hours, according to a local TD.

The state-funded company is in discussions with the Office of Public Works and the Quality Bus Network office on the issue of commuter buses in the Park.

However, Dublin Bus advised TD Joan Burton that a number of major issues arose in respect of providing any service through the park.

She said that Dublin Bus Business Development Manager wrote to her to say: “There is major traffic congestion within the Phoenix Park at peak time and there would be little point in running buses through the Park unless they could bypass this congestion. This would most likely mean the construction of bus lanes through the Park and the strengthening of the main road. There may be need to carry out some realignment of the Castleknock Gate. There is also considerable congestion on the approaches to the Castleknock Gate where there is no bus priority”.

Dublin Bus also said: “The primary all day business for buses in the area is along the Navan Road close to housing, schools churches, shops, etc. There is certainly potential for running a peak express type service through the Phoenix Park and we will continue to discuss with the various agencies to achieve this. It is not part of Dublin Bus thinking to reduce the core all day service that currently serves the Navan Road”.

Deputy Burton said on October 3, 2007: "This statement indicates that Dublin Bus has stalled for some considerable period of time any decision or action on bus services through the Phoenix Park”.

© www.liffey-i.com
October 2007
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Rail line proposed through Phoenix Park

Fingal county councilor Felix Gallagher (left) has proposed that a light rail line be run through Phoenix Park to serve the public transport needs of the Dublin 15 area of west Dublin.

Cllr Gallagher successfully proposed in 2005 that Fingal County Council lobby the OPW to allow commuter buses run through the park.

Although Cllr Gallagher's bus proposal was adopted by Fingal County Council in December 2005, a bus service through the park has yet to be agreed.

"The best thing would be a light rail system that would cross over the Phoenix Park,"he said, on December 19, 2006. "It would service the Littlepace and Mulhuddart areas. Most of the area is in State ownership and would not cost an arm and a leg to develop. The Manager should be looking at that."

In response to calls for a through bus route, the OPW, which is tasked with park management, engaged consultants to conduct a traffic management survey which recommended that a single bus route be allowed through the park.

Three stops might be allowed in the park, one each near the roundabouts on Chesterfield Avenue.

The proposal met with opposition from a number of groups and individuals opposed to the use of the park as a commuter route.

Cllr Margaret Richardson (right) voiced dissent at allowing buses through the park at all and said that once the Port Tunnel was open heavy goods vehicles would not be allowed in the city centre and traffic would move freer, without a need for buses to run through the park at all.

© Liffey-i.com December 2006