Dublin BusConnects Plan - Submission by Terenure Residents Association
• An adequate number of buses and drivers at peak times
• Free running traffic especially at junctions.
In general the services on the main routes through the area, Terenure Road East, Rathfarnham Road and Templeogue Road, will see similar or increased frequency which is to be welcomed. However, we get complaints of services to the City being so full in the morning peak that passengers from Terenure have great difficulty in getting to work. While the A4 service starting at Rathfarnham might address some of this, much more in the way of extra buses at peak times, starting from intermediate points on routes, will be necessary. We note that the A3 and A4 services inbound will be turning right at Terenure Cross where no such turn is now allowed.
There are other concerns about aspects of the plan.
The biggest single issue at present is the continued diversion of the main 15 routes away from the St. Stephens Green/Dawson St. area to Georges St. etc. Some elderly people who regularly went to places such as the National Concert Hall and Grafton St, have stopped going into the city altogether. In the plan the replacement routes still go by Georges St. and then go on via Parliament St. and the Quays. This will do nothing to encourage car users to go by bus. The plan seems to accept that the College Green Plaza idea will be approved. If this happens there should be no reason why the 15 services and successors should not revert to the Dawson St. route. Even if it does not happen, we would still like to see the routes revert. This would be preferable to the very likely congestion on the Quays.
Terenure Road West has had a through service to the City Centre since 1948 and this is gone in the plan. While the proposed orbital service S4 is frequent, the plan will increase journey times and create difficulties for access to schools.
Bushy Park Road has long had a through service to the city centre, now provided by the 15B route and going back to the No. 47 in pre-WW2 days.. In the plan this is gone and is replaced by a very infrequent loop service (234) which is one way west to east on Bushy Park Road. This will be completely useless as a replacement for the present arrangement particularly in the outgoing direction. The present 15B route serves two schools on Bushy Park Road, the MS Centre and numerous enclaves off the main road. There is also a high proportion of elderly people in the area
The through service from Terenure Road North/Harold’s Cross Road to the Camden St. George’s St. area will be lost.
While the proposed orbital S4 route would give an excellent service to UCD, not all bus users are students. We suggest that this service be extended to Blackrock as it is somewhat intended as a replacement for the present 17 route. Access to Blackrock and DART trains from Terenure would require too many changes.
Consideration should also be given to a frequent East - West diagonal service from Templeogue Village to Sydney Parade DART station. The S4 as shown in the plan goes south from Dartry and links to UCD. What is suggested here is a loop closer to the city centre and linking the LUAS and DART with Eglinton Road, Rathmines, Rathgar, Terenure and Templeogue. Sydney Parade would serve St. Vincent’s Hospital and connect with the DART. This service does not necessarily have to go through Terenure Village, and Rathgar Village which are already served by numerous routes. Many schools would also be served including Templeogue College, Terenure College, Our Lady’s, The High School, Alexandra, Gonzaga, Sandford Park and St. Michael’s among others. This route across the south city inner suburbs is already a well used route by car drivers. A frequent bus route would help to reduce traffic on these roads.
The present 17 route now provides a service from Terenure to Nutgrove Avenue shopping area and to Dundrum Luas station. A change at Rathfarnham will be necessary in the plan to get to Nutgrove and the proposed A3 route to Dundrum is very roundabout. Could the proposed A4 route be extended directly to Dundrum. Having to change buses on a short journey such as Terenure to Nutgrove will discourage bus travel.
Over time people have built their lives around existing bus services by, for example, buying a house where they can get to work or school on an established bus route without having to change, The plan might impose severe hardship in these cases and we would ask that a study be made to establish such patterns and have the plan address difficulties where warranted. Accessing schools in the Rathmines Rathgar area would be examples. It is unreasonable and unsafe to expect children to have to change buses going to school Some current regular journeys which can now be done on one bus will require two changes. As a general principle it should be possible to make well established regular journeys with not more than one change.
The infrastructural changes proposed in the plan such as widening of roads at the expense of front gardens and one-way systems are causing great concern. There is specific mention in the Busconnects proposals of removal of parts of front gardens and loss of trees on the Tallaght to Terenure route and on the Rathfarnham to City Centre route, both of which pass through the area represented by the Terenure Residents, Association. We would ask that serious consultation including public meetings be organised in good time to address these concerns.
September 2018