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CONCERNS HAVE BEEN raised that the decision to allow taxis drive on the Luas line at the planned College Green civic plaza could “clutter” the proposed public amenity.
Plans for the completely revamped space were presented by Dublin City Council earlier this week with a decision by An Bord Pleanála expected in October.
There will be no space for vehicles on the plaza in front of the Bank of Ireland building, but buses and Luas trams will be able to move along the route in front of Trinity College towards Lower Grafton Street and Nassau Street.
In preliminary decision however, it was decided that taxis will also be able to use this route.
At the public meeting at the DCC offices on Wood Quay this decision was questioned.
Environmentalist Duncan Stewart said that taxis have been given too much freedom in Dublin city.
“In my view taxis are going to clutter and cause a lot of pollution and a lot of upset for the whole enjoyment of that civic space,” he told TheJournal.ie.
You know taxis are not a sustainable form or transport, and we have to recognise that. And we’ve given too much freedom to taxis in the city centre. I’m not try to say no to taxis, I’m not knocking taxis, they have a service to provide and they and it’s important, but they shouldn’t be in this area. There’s no need for them in that space.
If permission for the plans are granted, the plaza is not likely to be completed until early 2019 at the earliest.
At present, the decision to allow taxis to use the bus and tram corridor at College Green has been granted on a trial basis.
DCC’s traffic management plan for the area states that the decision following the taxi trial would be based on whether taxis impede bus or Luas operations.
A taxi rank currently at College Green would be moved further west on Dame Street.
Addressing Stewart’s concerns at the public meeting, Brendan O’Brien of the DCC’s traffic department said the “valuable” service provided by taxis must be considered.
“What we’ve said about the taxis on the Luas is that we would allow taxis on but we would examine it to see if it’s actually feasible,” he said.
This space is used at different times for different purposes. Taxis in the city centre, while you could argue there are too many taxis, you can’t argue about the fact that they provide a valuable social service to people getting home and also to people’s general safety. So you can’t just ignore them.
“We could have to look to see if they would need to be restricted, whether it’s restricted during the day or permanently,” he added.
In response, Stewart said that taxis should absolutely be allowed nearby but that allowing them actually at College Green itself was unnecessary. He also wasn’t in favour of the idea of restricting them only to certainly times of the day.
“Really there’s no need for them in that space, I think once you let them in it’s hard to get them out,” he added.
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Unfortunately until the public transport in this country is what one would actually call decent, taxis are badly needed.
The taxi rank there at college green is always busy, with people going in all different directions that the luas will not go, does he propose that people get on the luas and go out of the way to get a taxi?
@Hugh Lynch: Not a bad idea. The Luas would get you away from the city centre quicker and for many of the destinations in the ‘burbs you would then be paying a much smaller taxi fare
@Hugh Lynch: it’s hard to provide a public service when every Street has roadworks & luas works being carried out . And the transport companies and NTA haven’t adjusted their timetables to compensate for these delays
@Hugh Lynch: most cities embrace uber. Convert car owners into a shared transport service. Has been shown to reduce numbers of cars in city.
@Mairtin Cathbhar: Uber has zero interest in countries with deregulated taxi industries, which should tell you a lot about what Uber is.
Well we certainly can’t be having clutter in the city centre. They should ban humana entirely from the area, and only allow access via holograms which can serve as avatars for anybody who needs to do business in the area.
I would support a ban on cyclists around College Green ahead of taxis, there will be swarms of the pests zig-zagging all over the new pedestrianised area targeting people on foot.
@Grainne Abdulaziz: cyclists are people too. I really can’t understand the level of vitriol for cyclists. Its a fast, cheap, healthy way to move around town. Your comments are dehumanising and frankly dangerous.
@Brigid Ní Raghallaigh: Dehumanising? Because we want a pedestrian area to be safe for pedestrians?
@Brigid Ní Raghallaigh: Don’t bother trying to reason with some of the posters on here, no logical or well founded argument can explain the anti-person on a bicycle vitriol….
@Neal Ireland Hello.: i came on here to reply to your comment and I see another cyclist had just lost their life on Irish rds in 2017. I can’t help but think that attitudes like ‘cyclists are pests’ are contributing to this completely unacceptable statistic. Hence I made the dehumanising remark. I have no problem with the proposed college green redevelopment and I wouldn’t even care if you had to get off and push your bike through.the current layout is a joke and a pain for cyclists and pedestrians. People are always looking out for the bad cyclists. Maybe tomorrow look out for all the other ones and you’ll see there’s much more of them.
@Brigid Ní Raghallaigh: I’m a cyclist myself and when I saw that cyclists could go through there, I immediately thought it was an accident waiting to happen. I would never cycle my bike through a pedestrianised area, they are simply too congested for a cyclist to manoeuvre the bike in case of emergency(and I’m pretty good at keeping my bike in tight spaces of handlebar width).
Trial it for Hybrid and electric taxis, keep things clean and quiet at least. Maybe a permit to keep the numbers down do luas/bus can not be hindered. Can’t build this nice plaza and ruin it with diesel taxis
@Tony Stack: Electric or solar powered car/taxi is still a car and will slow down mass transit Luas tram and bus services… So bad idea…
@Tony Stack: Lovely idea – but the usual taxi driver would have none of it.
And considering that the majority of hybrid taxi drivers are foreign (cuz automatics??), you could then imagine what conclusions those in their Skoda Octavias could make up and share on fm104 or whatever shite’s that’s left.
In all seriousness, it’ll prove to be difficult to prioritise electric and hybrid vehicles vehicles in this city, let alone for such a small area. The drivers themselves wouldn’t even heed to the notion, or an eagle-eyed Garda is going to spend all day, everyday carspotting, knowing what’s electric and what’s not.
Where will all the traffic from Dame street go ? Be forced into the quays and Dawson and Nassau st round to an all ready impossible Pearse st at times
Charge the Taxi drivers a nice high yearly fee for the privilege to be at that area…
@Bobby Neary: And allow them to pass that charge on to their passengers. Sounds like a good idea. Would you pay the extra fee?
@Bobby Neary: way ahead of ya Bobby baby they got high insurance. .high renewal fee..higher vehicle standard….arsehat. .
@Tony Hardwicke: Lower motor tax
@Paul Garvey: Oh that makes all the difference then doesn’t it…. Idiot.
@Paul Mc Nulty: no the other costs are very high but it’s better to be factual rather than selective . No need to be abusive.
@Paul Garvey: ….extortionate insurance
@Bobby Neary: its dopes like you who are so hypocritical that when your sloshed at 2 am you’re delighted to get home safe.go back asleep ye sap.
@John Redmond: If you want to hail a taxi in a “premium” pick up point then expect to pay a little extra, or use the legs god gave you and walk a little further to pick up a taxi cab…
Shocking! Some people wouldn’t walk that 120 meters to a taxi rank. They would love to have it under their noses.
Ah, and the best option would be to park one’s car outside a shop. And god forbid being clamped. Why not….
@Shem Romanowski: hjfdgd
This area is going to be dug up again for another 2 years. They also want to cut down the mature trees.
That’ll be that eejit Keegan at work again. Why does he still have a job?
There are 2 routes busses can take if crossing from north to south… or south to north. Anyone have an idea how long it will take to cross the city in rush hour after this??
So something that hasn’t been built yet or had a traffic plan put into place will defo be full of taxi’s? Ok mate.
@Anto Curran: Go down Dame st on a Friday or Saturday evening. It is a heavy traffic jam of 99% taxis.
This project is going to hinder loads of public transport routes more than it helps it. Not everyone is a convenient distance to a Luas stop. It will also hinder Dublin Bus’ ability to transport people through the city centre and across the city. While also pushing busses, taxis & private vehicles into even bigger traffic jams on suffolk and george’s to name a few. This idea needs more refinement.
Nuke the whole place and start again
@Alan Lawlor: unless your going to 3 destination the luas is getting you no where.it doesnt go to blanch,ballyer, lucan, swords so crap idea untill all areas of Dublin have good & reliable transport.Duncan probably lives on the dart line
Couldnt agree more. There are too many taxis around. They clog up alot around that College Green and Dame St area. The majority drive aggressively and pose dangers to cyclists and pedestrians. A seperate driving test is needed for these clowns.
@harry hoolio: yeah with dopes like you askin the driver to get you there as quick as he can.knobend.
All very quick to slag off self employed people why don’t you all try and become self employed…and hope you can earn a living….
@Derek Moean: Because we don’t want to. Or because we are employable.
So if somebody want to get to the westbury hotel from O’Connell st how are taxis supposed to get them there. He is just an RTE clown who is so all of touch. The reason dame st and George’s st is always so busy with taxis is because people want to go there.
Maybe the good councillors should ban U-turns in the councils office.
More and more I get the impression they haven’t a notion where they are going with traffic management in the City. Hearing the word strategy in the same sentence as DCC makes me laugh. Making it up as they go, will never be finished revisiting it and you know it’s going to be rubbish. Could Eoin Keegan not just get on his bike and do one.
Compulsory purchase order of Andrews lane car park and turn it into a massive taxi rank feeding Dame st area
First of all,Duncan stewart DOES have an issue with Taxis.All their ranks have been taken away.Drivers are struggling very badly to earn a decent living.Without them the Gardai would be up their tonsils with rows and violence.They get people home safe.Leave the Taxis alone and Duncan They ARE a vital form of transport in Dublin.go and hug a few trees Duncan.
Only allow hybrid taxi vehicles drive there.
I wouldn’t worry about it too much – the way the taxi industry has been regulated to death, the redundant but compulsory entrance test ( which no one can pass!) and outrageous insurance costs mean fewer and fewer are entering the taxi industry. So in another couple of years taxis will be as rare as hens teeth ergo problem solved.
@francie brady: Will be replaced by driverless cabs in the near future anyways…safety for all!
College Green along with the Liffey cycle routes are a disaster of too many multiple options and vested interests, someone in the council needs to take leadership and make a positive decision..
Otherwise you’ll have the taxi drivers who want to drive and stop anywhere they like, the car park owners wanting full private car access… Instead of what it should be, that people on the Luas and Bus and cyclists just want to get around quickly, safely and efficiently…. which won’t happen with que’s of taxi cars..
If we want to reclaim our core city centre back from the motor car then Bus, Luas, pedestrian and cycle traffic must be number 1,2,3 and 4 in priority and nothing less!
Compulsory purchase order of Andrews lane publ
@Johnny O’Connor: For a good oul government sponsored booze up, yay!
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