An Irish Planning Students Blog

A new report presented to Dublin City Council says that retail activity in the city centre has been in decline since April 2008.

The report was prepared as the local authority decided to review its ‘Bus Gate’ traffic management system, which has had a dramatic adverse impact on retail trade in the city centre — particularly late-night shopping.

On the north side, footfall declined by 14 per cent in September compared with September last year. In reality, the fall-off on the north side may be worse, because the analysis includes O’Connell Street which is also a transport hub, so footfall figures may include people who are not shoppers.

On the south side, the decline is even sharper, at 19 per cent for the same period.

Thursday night shopping was seriously hit by the Bus Gate system, which banned cars from College Green during the morning and evening rush hours.

In September this year, footfall on Thursday nights in the Grafton Street area was down 36 per cent compared with September 2008.

Dublin city councillors have now voted to lift the ban on private cars passing through the area from November 18 to January 15.

Environment Minister and Green Party leader John Gormleydescribed the decision to temporarily scale back the Bus Gate as “a retrograde step”.

Meanwhile, luxury retailer Brown Thomas has moved to streamline management and administration costs as exceptionally tough conditions continue in the retail sector.

Under the plan, human resources, information technology and the finance departments of Brown Thomas in Ireland andSelfridges & Co in the UK will be merged.

The Sunday Independent understands there are no plans for cuts to the “front of house” workforce.

The move to amalgamate back-office services follows the decision by Canadian billionaireGalen Weston to reinstall BT’s deputy chairman Paul Kelly to head up the Irish operation.

Former managing director Nigel Blow left the company in September.

In a statement to the Sunday Independent, Brown Thomas said: “Following the recent appointment of Paul Kelly, chief executive of Selfridges & Co, as deputy chairman of BrownThomas Group, a review of internal administrative structures has been initiated.

“The HR, finance and IT functions for both companies will now be merged to ensure the most efficient alignment of their resources and to take full advantage of the economic recovery when it comes,” the company added.

- JEROME REILLY

Sunday Independent

MARY MINIHAN

MINISTER FOR the Environment and Green Party leader John Gormley has described the decision to temporarily scale back the College Green “bus gate” as “a retrograde step”.

Dublin city councillors voted on Monday night to lift the ban on private cars passing through the area during peak evening hours from November 18th to January 15th.

“I think the decision to abandon the ‘bus gate’ for the time being in the evenings is really based on fear not facts,” Mr Gormley said.

“I respect councils and local government and want to see more decisions made locally, but as a Dublin TD and resident, the decision Fine Gael and Labour councillors made was a bad one . . . It’s a retrograde step.”

Mr Gormley said the bus corridor was making life easier for people who used buses or bicycles, but the move by the council “steals time from them”.

He said that the last thing that should happen in a recession was for the city to be made less accessible.

“When I hear that car parks are not doing as much business as previously, I have to say that to me that sounds like good news.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said he was “disappointed” at the decision.

“But, importantly, he would welcome the fact that a fixed date has been set for its reintroduction,” said the spokesman.

Labour councillor Dermot Lacey stressed the scaling back was temporary.

“There are 43 agencies or bodies with responsibility for traffic in Dublin.

“When Ministers Dempsey and Gormley sort that out, maybe they can come back to us,” Mr Lacey said.

Representatives from Dublin City Council and Dublin Chamber of Commerce will appear before the Oireachtas transport committee today to discuss the issue.

Source: IrishTimes

BUS journey times through Dublin city centre have fallen by half since the controversial bus gGate started operating last July.

City traders claim the ban on cars using College Green in the morning and evening peak is killing business.

But up to 90 million Dublin Bus passengers a year will experience a marked reduction in their commuting times if the system is allowed remain in place.

New figures from Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann show journey times on all routes through the city centre have fallen since the bus gate opened.

Before the bus gate it took an average of 20 minutes to travel from O’Connell Street to Nassau Street, with journey times of 35 minutes not uncommon. Now, it takes just 11 minutes — or 18 minutes in very heavy traffic.

Dublin Bus also said that in September 2008, journeys through O’Connell Street, College Green and Dame Street in the morning peak took between three and 18 minutes to complete, with the average time almost 10 minutes.

With the College Green Quality Bus Corridor — or bus gate — in place, journeys are now taking between two and ten minutes, with an average of five minutes.

“We have ten routes which all show the same thing,” a Dublin Bus spokesman said. “For bus passengers, it’s all about knowing the journey times. It’s an extremely important priority for us. The bus gate is not a high capital project, but it has had a major impact.

“It’s of huge strategic benefit. It has calmed the whole city centre and taken out the congestion that affects all road users. We carry 140 million passengers a year, and up to 90 million would be affected by this, and 40pc of all buses travel along that route.”

Bus Eireann also said it had seen a number of benefits for commuters including reduced journey times, more consistent operating times and improved reliability of the services in terms of arrival and departure times.

“Feedback from customers on these services has been very positive about these benefits, which carry a large number of commuters in and out of the city every day to key population centres such as Ashbourne, Kells, Navan, Trim, Mullingar and Drogheda,” a spokesman for Dublin Bus said.

Improvements

“In general, there have been improvements in running times of peak-time services of between five and 10 minutes on each departure, which has been greatly welcomed by customers,” he added.

Cars are banned from using College Green from 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday.

Retailers have threatened to take a High Court case against the ban, claiming it is responsible for a loss of trade.

Brown Thomas and Brown Thomas car park, Louis Copeland, Weirs, Q Park, Park Rite and Trinity Street car park have all threatened legal action, while the Dublin City Business Association claims that business is down 30pc because of the ban.

It wants the ban lifted until next year, when a new bridge opens across the River Liffey which will be able to accommodate car traffic.

- Paul Melia

Irish Independent