The idea is you pay 5 euro and you get a digital copy of the map which you can print and do what you like with! And in return I will provide you with 1 year of free updates to the map, by reissuing the updated map to you any time fare information or routes change throughout the 1 year period from when you first purchase!

Hope you like it, and will buy some copies to help fund the still continuing complete Dublin Transport Map, showing all the routes!

Keep in touch

That’s it for today! Don’t forget you can get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052 and your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

Related posts:

1. [UPDATE] Dublin Transport Map v1.5
2. Dublin Rapid Transit Map – Feedback please!
3. Leapcard has still got some living up to do!

This tweet below is from @PPS_Placemaking retweeted by @doccer

“We did not build this park because we were wealthy, we became wealthy because we built parks like this.” @CLMarohn youtu.be/6XRjatW_N9M

— PPS (@PPS_Placemaking) February 22, 2012

I believe Dublin is making some form of an effort, to at least make a plan to better utilise our public spaces within the city, so long as they actually follow through on a thorough implementation of the public realm strategy. Unfortunately more often than not many of the more recent housing developments in suburban areas have been lackluster in that many housing estates, just have flat piece of green with some shoddy planting (maybe even none at all). The kind of crap below, what is the function of that space other than, we didn’t build any houses on it? One plus is it doesn’t have a fence around it.

Right I shall shut up now, enjoy the video below it’s well worth the 15 mins.

If you liked that their are plenty more interesting topics discussed over at Strong Towns Blog, do check it out.

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

Related posts:

1. Movie Thursday – Networked Society and Fancy buying a village, FR?
2. [Movie Thursday] Brendan Finn on BRT

City Parks

Following on from the Public Realm Strategy submission by the greens, a friend of mine sent me on a link to a wonderful artcile by National Geographic on the public parks that adorn the streets of Paris:

Urban Downtime
The City of Light is also a city of green, with a panoply of parks and gardens where Parisians rest and rejuvenate.

Wind Farms

The Guardian DATA Blog has again outdone itself by producing a map of all the windfarms located within the UK. I plan on taking their data and Irish Windfarms to the map, if anyone wants to help out that would be fantastic, just let me know via twitter or email.

Copenhagen

Copenhagenize this weeks carriers an interesting discussion on the new congestion ring being proposed to reduce the volumes of traffic in central copenhagen

Human Transit has arrived!

Finally, amazon got off there backside and shipped my copy of Jarrett Walker’s new book, Human Transit. Initial impressions are its fantastic, certainly a comprehensive pocket guide for those interested in transport planning and how anyone can get involved in the debate and brush away the technical mumbo jumbo. I shall be writing a review of it in the coming weeks with any luck so, stay tuned!

Some Charity – Love Dublin Festival

A friend of mine asked me to put on note up regarding St Vincent De Pauls upcoming event Love Dublin Festival – Checkout the Facebook event for more info by clicking the image below.

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

Related posts:

1. What’s the story like? 1/2012
2. Links i liked 25/02/2012
3. Links I liked 30/01/2012

Ok this post is all about blowing off some steam about some of the flaws in the current implementation of the leap card system. Let’s put this way, i’m not entirely sure what’s the point in it being “live” when these issues are present, as I consider them pretty much fundamental to the the usability of the system. So instead of just venting on this here blog I decided I would pop off a nice construcive email to the folks at leapcard.ie HQ.

Below is the email I sent this morning with added pictures for blogging posterity cus who likes to read just a bunch of text!

Leap Card Feedback

My name is Colin Broderick and I’ve recently purchased a leap card and have been mostly satisfied with its ease of use on Dublin Bus and Luas services. However there are a number of issues which detract considerably from what can be a fantastic product and are as follows.

Your website (leapcard.ie) is not user friendly in that it’s navigation structure is very difficult to navigate, this is especially evident when you login to the “My account area”.

When one is logged in it is not immediately apparent what services are available. The only difference that is apparent upon staring at the screen for a number of minutes is two extra items on the left navigation bar. Clicking the manage my profile link on the right, brings you to a page where the main body has information which is irrelevant for the main purpose of being logged in, such as what is a Leapcard, newsletter signup and info on getting your Irish rail /Luas card as a leap.

This is the screen you are presented with after login. Useless.

It is not immediately apparent where one can view their Leapcard balance, this is hidden in a sub menu only available when you click manage my profile, which frankly does not link to any sort of profile management either. Another issue is that when signed in and one returns to the root page/main page (leapcard.ie) the extra navigation options are not present in the left nav bar.

This is the page you get when you click "Manage my Profile" after login

This can be simply remedied through the sign in redirecting to the accounts page such as a user/account dashboard showing total money spent through leap or monthly money spent alongside a current balance and possibly a list of last three journeys. Navigation links for the actions available during login should be moved to the right hand navigation, where the login box was.

I like the majority (some 68%) of the population in Dublin use the Dublin Bus service for my public transport needs, I live in north county Dublin near the airport and as such do not live nor work near a Luas stop or Irish rail station. As such I cannot check the balance of my leap card without registering online, where I believe the details in which must be provided are onerous (i.e. having to provide a date of birth and full address). And if one does not have a credit card or laser card you cannot complete a registration as bank details must be provided. I do not understand why there is no facility to simply query the balance of a card online?

Top Up online is not topping up online as far as I can make out. Similar to the last point, what’s the point of providing this facility when I still have to visit a Payzone outlet or a Luas or Irish rail station in order to “activate” my top up. You already have the money, it just defeats the purpose of online top up. Surely the balance can be disseminated throughout the card reader system, including those on the buses.

As regards, buying a Leapcard, I had no issues as I ordered it online and it arrived two days later with a nice information leaflet on how to use the card. However another family member of mine purchased their card at a Payzone location in the Dublin 9 area and only received a card with no information leaflet. Is a customer meant to only receive a card or are they to receive a card and information leaflet exactly like those ordered from leapcard.ie?

One final issue I have is as regards the woolly statements provided as regards future functionality specifically travel rebates, the wording only suggests that changing between modes will be rebated, such as changing from bus to Luas or Luas to Dart, etc. There is no mention of rebates for multiple journeys on bus, such as getting a bus to town from the south-side like the 14 and then changing to an airport bus like the 41. I assume since the system appears to be modelled on that of London’s Oyster card, will there be a flat rate Bus charge introduced instead of multiple fares with a rebate after like 5 journeys?

While I understand the leap card is in its infancy and there will be teething problems and issues to iron out, however I cannot understand how the product was released across the city without these services being fully functioning.

To end on a positive note I really like the leap card and really hats off to you for finally getting some semblance of a combined transport card out into the open for Dublin. I hope this can seen as constructive feedback.

Kind Regards
Colin Broderick

If you have any gripes with the leap card, I would love to hear them! Comments below.

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

Related posts:

1. [UPDATE] Dublin Transport Map v1.5
2. Dublin Bikes – Over 6000 sign up!
3. Dublin Rapid Transit Map – Feedback please!

The group took a very visual approach by producing a video instead of the norm, a powerpoint presentation, which i must say was highly polished, well thought out and professionally done. The video begins with an introduction to Utrecht followed by an overview of the question being posed; Utrecht a place for knowledge? Then revealing a complete spatial analysis and possible interventions which could be made.

Importantly the video illustrates the issue with scale and viewpoint  you use when analyzing any urban area, something which I think can be lost in Ireland through the predominate focus on major national projects as opposed to smaller, more local interventions. The video refers to

viewpoint and scale = resolution

I also believe this is very apt for Dublin given that we too are striving to be a knowledge city and looking to out compete other cities like Barcelona. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from the interventions proposed alongside how to better present how we came to these conclusions to the public.

Utrecht: a place for knowledge? from knowledgeinutrecht on Vimeo.

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

No related posts.

I would also advise you to check out all the other entries, some fantastic ideas providing food for thought in the ideas section and some great apps!

UrbanRural – Built on Heritage

Given that everyone seems to be mad into searching their family trees and establishing their personal histories, I figured why wouldn’t they be interested in their local area also. There’s a lot of built heritage out there that most people may never of known existed right in there back garden. UrbanRural aims to change that! I would be grateful if you could check out my entry and like it, spread the word, whatever!

The problem with Irish Planning is….

We don’t have enough documents like this one kindly retweeted by Dominic Byrne.

Very interesting paper on Participation in #SpatialPlanning (for both content & presentation) ow.ly/8sGDg via @rusty1052

— Dominic Byrne (@Dominic__Byrne) January 14, 2012

My Dissertation is now available online

For those of you interested in transport may want to have a read of my undergraduate dissertation which is now available online at issuu. Long story short, it looks at the barriers that one would come up against establishing orbital bus rapid transit routes in Dublin.

DT106ers is now on Google+

So plus one us!

Dublin Rail Transport – What it might be

Well the guys over at the Mental Planners have put together a nice map of what the complete NTA 2030 Vision transport strategy would look like if all the rail projects are all implemented. It’s an interesting idea. I have mashed up their map with the population growth maps of the NTA strategy and the result is below. Interesting to note that while the strategy fails in many respects it actually deals with the growth areas by proposing rail projects quite well.

Other Stuff

• My Dublin Rapid Transport map final version will be available for printing soon! So watch this space.
• The Irish Planning Institute is on twitter, Follow them @IrishPlanInst
• I’m planning on setting up some planning podcasts, if anyone is interested in being part of that, get in touch with me!
• Since their is bugger all planning work out there, we may aswell start our own businesses. That’s what the Dublin StartUp weekend is for! Build a business in 54 hours, more at – dublin.startupweekend.org

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

Related posts:

1. Links I liked 13/02/2012
2. Links i liked 25/02/2012
3. Metro North – What’s the story like?

Any who that aside it was announced that the National Transport Authority had made one of their datasets available fo public consumption. This particular dataset is that of all the transport stops in the country, and for those transport planners/traffic engineers among us will know theses are the same nodes used in the Greater Dublin Area Saturn Model for travel and transport. [Update] As per Peter’s comment below: “The transit access nodes used in the NTA Saturn Model are not the bus stops in NaPTAN, but rather access to public transport is generalised to road junction nodes.”

So basically to break it down the data is a rather large xml file which contains all the points (the individual stops and stop areas) and a .mbd file containing what i presume is service information. Unfortunately I can’t open that one as I don’t have microsoft access on the mac. So if someone can open it I would love to hear what is in the file.

Right long long story short I parsed the xml file into a csv file and uploaded it to the great fusion tables and below is the result. There are a few problems with the data in that if you zoom out you will see stops are mapped all over the world! This I reckon is a result of a portion of the co-ordinates not being projected in WSG84 as they are probably in Irish Grid form.

NTA NaPTAN Data Mapped

Just for a small bit of brevity if you’re wondering what the hell a Stop Type of BCT means check out this handy reference from the Department for Transport, UK.

NaPTAN Stop Types

Source: http://www.dft.gov.uk/naptan/stopTypes.htm

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Do you like what you have just read? Maybe you are interested in being a guest writer too. Email me at colinb@dt106ers.com

Related posts:

1. Open Data – Ever wondered where all the applications are?
2. Census 2011 by the county and Fusion Tables, mapping the data.
3. News Roundup – Technology, Technology and DATA

THE LABOUR Party has called for the retention of some €8 million in funding for the rural transport programme, which is “critical” for tens of thousands of people living in the countryside.

Labour’s transport spokesman Tommy Broughan yesterday published a plan outlining how the service could be maintained and protected. The six-point plan, Giving Rural Ireland a Lift, proposes the maintenance of the programme and new initiatives to prioritise the service and to allow local public transport providers become financially independent.

“Rural public transport services have been underfunded and neglected for years and the transport needs of rural Ireland have too often been ignored,” said Mr Broughan.

He said providing transport for people who lived outside larger towns was important to prevent social exclusion and rural isolation. This was especially important for senior citizens, people with disabilities and low-income families.

He claimed there had been a “savage” series of cutbacks proposed for Bus Éireann fleets and services, plus plans to axe the rural transport programme.

Labour’s plan proposes to

Maintain the Rural Transport Programme (RTP);
Make rural transport planning a key priority of the Department of Transport and the new National Transport Authority;
Protect the national Bus Éireann rural bus network;
Prioritise the enhanced integration of rural transport services;
Review successful EU rural transport models and establish a rural public transport services target;
Consider initiatives to encourage local transport firms to be more financially independent.
“In 2008 the 36 RTP companies in every county across Ireland received just €8.3 million in funding. Transport Minister Noel Dempsey must now make sure that this relatively small funding allocation is maintained under Budget 2010,” he said.

Source: IrishTimes

Related posts:

1. Sligo may lose €100m funds over bridge row
2. CILT Transport 21 Mid-term Review
3. TD calls for independent inquiry into causes of November flooding in Cork

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

Related posts:

1. [IT] Gormley to reject remarks on incinerator
2. City footfall nosedived before Bus Gate review
3. Gormley ‘open’ to nuclear debate

THE FINAL stage of work to replace one of Iarnród Éireann’s three railway crossings of the Shannon, a bridge near Lough Tap, between Dromod and Carrick-on-Shannon in Co Leitrim, gets under way today.

Over the next 12 days the line will be closed as the new steel bridge and concrete deck is lifted into place in four sections by the largest crane ever used in Ireland.

The crane, imported from Texas, has a lift capacity of 1,350 tonnes. The work was to have taken place from October 5th to 16th, but it was delayed. The replacement of the existing bridge,which dates from 1862, is expected to allow for considerable improvement in the speed of trains across the bridge, which had slowed to about walking pace in recent years.

In addition to the work on the bridge, the approach routes and embankments have been realigned and the entire structure is being raised by one metre to allow for larger vessels on the Shannon to pass underneath.

Iarnród Éireann said bus transfers will be in operation between Sligo town and all stations to Dromod. Passengers should note that buses will depart from Sligo and Collooney 30 minutes in advance of the scheduled train times to Dublin.

Costing €5.5 million, the bridge replacement brings to €150 million the total investment in the Dublin to Sligo line since 1999.

According to Iarnród Éireann, improvements have included renewal of track, resignalling and the upgrading of level crossings, platform lengthening and safety enhancements. The Sligo-Dublin route was the first to benefit from the new intercity railcars fleet. There will be eight daily services in each direction compared to three in 2003.

Iarnród Éireann said the increase in services has resulted in the Sligo-Dublin line becoming the network’s fastest growing route, with more than 1.34 million passenger journeys in 2008 – representing a jump of more than 30 per cent in three years.

Rail services to Sligo opened on December 3rd, 1862. The town was later connected by rail to Enniskillen, by the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway in 1879, and to Limerick in 1895.

The line to Enniskillen closed in 1957 and passenger services to Limerick closed in 1963. The Sligo to Limerick route is known as the Western Rail Corridor, part of which – the Ennis, Co Clare to Athenry Co Galway section – is due to reopen later this year.

Iarnród Éireann’s other rail crossings of the Shannon are at Athlone and between Limerick and Ennis.

Source: IrishTimes Link

Related posts:

1. Waterford to Rosslare rail link axed
2. First tracks laid for initial phase of reopening of Dublin-Navan rail line
3. New bridge opens to traffic – Beckett Bridge