Quality Bus Corridor
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Quality Bus Corridors (QBC, ga, Mórlána Bus) are an initiative to give dedicated road space and traffic signal priority to buses in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
in order to reduce journey times and improve service consistency. The aim of the initiative is to encourage people to change from cars to buses and thus reduce traffic congestion. The strategy requires co-ordination between the local authorities, who are responsible for the road changes required, and
Dublin Bus Dublin Bus ( ga, Bus Átha Cliath) is a State-owned bus operator providing services in Dublin. By far the largest bus operator in the city, it carried 138 million passengers in 2019. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann. ...
who operate the vast majority of bus services. This co-ordination is managed by the National Transport Authority.


History and development

The idea for the creation of QBCs first arose in 1993 when
Dublin Bus Dublin Bus ( ga, Bus Átha Cliath) is a State-owned bus operator providing services in Dublin. By far the largest bus operator in the city, it carried 138 million passengers in 2019. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann. ...
launched its "CitySwift" service on route 39 to Clonsilla along the Navan Road. This became part of the eventual Blanchardstown QBC some years later. Sixteen QBCs were subsequently opened in Dublin. A 2007 survey by the former Dublin Transportation Office found that bus average journey times in the morning peak were less than the corresponding car average journey times in twelve out of the sixteen QBCs monitored, with it being twice as fast in some cases. The sixteen Quality Bus Corridors include: * Ballymun QBC * Blanchardstown QBC * Bray QBC * Clontarf QBC * Crumlin Road QBC * Finglas QBC * Howth Road QBC *
Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...
QBC * Malahide QBC * North Clondalkin QBC *
Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council a ...
QBC * Rock Road QBC * South Clondalkin QBC *
Stillorgan Stillorgan (, also ''Stigh Lorcáin'' and previously ''Tigh Lorcáin'' or ''Teach Lorcáin''), formerly a village in its own right, is now a suburban area of Dublin in Ireland. Stillorgan is located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and contains ma ...
QBC *
Swords A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon. Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to: Places * Swords, Dublin, a large suburban town in the Irish capital * Swords, Georgia, a community in the United States * Sword Beach, code name for ...
QBC *
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QBC


Effectiveness

According to the Dublin Transportation Office (now part of the National Transport Authority), the number of cars entering Dublin's inner city at the canal cordon points reduced by 7849 (21.43%) from November 1997 to November 2004. Conversely the number of bus passengers entering the inner city increased by 15016 (49.17%) during the same period. However between 2003 and 2004 there was a reduction in bus passengers entering the inner city of 7.10%. In part this was attributed to the introduction of the Luas system, but an increase in car traffic of 5.74% was also noted. The effectiveness of the QBCs are compromised at various pinch points along the routes. In particular, the routing of the majority of buses on the Lucan routes through Lucan and Chapelizod villages at peak mean that time savings can be frittered away on narrow congested streets filled with school traffic.


Proposed changes

In November 2012, three QBCs (
Swords A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon. Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to: Places * Swords, Dublin, a large suburban town in the Irish capital * Swords, Georgia, a community in the United States * Sword Beach, code name for ...
, Blanchardstown and
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) were designated for a potential upgrade to
bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
status under the name "Swiftway". Public consultation on this matter was carried out during February and March 2014. However, this project didn't not progress past this stage. Instead of providing a bus rapid transit service on just 3 QBCs, it was decided that all 16 QBCs would be upgrades to CBCs or Core Bus Corridors and all 16 would be given bus priority for their entire length through bus lanes, bus gates and other priority measure. On 29 May 2017, a new "
BusConnects BusConnects is a transport infrastructure program, managed by the National Transport Authority (NTA), focused on the bus networks in several cities in Ireland. Described by the NTA as intended to "improve bus services across the country", as of m ...
" plan was launched, with €1 billion proposed to be spent over a ten-year period. The project proposed the implementation of "next generation bus corridors" with "high quality
cycling infrastructure Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except whe ...
", a redesign of the bus route network and a cashless ticketing system. According to a press release issued by the Department of Transport in March 2022, it was noted that that, while a "final budget and delivery schedule for BusConnects Dublin" had not been established, the proposed budget was then projected to be €4 billion and work speculated to "be substantially complete by 2030".


References


External links


Dublin BusNational Transport Authority (NTA)
{{Dublin transport Transport in County Dublin Bus transport in the Republic of Ireland