Luas Disruption

Notice from RPA:

LUAS GREEN LINE - LATE STARTS AT SANDYFORD STILLORGAN AND KILMACUD LUAS STOPS Sandyford, Stillorgan and Kilmacud Luas stops will be temporarily closed until 8.00am this coming weekend Saturday 31 January from 6.30am to 8.00am & Sunday 1 February from 7.00am to 8.00am. Alternative bus transport will be provided between Sandyford, Stillorgan, Kilmacud and Balally stops; running approximately every 20 minutes. No other stops on the Luas Green Line will be closed; Luas will operate between St. Stephen's Green and Balally at close to normal frequency. Full service including Sandyford, Stillorgan and Kilmacud stops will resume at 8.00am. These closures are to facilitate the construction of the Luas Green Line Cherrywood Extension. Thank you for your co-operation. For further information see www.luas.ie or Freephone 1800 300 604

Sandyford Road: End is Nigh (We hope)

Don't shoot the messenger! Just passing on the text of the latest council leaflet on the Sandyford Road nightmare.


Timetable to completion:

Following discussions with the contractor, the following timetable represents our best estimate of when outstanding works will be undertaken.

Start Monday 26th January, (weather permitting) Balally Hill to Clonard Estate

Sandyford Road will revert to one-way traffic between Clonard Road junction and Balally Hill junction for a period of approximately one month. This is to allow the contractor to install the final section of the surface water drainage. Sandyford Road will re-open to two-way traffic following the completion of these works.

Works taking place along this section of roadway include:

>> Exploration trenches to determine the best line for the new surface water drainage pipework
>> Installation of surface water drainage pipeline and associated manholes
>> Installation of road crossings for Eircom, traffic signals and new watermain
>> Removal of existing surfacing between Parkvale Estate and Clonard Estate
>> Re-Surfacing of the roadway between Parkvale Estate and Clonard Estate

Start Monday 26th January, (weather permitting) Clonard Estate to Blackthorn Drive junction
Simultaneously the contractor will install new footpaths and kerbing works between the junction of Clonard Estate and the junction of Blackthorn Drive. Work will also continue on the surfacing of the slip lane and the construction of the traffic islands at Blackthorn Drive junction.

Two-way traffic will be maintained at Blackthorn Drive junction during the construction works.

Obama Day

There's only one story today. Little can be said about Obama's election and inauguration that hasn't or won't be said. If anything is more historic than the end of one of the most extraordinary political campaigns in history, it's the depth of the crisis into which Obama walks. The expectations created, and the hope he engenders have never been more needed.

Lincoln may be the giant on whose shoulders Obama stands, but Roosevelt is the president who governed through the Great Depression and the Second World War. Not even he, however, had to face two such challenges at the same time. Obama's quest for unity has begun. Never was it more needed than now. There is no one with a heart or a brain who could do other than to wish him well today.

Capital Crime: Dublin Bus Cutbacks

The news that Dublin Bus is to cut jobs, services, and the number of buses it runs is staggering in the context of any serious attempt at a coherent public transport policy.

The company itself is badly caught between a commercial mandate and a public service remit that even in good times is hard to reconcile. This week's news that there are to be substantial cutbacks, and what what Dublin Bus terms "adjustments" to services shows the company exercising that commercial imperative.

The attitude of the Government parties to this is also interesting. Needless to say, it's nothing to do with Fianna Fail. The Minister for Transport says it's a matter entirely for the company. They've been given their budget, and they have to live with it. The Greens want radical reform of Dublin Bus. So it mustn't be anything to do with them either. The Programme for Government calls for "Reforming bus licensing to facilitate the optimum provision of services by providing a level playing field for all market participants." But that doesn't form any part of the reform that Ciaran Cuffe lays out. He even has a swipe at the local authorities for not providing enough bus priority measures. To be clear about this, millions have being spent and are being spent on bus lanes. Now there are fewer buses to run on them. Bus lanes are unpopular with residents, and unpopular with motorists. In Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, the most useful thing on put on them are "Bus Lane not in Use" signs, which while delivering an extra lane of traffic (courtesy of the DTO), also goes some way to protect the integrity of those bus lanes that actually have a decent service. If the QBC programme and bus priority measures are to be advanced, it must be with the promise of more and better services, not fewer and worse.

To turn to the opposition parties, Fine Gael, sees this as an opportunity for the workers who are losing their jobs. Pascal Donohoe advises that if the government opened the market to private operators, then alternative employment prospects would be make available. I'm sure the Dublin Bus workers would receive Pascal very well at their branch meeting and would see the worth in what he offers -- and he might continue to persuade the Aer Lingus unions that working for Ryanair is also an opportunity. But at least the Fine Gael option has some coherence to it. It at least offers a way of providing a transport service.

Speaking of Ryanair, it is Labour's Tommy Broughan who is calling for the discount airline policy to be applied to Dublin Bus -- cut fares to increase passengers. Labour also points out that we have one of the lowest subsidies for public transport in Europe, and that it is the poorest who are most likely to be hit by these measures, which is all true.

Between Labour (properly subsidised Dublin Bus) and Fine Gael (regulated private provision) two opposing visions of how public transport should be provided are laid out. That's fine -- but the debate should have been had and action taken a decade ago.

The depth of this debacle does not seem to be appreciated by anyone. We do not have a public transport policy for the capital city any more. The Programme for Government is laden down with big-ticket projects -- Luas extensions and metro -- but the simplest workaday solution for most commuters for the next few years remains the humble bus, and at a time when we should surely be at least maintaining standards in public transport, we're now about to reduce them. It is also certain that many of those big-ticket projects will also be cut.

It is worth reminding the parties in government that this is not just a public transport issue. Government policy on development in the metropolitan area is also predicated on higher densities along public transport corridors. We are now destined to repeat the mistakes of the past where an ad hoc approach is taken to public transport provision and development is not properly integrated with infrastructure. You may well laugh (hollowly, I hope) at the mention of "development", but this pause in economic actitivity will sooner or later come to an end. Now is not the time for myopic vision, but for a more strategic vision of how the capital city will be best able to develop sustainably and take advantage of the (increasingly distant) economic upturn.

Speed Limit Review

One issue that usually raises an argument is speed limits. So, whether your bothered by the 100 kph limit on the M50, or think that some roads should be 60 kph, and not 50, roads engineers will be available to meet the public about this issue during the week:

"Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has invited the community to a series of informational meetings next week as part of the Council’s review of speed limits within the County. The information days are open to all, and Engineering Staff of the Traffic Section will be available at both meetings to answer any questions on the proposals.

The meetings will take place in County Hall, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire, 4 - 8pm on Tuesday 20th January 2009, followed by a second meeting in Dundrum Council Offices in Dundrum Office Park, Main Street, Dundrum, 4-8pm on Thursday 22nd January 2009. The proposed speed limit bye-laws include a range of measures which will improve safety for all road users, particularly those most vulnerable, and should help reduce the impact traffic has on the environment. A number of areas will be included in a pilot 30kph scheme, and other changes have been made in an effort to better match the maximum speed allowed to local road conditions. All changes will
comply with the current national speed limit structure.

Members of the public are welcome to submit observations on the scheme no later than 16.00 on Friday 30th January 2009. If anybody has particular accessibility needs or requires the information in different formats, please contact the Traffic
Section in advance on Tel. 01 2054375."

Who Pays the Price in Penneys

The Manchester sweatshops exposed by the BBC as making clothes for Primark (alias Penneys) may not be as dark or satanic as those of the nineteenth century, but it raises again questions of ethical consumerism - and highlights the importance of labels.This is not the first time Penneys has been collared for using sweatshop labour. Last year it was in Asia, this time it's in Britain. The company has made commitments and has a charter of ethical business practices.

Accordingly, it has apologised and acknowledged its duties in this regard. So: bad old corporate caught again? Perhaps. Good old-fashioned journalism afflicting the comfortable? Maybe. But the question that needs to be asked is about the one third of the output of the sweatshop that does not go to Penneys. What label or traceability is there on those garments? Where did they go?

Someone somewhere, or more accurately, very many people are obviously walking around in clothes that were produced in these conditions and worse. So while Primark is the villain of this piece, and its brands have been called to account before on this issue, the company has been forced to raise standards, to fire contractors with unacceptable labour practices, and to adopt new policies. Clearly there is still some laxity in the company, as they say they audit their sub-contractors, but it's fair to guess that Primark will be more careful in future.

But not so for very many other outlets who will sell such goods without being called to account because the goods don't carry an identifiable brand or logo. While Primark might pay a price as consumers refuse to shop there, the small "independent" shop might be selling the same goods without the accountability.

"Ethical" consumers can be just as lazy as any other shopper. Big-shops-bad-small-shops-good can be just as reckless as buying without any thought at all. In truth consumers have very imperfect knowledge of what they're buying, but if it looks too good to be true, the truth is most likely far from good.