Joan Duffy has lived in Stoneybatter, north of the Liffey in Dublin, all her life. "Something has to be done," she says. "Manor Street as it is, is too busy. It's a nightmare during the day – too much traffic goes through it.
“They’re never going to make everyone happy at the end of the day – it’s impossible. We do need a better bus service. We do need less traffic here, and if it was only one-way it would limit probably some of the traffic.”
Under a new BusConnects plan produced by the National Transport Authority (NTA), Stoneybatter's walkers and cyclists will be better off , but motorists will face a 3km detour.
“I guess there’s a little bit of a question around whether the first plan was just almost intentionally so bad that we all had to go ‘Wow’ and accept the second proposal,” jokes Kaethe Burt-O’Dea of Bí Urban on Stoneybatter’s Manor Street.
The revisions follow vigorous local objection to the first BusConnects plan. "I definitely think things are changing in terms of organisations, including Dublin City Council, listening a little bit better," says Ms Burt-O'Dea.
Pedestrians
Stoneybatter is very well served with public transport, she says. “But for two hours a day it clogs up. I think a one-way system could be brilliant.”Allowing more room for pedestrians would “do our businesses a lot of good”, she adds.
Fiona Quigley is on a quick visit to the village. "I came whizzing down in my car – down in five minutes, park there and then whizz back up. So those days will be over," she says. Nevertheless, she backs the BusConnects plan.
Local cyclist Joseph Ormond is delighted with the new plan: "More bicycles, less vehicles – I think it's much better," he says. "I have nothing to complain about it. I think it'll really improve the situation of the neighbourhood."
Ruth Henshaw of Top to Toe salon on Aughrim Street questions the logistics of this plan. “I don’t think it’s viable for Aughrim Street to carry the main load of traffic – it’s only a small street.”
Her main concern is that “the local community would be affected because there’ll be no access for people to drive down, park the car and get their bits done in their local shops”.