Why did we need the Luas?

G

Guest116

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Is there some reason we actually needed trams and all that goes with that from laying railway lines, overhead power lines and special luas stops\platforms.

Why not just have the dedicated routes like they have and just run buses on them? And save a few billion in the process!
 
Off the top of my head, trams have:

lower operating costs than buses


cleaner than buses in terms of emissions (though of course elec production may involve emissions)


much higher capacity (though a tram is dearer than a bus)

easier to board, with multiple doors

much better image

easier to carry bikes, buggies, etc.
 
Most of the cities with successful public transit sysytemd have trams, e.g.

Zurich
Freiburg
Paris
Berlin

etc., etc.
 
What gets me is that they've spent decades paving over all the original tram lines that we had, then spent what felt like decades laying new ones
 

You can also add better frequency. Personally I think the only problem with the Luas is we don't have enough areas covered and of course that the 2 lines aren't connected
 
gianni said:
Do they allow this on the LUAS ?
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They used to... but just looked at the website and it says..
"Can I take a bicycle on board the tram? Only collapsable bicycles stored in a carrier bag may be brought on board.Otherwise no bicycles are allowed under the Bye Laws. "
[broken link removed]
 
The Luas is a great service and I have never been more than 3 minutes waiting for one from either Red Cow or Connolly. However, I have had to give up on it for the following:

Park & Ride costing me €3.80 plus €4.00 parking Fee per day. Also the petrol costs of getting my car to Red Cow.
Hardly ever getting a seat when getting on at Red Cow going into work in the mornings, one morning the Luas was actually so squashed that I had to get off half way through the journey to get fresh air because I could not breathe.

As a last resort, I decided to try the Bus Eireann bus one morning last week and was very pleasantly surprised. It is much more comfortable, cheaper and takes the stress out of the journey. Drivers are very friendly/helpful and courteous. Bus every morning now.
 
aristotle25 said:
Is there some reason we actually needed trams . .
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It gives the kids in Kingswood something to do; throwing rocks at it. People were being put off the LUAS at the Red Cow last night and had to walk up to Newlands Cross and wait for a bus up to Tallaght.
 
aristotle25 said:
Why not just have the dedicated routes like they have and just run buses on them? And save a few billion in the process!
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I agree that's what should have been done. The LUAS was an unnecessary extravagance.
MandaC said:
I decided to try the Bus Eireann bus one morning last week and was very pleasantly surprised. It is much more comfortable, cheaper and takes the stress out of the journey.
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Indeed.
 
Before the Luas, Sandyford to City Centre, approx 1.5hrs.

After Luas, Sanyford to City Centre 20 mins.

The car parks are packed, so all those cars that used to go into town, now don't.

I now take the Luas to town for meetings etc, as opposed to the car.

Millions have used it, so it seems to have been a great success.
 
Westbound said:
...
Millions have used it, so it seems to have been a great success.
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Yes, but bad value for money.
If you bought a new Merc/BMW/Lexus, people would think you had bought a nice car. If you paid €500,000 for it, it's still the same car, but very bad value for money. For me, the luas is a "€500,000 C class Merc".
 
Other cities have electrified buses with the power supplied by overhead wires but normal road tyres on the bus.

This has got to be a lot cheaper than a full light rail system. The bus probably can't be as long or have more than one bend. Imagine what would happen trying to reverse one without rails. But that's the only disadvantage I can think of. The right body kit for the electrified bus would make it look even more like a tram to keep the anti-bus snobs happy. The key thing is not the rails but the dedicated road space which allows frequent predictable service. It could be upgraded later to use rails and more dedicated road space if there was sufficient demand.

The GLUAS system should be something like that rather than spending a fortune on a full blown light rail system serving a small population.
Minor routes in Dublin could get the same treatment.
 
If the rest of the Country ran like the Luas all our problems would go away
 
diarmuidc said:
Have you done the cost benefit analysis?
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No, but it looks like that wasn't done properly either.
[broken link removed]
"Conclusion: In conclusion, the Luas has evidently gone over budget and outside theCBA ratio. This deemed the project unworthy of the investment it received and assuch a failure."
My main issue with the LUAS is how much it cost, and how badly managed the implementation appeared to be. I worked near Harcourt st. at the time. It took over 2 years to complete that relatively short stretch of track & I repeatedly witnessed the same road being dug up & filled in over & over again.
 
Good find there. I agree that the implementation was poor but even that report says "The main use of this project is that it is a valuable learning lesson for Irish planning. By 2016, vast improvements still can be made but we must consider the cost element of projects more rigorously, The Luas LRT projects still represent sound transport initiatives, this is evident from LRT abroad."

I still don't understand why there aren't penalties in the contract for overruns?
 
diarmuidc said:
I still don't understand why there aren't penalties in the contract for overruns?
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But there were no overruns. Our politicians keep on telling us the Luas was finished on time and on budget.

The original budget was under €300, I am fairly convinced it would have come in at €300, if everything was not done 3 times.
 
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