Waterford's heavy city traffic proving a nightmare for bus drivers
“The traffic lately is just crazy lately, and it seems to be getting worse year on year” - local bus driver Darren Ryan.
Heavy traffic in Waterford city is of serious concern for local bus drivers, who say that the situation is only worsening.
In recent weeks, there has been ongoing discussion about the dire traffic backlogs in the city.
Amidst the chaos, local buses have been experiencing serious delays, much to the frustration of both passengers and drivers alike.
Local driver Darren Ryan operates the 354 service, which travels from Carrick-on-Suir to Dunmore East via Waterford city.
His route traverses much of the city’s choke points; the Dunmore Road, Lombard Street, Parnell Street and the dreaded quays.
“The traffic lately is just crazy, and it seems to be getting worse year on year,” the Ballygunner native said.
Entering or exiting the city at peak times, you'll find that there's no road that isn't suffering from heavy traffic. Certain areas are affected more than others, however.
The Dunmore Road is notorious for traffic delays, and a large number of cars travel and park on the road during school runs to De La Salle College, Newtown, Waterpark and St. Declan’s.
Darren said that the construction of a secondary school in the Waterford East electoral area would improve the traffic situation there.
Further west, towards Ballygunner, there has been a positive increase in the number of houses being built. However, road infrastructure hasn’t caught up to the swift development of the area.
“We have so many new houses out here and the area has grown exponentially, which is fantastic, but there’s no infrastructural improvements for traffic out here at all," Darren said.
Parnell Street is of particular frustration for drivers, he added.
“Parnell Street is the bane of every bus driver's life. We could have five or six buses at any given time, bumper to bumper there."
He said a bus lane on the street is badly needed.
“Our city doesn’t lend itself to having bus lanes, but in the places where it is possible, they should be there."
He added that the long delays have eroded people’s faith in public transport.
"It's a catch-22, because if you go to get a bus, you’re waiting for a long time because it's caught in traffic. So the passenger's confidence in the service is gone and they just go back to using cars."
Darren said intelligent traffic lights, which adapt light cycles based on real-time traffic, could help alleviate the issue, as could priority signals for buses.
He also cited the lack of bus shelters across the county, in areas like Kilmeaden, Portlaw and Dunmore East.
“Small things like that would make a significant difference.
“It’s a multifaceted issue, but if we get the small things right, slowly but surely you’ll get people to change."
