THE NATIONAL TRANSPORT Authority (NTA) has claimed that changes to traffic flows in Dublin city have made bus transport 45% quicker on the quays.

The NTA said it has been comparing bus journeys in the first full week of September this year with the same period last year and said there have been “substantial reductions” in bus journey times along the north and south quays.

Journey times between Ormond Quay and D’Olier Street decreased by 37% between 8am and 9am and 45% between 9am and 10am.

On the south quays, the NTA said times between Aston Quay and Essex Quay decreased by 38% between 5pm and 6pm and by 30% between 6pm and 7pm.

Earlier this year, a new road layout was introduced on what is considered a traffic blackspot with additional bus lanes and general traffic reduced to one lane.

There had been opposition from local business groups who have claimed the restrictions will put people off driving into the city.

Last year, Keith Gavin of the Irish Parking Association said retailers are already in a difficult trading environment.

He said “Further measures which restrict customers’ access to these retailers will only serve to exacerbate the problem and may result in other developments not proceeding.”

NTA CEO Anne Graham said tens of thousands of bus passengers each day have benefitted from these journey time improvements allowing their journeys to become faster and more reliable.

She said: “I very much welcome the confirmation of the benefits that the recent changes have brought. It is the case that some businesses expressed concerns over the bus prioritisation measures for the quays, but we were always confident that not only would they deliver faster journey times for passengers, but that they would also free up scarce road space and make provision for even more buses along these stretches.

“This means that these commuters will be spending less of their time on a bus, and more time on the things they would prefer to be doing.”

Dublin Bus spokesman Donal Keating added that the bus priority measures have made “an immediate and positive impact on our services using the quays and also across O’Connell Bridge and D’Olier St”.

“Some of our busiest and most frequent services are now seeing up to 30% reduction in journey time along these stretches of quays. We carry thousands of customers each hour along the quays and these traffic measures have unlocked a longstanding congested area for buses and customers alike”.

Read: Extra bus lanes for Dublin city as cars will be reduced to one lane on quays >