PRIVATE VEHICLES WILL not be allowed to drive through College Green from today following an expansion of the College Green bus gate.

The current College Green bus corridor will be in place for 24 hours, seven days per week as part of the College Green Pathfinder Project. 

Private cars were previously banned from travelling through from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday.

Dublin City Council said that local access to the Dame Street and College Green area, and to locations such as the Bank of Ireland and Foster Place, will be maintained for general traffic. However, they will be unable to exit using the bus gate.

Drivers travelling eastbound on Dame Street who previously used the College Green bus gate outside operational hours must now use alternative routes around the area.

A map of traffic management measures on College Green. Dublin City Council Dublin City Council

Taxi spaces will also be reduced in Foster Place in favour of planters and public seating, but increased at the College Green taxi rank. The disabled parking bay on Foster Place will be retained.

Emergency vehicles will still be able to access all locations on College Green.

Dublin City Council said the “concept of a bus gate is to have a section of roadway that only public transport and cyclists can use and in College Green this is the well-established location outside Trinity College.”

It said the College Green Pathfinder Project will help to alleviate public transport congestion in the city and prioritise public transport at all times.

An average of more than half a million pedestrians and two million passengers on public transport go through College Green each week, compared to just 27,000 private vehicles.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan previously said that the removal of non-public transport traffic from College Green was “really good news”.

“It is only one of a series of development that are going to be needed for us to make the switch away from unsustainable gridlock traffic system to one that works for everyone,” he said.