Dublin City Council will implement traffic management measures and on-street enhancements from Monday, 29th May.

The corridor currently operates from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday. The new bus corridor will prohibit private vehicles 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Each week over half a million pedestrians and 2 million passengers on public transport go through the College Green bus gate. This compares with just 27,000 private vehicles.

However, this small number of private vehicles causes significant delays to public transport journey times in the area, particularly in the evenings and at weekends when there are no restrictions, the Council said.

These new traffic management measures will reallocate the road space exclusively to sustainable modes of transport, which account for 97% of current journeys through College Green.

Taxis spaces will be reduced in Foster Place and increased instead at the main College Green taxi rank,

The Council said there will also be increased interim footpath space (or buildouts) on Dame Street at Foster Place. The median opposite Church Lane will be increased, removing the right turn from Church Lane to College Green. This median area will also be provided with interim public seating and planters.

Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy said the new measures will create a more relaxing and inviting environment to enjoy the city centre.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said the measures marked “the first steps in delivering a long-awaited and innovative reimagining of the city core. This is the way all of the best cities in the world are moving – making more space for people, for active travel and for public transport and relieving our city centres of choking traffic.”