Quality Bus Corridor

Quality Bus Corridors (QBC) are an initiative to give dedicated road space and traffic signal priority to buses in Dublin in order to reduce journey times and improve service consistency. The aim of the initiative is to encourage people to change from cars to buses and thus reduce traffic congestion. The strategy requires close co-ordination between the local authorities, who are responsible for the road changes required, and Dublin Bus who operate the vast majority of bus services. This co-ordination is managed by the Dublin Transportation Office.

There are currently 12 QBCs in Dublin. A 2004 survey by the Dublin Transportation Office found that bus average journey times in the morning peak were less than the corresponding car average journey times in 9 out of the 12 QBCs monitored.

According to the Dublin Transportation Office, the number of cars entering Dublin's inner city at the canal cordon points reduced by 7849 (21.43%) from November 1997 to November 2004. Conversely the number of bus passengers entering the inner city increased by 15016 (49.17%) during the same period. However between 2003 and 2004 there was a reduction in bus passengers entering the inner city of 7.10%. In part this may be attributable to the introduction of the Luas system, but an increase in car traffic of 5.74% was also noted.