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[Thread] This is factually incorrect research. 4,700 trees will not be felled. I have spent over 7 months researching the @BusConnects Core Bus Corridors and I've written 10,000s of words for @dublincycling. This research suffers from a clear fatal flaw in the methodology
The methodology is completely flawed. They drew a 20m wide corridor along each route on satellite photos and attempted to count the number of affected trees. This is completely ignores the actual published maps from #BusConnects. 
At first this methodology seems reasonable. The optimum cross-section for the Core Bus Corridors is just a car lane, bus lane, cycle track and footpath in each direction (image 1). However, sometimes there is a median or grass verges (image 2).
For example, the research identifies that 713 trees will be removed. The NTA estimate 100. Image 1 is an extract of where they have identified trees will be removed. Effectively the whole route. This road is the Malahide Road, which has a large median, which is staying.
Another example is in Blackrock the research says that 289 trees will be impacted. The NTA estimates 25. The impact is mostly on the Blackrock bypass. There is no road widening here. They are just painting one of the existing lanes as a bus lane.
The UCD research also applies the 20m count to areas where there will be no road widening. For example on Kimmage Road Lower (CBC11). There's no road widening only because they are adding a bus gate. That way local traffic and buses share space. So more inaccuracies.
The research is clearly inaccurate and should not be trusted. It is either lazy research or attention grabbing. Either way it does nothing to further a useful conversation around #BusConnects. @ucddublin should be ashamed of such half-assed 'research'.
There will be trees, including mature trees, affected by the current BusConnects Core Bus Corridor proposals. But as we've seen, for example in Inchicore, residents will sacrifice some convenience by car to save beautiful mature trees: irishtimes.com/news/ireland/i…
We can reduce the number of trees that will be affected if we set out our priorities. Do we want to maintain space for private cars at the expense of trees? If not could we make more roads one-way to save trees? That will save trees.
To sum up we should #KeepTreesLimitCars. That way we can build a more liveable city that is easy for everyone to move around using sustainable modes. It's how we improve liveability, quality or life and tackle climate change.
