Dublin bus route 48A & 44 - Chop. Chop. Chop!

BrianD

This morning I spotted 2 inspectors at the bus stop across the road. Thinking that these creatures were extinct and knowing that it would be a while before a bus actually arrived I decided I would nip over for a chat.

The news is that 48A and 44 is losing out big time to the Luas and services are going to be drastically reduced soon. Apparently, it is losing 2.8 million (I assume that is euro) and that this government is all about money and not service and no subsidy would be paid for the loss making route.

I asked about a shorter route that would serve out as far as Ranelagh or just beyond given that this neighbourhood does not get full value out of the Luas and they said that a 44B had been tried but was unsuccessful. So bad news for those public transport users who want to get into the city centre ... you are going to have to walk from Stephens Green!

kenmc

Hmmm. not terribly surprising, but a little odd given that they've gone and built a "terminal" beside the luas station in dundrum, with bus-only access. Find it hard to believe that they'd do that if they were gonna seriously cull the service. That said I live in dundrum and almost ALWAYS take the luas in, unless I'm going somewhere obscure that the bus gets closer to, and I don't really care about the time. Even though there's both the 44(3 flavours?) and the 48A coming through dundrum, you can wait like 30 mins sometimes for a stupid bus! and then it takes ages to get in...

Long as they keep the nitelink though I don't really mind too much!
or else the luas should run till 4am. I mean it starts up at 5 in the mornings or something, so whats another hour????

antoinolachtnai

So how are you supposed to get from Eniskerry to Sandyford or Dundrum to catch the Luas? Or even from Broadford in Balinteer to Dundrum?

BrianD

The same bus routes except there will be a lot less of them. Perhaps some new shorter routes are on the horizon.

antoinolachtnai

So while they're waiting for the horizon to catch up with them, they're going to drive empty buses around the city centre on a highly infrequent basis while there are people standing around waiting in Balinteer and Enniskerry?

I know, it's not for the likes of us to ask why ...

Steve Conway

It's not as simple as that. Apart from anything else Brian, you were fobbed off with some highly misleading information from the inspectors.

There have been various ideas about what to do with the Dundrum corridor routes post LUAS. None of these ideas have been adopted yet.

Usage of the 48A is down 25% since LUAS, the 44/C is not affected to the same extent.

Possibilities mooted have included:

* Leaving 48A as is, but trimming the frequency.

* Making 48A Dundrum-Ballinteer only, on 20min frequency, leaving 44/C as is

* Leaving 48A as is, cutting 44/C to run outwards from Dundrum only.

* Axing 48A, making 44/C divert via Ballinteer in a loop, then terminating at Dundrum.

So far, all that has happened is that one bus has been cut from the 48A (though they have not yet changed the timetable to reflect this - the upshot being that some scheduled journeys must be simply not running) (previous PVR of 12, now 11.)

The Dundrum Transport Interchange (to give it it's rather grandiose title) works with any of the above, either as a better stopping arrangment for through buses, or a terminus for Dundrum-Broadford shuttles etc.

What you were told about the 44B was a pile of . . .

There is only one single journey *a week* on the 44B from the city centre, so their suggestion that it was a trial of a city to Rlgh service is a bit odd.

Some inward trips only operate to Ranalagh, but as they stop well before the LUAS station, they are no use to anyone.

The buses now operating the 44B (for the past 11 months) cannot show Dundrum or Ranalagh as final destinations, so inward trips going to these places (the majority of trips) operate with "Out of Service" on the display.

And they wonder why the number of casual punters boarding the bus as it goes inwards is plummeting!!!

BrianD

Well Steve, I don't expect them to be experts or have a management view on what will happen in the future on this route. They could have easily fobbed me off with some other story however they volunteered the info.

It's no surprise that the 48A and 44 have lost out to the Luas. There does need to be some sort of frequent service down at this end of the route as the Luas is of no real value for Ranelagh area residents.

I can't see how the 48A frequency can be trimmed - the current frequency is ridiculous and its no wonder passengers have abandoned the service.

Either combining the 48A and 44's into some sort of new service/route might be a solution. Alternatively the introduction of shorter local routes
at either end of the existing 48A route might be the solution.

I don't see the point of DB trying to compete with the Luas, the resources might be better spent providing other services elsewhere in the city.

One thing I have noticed is that the 48A outbound from the city in the early mornings seems to be popular. Perhaps people can't be bothered walking from city terminii to the green.

Anyway, it was nice seeing some inspectors- it was like seeing some rare species that you thought was extinct

antoinolachtnai

the Luas is of no real value for Ranelagh area residents.

Can you explain why you think this is the case?

BrianD

Why? If I get on in Ranelagh, I only get as far as Stephens Green with a further walk to O'Connell Bridge. If I go by bus, I get as far as Townsend St. For most Ranelagh residents the Stephens Green luas terminus is a short walk no more than 15 min from Ranelagh tram station. The bus affords greater access to both Dublin 1 & 2 business and shopping districts.

Having said that, I am only looking at as means to access the city centre as opposed to Ranelagh residents who commute to Sandyford or schools along the route.

sliabh

BrianD wrote:

Why? If I get on in Ranelagh, I only get as fas as Stephens Green with a further walk to O'Connell Bridge. If I go by bus, I get as far as Townsend St. For most Ranelagh residents the Stephens Green luas terminus is a short walk no more than 15 min from Ranelagh tram station. The bus affords greater access to both Dublin 1 & 2 business and shopping districts.

The luas also runs out of town. I recently moved from Ranelagh, but if I was still there I would be using it to go to work in Sandyford. My brother (who is still in Ranelagh) also uses it to go into town. He works at the Dame street end of Georges street.

BrianD

Sliabh, I already said that. Tell your brother he should be walking!!!

enterprise

Steve Conway wrote:

What you were told about the 44B was a pile of . . .

There is only one single journey *a week* on the 44B from the city centre, so their suggestion that it was a trial of a city to Rlgh service is a bit odd.

Some inward trips only operate to Ranalagh, but as they stop well before the LUAS station, they are no use to anyone.

The buses now operating the 44B (for the past 11 months) cannot show Dundrum or Ranalagh as final destinations, so inward trips going to these places (the majority of trips) operate with "Out of Service" on the display.

Steve,

Before the LUAS opened, When travelling into work the first bus which quite often would come first was the 44B to Ranelagh (approx0820 at Milltown). Now I work in the city centre but I took the view that its better to be on the move than standing in Milltown for another X minutes.

On arrivial in Ranelegh, I would get the next bus to appear, be it a 11 / 11A / 11B or 44 / 44C / 48A or the Mystical 86!

Finally the type of bus now used on the 44B (You & I know the type but we won't go into the tech side of things here!) always used to display "44B Ranelagh".