Dublin Bus & Dublin Port Tunnel

Easy Rider

Just wondering if Dublin Bus have any plans on using the Dublin Port Tunnel? They could organise express busses that go from Swords, Ballymun, Santry etc direct to the IFSC.....Looking at the dublin port tunnel webisite it clearly states that buses with capacity greater than 25 passengers are allowed to use the tunnel for free....?

Would be a great thing if they did...

Idbatterim

with the amount it cost, they should really maximise uts use, and running buses through it would be great.

Nuttzz

mmm this seems a far too sensible idea to be implented

Easy Rider

Thats what I fear, the idiots in Dublin Bus just won't think of it....I wonder if Private Coaches or buses could do it....?

I think the Air Link buses would use it to get into the city as they generally don't stop at many stops on the way into town or not many people want to get onto Air Link buses goint into town......

admiralofthefleet

what are the height restrictions on the tunnel, i hope dublin buses arent too tall to fit, otherwise it would make sense to run them through it and possibly on to clontarf dart station to link up with the railway

Wishbone Ash

admiralgar wrote:

what are the height restrictions on the tunnel

4.65 metres

i hope dublin buses arent too tall to fit

No they are OK - Most double deckers are around 4.25 metres

antoinolachtnai

Do you think there would be any time saving in using the tunnel to service Santry and Ballymun? You'd have to go around the M50, wouldn't you?

How would it make sense to link to Connolly?

Easy Rider

Well you could go along a short part of the M50 if you wanted to go up the ballymun road I guess but don't see the point in that, but all you would have to do is go up a bit of the M1 from where santry meets the M1 and turn around the first roundabout on the M1 and back?

Depends which way you can do it.....

In terms of time...well if the bus actually turned up on time, generally they don't and no buses go to the IFSC.....so for me to get from Ballymun/Santry to the IFSC including walking from o'con st it is around
1hour to 1 hour and a half.....I don't get the bus anymore, I drive in as the buses are so unreliable in and out of town...the number 4 rarely turns up on time.....coming home from town I could be waiting 45 minutes to 1 hour for the 4 when the timetable says their should have been 3 to 4 buses in that time.......

About the height, they don't need to use double deckers....I think the bus could first go to spencer dock train station then connolly, for clontarf it would kinda be going back on itself I think...

shltter

antoinolachtnai wrote:

Do you think there would be any time saving in using the tunnel to service Santry and Ballymun? You'd have to go around the M50, wouldn't you?

How would it make sense to link to Connolly?

A new route 141 is planned from Swords to Rathmines with a bus every 15 minutes starting next month although I haven't heard anything about it using the port tunnel

antoinolachtnai

Easy Rider wrote:

Well you could go along a short part of the M50 if you wanted to go up the ballymun road I guess but don't see the point in that, but all you would have to do is go up a bit of the M1 from where santry meets the M1 and turn around the first roundabout on the M1 and back?

You'd have to go up as far as the M50 roundabout though, wouldn't you? Is that not pretty congested in the mornings? How long would the trip take to/from santry/ballymun?

antoinolachtnai

Easy Rider wrote:

Well you could go along a short part of the M50 if you wanted to go up the ballymun road I guess but don't see the point in that, but all you would have to do is go up a bit of the M1 from where santry meets the M1 and turn around the first roundabout on the M1 and back?

You'd have to go up as far as the M50 roundabout though, wouldn't you? Is that not pretty congested in the mornings/evenings? How long would the trip take to/from santry/ballymun?

Easy Rider

antoinolachtnai wrote:

You'd have to go up as far as the M50 roundabout though, wouldn't you? Is that not pretty congested in the mornings/evenings? How long would the trip take to/from santry/ballymun?

Don't know...maybe someone can answer that....but I doubt it would take 40 minutes...if you get to the IFSC in 40 minutes it is better than 90 minutes....

shltter

Easy Rider wrote:

Don't know...maybe someone can answer that....but I doubt it would take 40 minutes...if you get to the IFSC in 40 minutes it is better than 90 minutes....

The problem would be that the route would be dependant on the number of people from Ballymun wanting to go to the IFSC as it would not being picking up anyone else along the way.

An alternative would be to have feeder buses coming from Swords, Santry ballymun coolock finglas etc to a high frequency large capacity buses that would use the port tunnel such as the articulated buses or the tri axles.
It would involve putting in a transfer area close to the M1 M50 interchange and changing the hard shoulder on parts of the M50 & M1 to bus lanes and putting proper bus lanes down along the Quays so the bus would have easy access to the City centre and back down to the tunnel again

bk

shltter wrote:

The problem would be that the route would be dependant on the number of people from Ballymun wanting to go to the IFSC as it would not being picking up anyone else along the way.

Well the bus could go to the point depot area when the Luas is extended out to there in 2008 and people could change onto the LUAS and head into town.

In the meantime the buses could terminate at Connolly and do the same iwth LUAS.

Quiet a good idea, again shows the importance of the DTA nad integrated ticketing.

Actually provisions should be made for a mini bus depot in the upcoming plans for the redevelopment of the Pont Depot.

shltter wrote:

An alternative would be to have feeder buses coming from Swords, Santry ballymun coolock finglas etc to a high frequency large capacity buses that would use the port tunnel such as the articulated buses or the tri axles.
It would involve putting in a transfer area close to the M1 M50 interchange and changing the hard shoulder on parts of the M50 & M1 to bus lanes and putting proper bus lanes down along the Quays so the bus would have easy access to the City centre and back down to the tunnel again

Some nice ideas there.

markpb

shltter wrote:

An alternative would be to have feeder buses coming from Swords, Santry ballymun coolock finglas etc to a high frequency large capacity buses that would use the port tunnel such as the articulated buses or the tri axles. It would involve putting in a transfer area close to the M1 M50 interchange and changing the hard shoulder on parts of the M50 & M1 to bus lanes and putting proper bus lanes down along the Quays so the bus would have easy access to the City centre and back down to the tunnel again

That's a really good idea! I love it. With articulated buses with three or four doors and off-bus ticket sales and validation, it could be super efficient. I can see the NRA screaming about the lack of hard shoulders on a "motorway" though.

Of course, it'll never happen because politicians will stall it on the grounds that the metro will be along any decade now :-)