Luas Green Line Capacity

homer911

It seems that the Luas has been gettig busier and busier at peak times (or perhaps its just because they have been less frequent), but a recent complaint to Luas Customer Care about overcrowding (and refering them to their own customer charter) prompted this response:


"During peak hours, trams on the Green Line can be running at maximum capacity which has meant that not all passengers wishing to travel with us have been able to do so.Together with the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) we are currently reviewing our Green Line timetable which we hope will decrease pressure on peak services and alleviate the overcrowding you have experienced recently."

The more people who complain the better: http://www.luas.ie/contact-form.html

Giblet

I agree, it's getting silly now, At 5.30, it's full by the time it gets to Kilmacud, only for more and more to pile on at Balally and Dundrum. Many times people have been pressed up against the doors. Aisles used to be empty and people had an aversion to standing in them, but nowadays it's packed end to end.

DaireQuinlan

This was known as far back as the mid nineties, Garrett FitzGerald (amongst others), wrote about it, predicting that in order to meet capacity trams would have to run every 2 1/2 minutes. Eerily prescient. He wrote later still that he had himself grossly underestimated the growth in commuter volume in the ensuing years.

OssianSmyth

The Green line extension, BXD is meant to add 8 million trips per year. It's hard to imagine how these will be accommodated.

Also, Cherrywood's development plan is being signed off by Dun Laoghaire council now which will add yet more demand from the Southern end of the line.

http://www.dlrcoco.ie/aboutus/councildepartments/planning/findit/cherrywoodstrategicdevelopmentzonesdz/

Young_gunner

How is the green line moving these days? it's clearly still pretty busy, but is it really obnoxiously full at peak times?

DelBoy Trotter

Young_gunner wrote: »

How is the green line moving these days? it's clearly still pretty busy, but is it really obnoxiously full at peak times?

Yeah it's horribly packed at peak times. Keep an eye on Twitter and you will see people complaining about waiting for 4 or 5 trams to pass at Dundrum before they can get on one going towards town!

Gael23

Nothing has changed

Young_gunner

DelBoy Trotter wrote: »

Yeah it's horribly packed at peak times. Keep an eye on Twitter and you will see people complaining about waiting for 4 or 5 trams to pass at Dundrum before they can get on one going towards town!

that's kind've depressing

hmmm

Anyone living north of Balally can probably forget about relying on the LUAS at peak times. The planners are also planning on doubling the population in Ballyogan/Leopardstown, and a new town is being built in Cherrywood, because, you know, LUAS and stuff.

In better news, Shane Ross got a few photos with an extended LUAS. There is a 38% capacity increase planned for the LUAS by 2021, which should just about meet the demand from 2019.

Ronan|Raven

It is going to be fun when Cherrywood is fully built..

NutmegGirl

I know of someone who lives in Dundrum and in the morning gets on the Luas, goes to the Sandyford stop, gets onto an empty Luas that’s straight from the depot and goes into town
Finds in impossible to get on most mornings in Dundrum so this adds 15/20 mins to commute

Idbatterim

the amount of needless stopping when i was on the cross city in town yesterday was laughable! Imagine running it more frequently, by not stopping the heavy tram every few seconds at every bloody junction!

L1011

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

It is going to be fun when Cherrywood is fully built..

Some loon on Twitter attacks anyone who says that, insisting that everyone living in Cherrywood will live in Cherrywood. And that all the apartment/student developments in Sandyford will be entirely inhabited by people who walk everywhere. And so on

Effectively they are going to be affected by the Dunville closure and are making crap up to try justify not converting to Metro.

The proposed peak time running when they add a turnback platform at Charlemont will mean there will be only minutes an hour if even at peak that Dunville isn't closed anyway!

Trotters

Its totally jammed going to town in the mornings, yes
Not all the time though.
And most people would prefer to get into town by tram, its really handy and gets you right into the City Centre.

Wouldn't they need more vehicles to run them more frequently? Could it be done?
I imagine they DO take plenty of money in fares but enough to buy new trams with?
Will the Govt (ie the Taxpayer) be willing to pay for this?

MrAbyss

Funny, I seem to recall the Sunday Business Post/NIMBYS saying that no one would use it while it was being built.

The same entities who are currently involved in destroying the MetroLink and the proposed connection into the Green Line which is the only thing that can massively improve capacity and frequency on the Green line.

Longer trams is like applying a hair dryer to a corpse at this point.

ted1

Trotters wrote: »

I imagine they DO take plenty of money in fares but enough to buy new trams with?
Will the Govt (ie the Taxpayer) be willing to pay for this?

Public transport isn’t / shouldn’t be about making money. Providing clean , sustainable transport, while displacing private cars, removing traffic and congestion while improving air Quaility should be the goal

antimatterx

ted1 wrote: »

Public transport isn’t / shouldn’t be about making money. Providing clean , sustainable transport, while displacing private cars, removing traffic and congestion while improving air Quaility should be the goal

It should all be taxpayer funded, no private companies should be awarded the running of it, the NTA should run it themselves.

No/cheap fare also

ted1

antimatterx wrote: »

It should all be taxpayer funded, no private companies should be awarded the running of it, the NTA should run it themselves.

No/cheap fare also

No issue with private companies running it, provided they can do the same or better than the government for less.

Agree it should be free or cheap.

As it is, it’s cheaper for us to drive into town on a weekend and pay for parking than use the DART beside our house.

L1011

Trotters wrote: »

Its totally jammed going to town in the mornings, yes
Not all the time though.
And most people would prefer to get into town by tram, its really handy and gets you right into the City Centre.

Wouldn't they need more vehicles to run them more frequently? Could it be done?
I imagine they DO take plenty of money in fares but enough to buy new trams with?
Will the Govt (ie the Taxpayer) be willing to pay for this?

The Government already pays for the trams. Fares don't come close to covering it.

MrAbyss

The Metrolink is literally the only hope for the Green Line at this point and remember five new Green Line stations are being planned for Sandyford.

It is Metrolink ASAP or nothing. That's not hyperbole either. Just the truth.

ted1

MrAbyss wrote: »

The Metrolink is literally the only hope for the Green Line at this point and remember five new Green Line stations are being planned for Sandyford.

It is Metrolink ASAP or nothing. That's not hyperbole either. Just the truth.

Where are the five?

DelBoy Trotter

ted1 wrote: »

Where are the five?

I was about to ask the same thing...