Public transport from Dublin 15 to airport

Cilar

Am I the only one bothered about this for a number of years? Got tired to pay more in taxis than in actual flight fares.

Dublin 15 has a population of 100,000, similar to a city like Limerick. Not a single direct public transport link to the airport. Urbus closed down in March this year (and stopped service over weekend a few years back anyways - nor operated in evenings). Dublin Bus 17a doesn't stop at the airport, and is not designed to make connection easy with crossing bus routes going to airport from city center. It takes nearly 2 hours to go through city center and then take a bus to Dublin 15.

It's easier to go from Ashbourne to airport with Bus Eireann than from Dublin 15 to airport.

Also, Metro West is supposed to solve the situation - but there is not a single bus route following the same route as the planned Metro West route.

LoonyLovegood

It's insane. It's gotten to the point where if I've a morning flight it's easier (And often cheaper) to get the train to Drumcondra and then a bus out to the airport and stay overnight than stay in my parents. From my house in Galway I can get there cheaper than they can

Victor

It should normally take 50-70 minutes via route 17a or the city centre (using an express bus). Alternatively, you can get the train to Drumcondra.

Part of the problem is that it's proximity to the airport means that taxi fares are relatively modest, provide a door to door service and you aren't dependent on timetables. This kills demand for a bus.

Put your exact locations and relevant dates and times into www.a-b.ie and tweak the settings.

the boss of me

Cilar wrote: »

Dublin Bus 17a doesn't stop at the airport, and is not designed to make connection easy with crossing bus routes going to airport from city center. It takes nearly 2 hours to go through city center and then take a bus to Dublin 15..

Get the 17a from Blanch to Santry ave, it takes about 30mins. Then walk 50mtrs to the no 16 stop on the Swords Rd. From there its a 5-10 minute journey to the airport.

Slattsy

Train from Clonsilla into Connolly - 25 mins

3 min walk to Bus Aras

20 min bus journey from BA to airport

Grand total:
48 mins (give or take a few mins) Call it 60 mins.

No need for the drama.

LXFlyer

Other option is train to Drumcondra and 16 or 41 to the Airport from outside the station.

foggy_lad

Slattsy wrote: »

Train from Clonsilla into Connolly - 25 mins

3 min walk to Bus Aras

20 min bus journey from BA to airport

Grand total:
48 mins (give or take a few mins) Call it 60 mins.

No need for the drama.

The only bus picking up at Busáras for the airport is the 747 and along with the train ticket a taxi would be cheaper.

Slattsy

foggy_lad wrote: »

The only bus picking up at Busáras for the airport is the 747 and along with the train ticket a taxi would be cheaper.

No it wouldnt.

LXFlyer

To be honest about this - there is potential for developing more local services to/from the airport to areas of northside Dublin - I'd like to see the 140 and 104 both extended there to provide a direct service to Finglas/Glasnevin, and Artane, Killester and Clontarf, along with the 33a and 33b from north county Dublin as well.

Reason? There are likely to be airport employees living in those areas.

Extending beyond that is tricky as you need to have traffic generators apart from the residential market for the business to be viable. I would imagine that there would be a reasonable market from Dublin 15 with several hotels and large business parks located there, but whether those people would want to use a regular bus as opposed to the likes of Airport Hopper/Aircoach is another thing.

Personally I think it would need a dedicated small coach service (like Airport Hopper) rather than a regular bus given the market.

LXFlyer

foggy_lad wrote: »

The only bus picking up at Busáras for the airport is the 747 and along with the train ticket a taxi would be cheaper.

There is a combined single journey ticket covering travel by train from any DART (and I think also commuter) station and on the Airlink service for €8.

So that is definitely cheaper than a taxi.

You can buy it from the booking office.

Note also that passengers from any DART station can get a through single ticket covering the train to Malahide and travel on the 102 DART feeder service to the Airport.

Cilar

the boss of me wrote: »

Get the 17a from Blanch to Santry ave, it takes about 30mins. Then walk 50mtrs to the no 16 stop on the Swords Rd. From there its a 5-10 minute journey to the airport.

Yes, I tried it once and that's the reason why I mention the 17a in my initial post. Whilst that's the most direct option, when you factor in wait time (twice due to the change) and walk, that nearly takes 1h30 in reality (and a bit more if you don't live in Blanch). Furthermore, a change is not really convenient when you have to be at the airport on time - any change increase risks (esp. with the poor track of records on reliability from Dublin bus) so it's safer to plan an extra 15-30 minutes, just in case.

lxflyer wrote: »

There is a combined single journey ticket covering travel by train from any DART (and I think also commuter) station and on the Airlink service for €8.

So that is definitely cheaper than a taxi.

You can buy it from the booking office.

Note also that passengers from any DART station can get a through single ticket covering the train to Malahide and travel on the 102 DART feeder service to the Airport.

Slattsy wrote: »

Train from Clonsilla into Connolly - 25 mins

3 min walk to Bus Aras

20 min bus journey from BA to airport

Grand total:
48 mins (give or take a few mins) Call it 60 mins.

No need for the drama.

The commuter is not really an option, the frequency is fairly low on the weekend (one train per hour on Sundays for instance). It significantly increases the travel airport - dublin 15 (2 hours or more door to door when you include the wait time).

I think there is really a need for better link between one of the post populated area of Dublin and the airport. It's amazing that it's faster to get to the airport from more remote areas of Meath than from Dublin 15.

Cilar

lxflyer wrote: »

To be honest about this - there is potential for developing more local services to/from the airport to areas of northside Dublin - I'd like to see the 140 and 104 both extended there to provide a direct service to Finglas/Glasnevin, and Artane, Killester and Clontarf, along with the 33a and 33b from north county Dublin as well.

Reason? There are likely to be airport employees living in those areas.

Extending beyond that is tricky as you need to have traffic generators apart from the residential market for the business to be viable. I would imagine that there would be a reasonable market from Dublin 15 with several hotels and large business parks located there, but whether those people would want to use a regular bus as opposed to the likes of Airport Hopper/Aircoach is another thing.

Personally I think it would need a dedicated small coach service (like Airport Hopper) rather than a regular bus given the market.

The cheapest option would simply be to have the 17a going through the airport. It's one of those cheap missed opportunities pushing more and more people away from public transportation.

Victor

I think your attitude towards the timetables and connections is overly cynical. Take a look at www.a-b.ie and use the real time information available on the transport operators website or at www.rtpi.ie

Sure, it would be nice to have a direct bus and the loss of Urbus was unfortunate, but you can't have a bus from everywhere to everywhere.

Within Dublin, the southside routes have the advantage of going through the city centre and serve a lot of people who fly a lot. The north Dublin routes would be going past the airport anyway. That leaves Airport Hopper, which operates a fairly modest service to Tallaght and Maynooth.

All the other routes are medium or long distance and make money by virtue of the fact that they provide a direct airport service (which rail can't) and the distances are too far for car / taxi to be economical. There are very few internal flights left in the country.

Cilar wrote: »

The cheapest option would simply be to have the 17a going through the airport. It's one of those cheap missed opportunities pushing more and more people away from public transportation.

But what of all the people who don't want to go to the airport?

Cilar

Victor wrote: »

I think your attitude towards the timetables and connections is overly cynical. Take a look at www.a-b.ie and use the real time information available on the transport operators website or at www.rtpi.ie

Sure, it would be nice to have a direct bus and the loss of Urbus was unfortunate, but you can't have a bus from everywhere to everywhere.

Within Dublin, the southside routes have the advantage of going through the city centre and serve a lot of people who fly a lot. The north Dublin routes would be going past the airport anyway. That leaves Airport Hopper, which operates a fairly modest service to Tallaght and Maynooth.

All the other routes are medium or long distance and make money by virtue of the fact that they provide a direct airport service (which rail can't) and the distances are too far for car / taxi to be economical. There are very few internal flights left in the country.

But what of all the people who don't want to go to the airport?

I would reckon that there would be more people willing to go to the airport on the 17a than to Howth junction from the Dublin west area (also it could continue to serve Howth junction - simply adding a detour through the airport. Dublin bus has never been shy of detours on their route to serve small areas, so why not the airport).

It's not really asking for a bus from anywhere to anywhere - it's really a matter of having a direct service between one of the most populated area of Dublin and its airport. I don't see what's cynical in that - bunch of business/development benefits for the area of having it served from the airport directly and frequently.

LXFlyer

Cilar wrote: »

I would reckon that there would be more people willing to go to the airport on the 17a than to Howth junction from the Dublin west area (also it could continue to serve Howth junction - simply adding a detour through the airport. Dublin bus has never been shy of detours on their route to serve small areas, so why not the airport).

It's not really asking for a bus from anywhere to anywhere - it's really a matter of having a direct service between one of the most populated area of Dublin and its airport. I don't see what's cynical in that - bunch of business/development benefits for the area of having it served from the airport directly and frequently.

The 17a is one of the busier routes and carries plenty of people all along the route who are making all sorts of different journeys, most of which overlap, but are not necessarily travelling from Blanchardstown, nor are they going the length of the route. The numbers crossing the old N1 at Santry would be probably some of the highest on the route. I think you would discommode vastly greater numbers by diverting via the airport.

As I said an airport service that does not serve the city centre relies on a combination of residential and commercial traffic. The latter group are simply not going to use a local bus, and a local bus service would depend upon the airport employee market (when not coming from the city). There wouldn't be sufficient numbers from Blanchardstown to justify this in my opinion.

Quite simply - the only realistic option that leaves is for a private company to set up a service, like Airport Hopper. It needs to be better designed than UrBus in terms of route and timetable, and to provide a direct link to the commercial areas and then onwards to the residential areas of Blanchardstown.

n97 mini

As said already, train to Drumcondra and regular DB to airport, strikes permitting. Only downside to this is stupidly early last train on Sundays on the Maynooth line, combined with hourly service off peak from Drumcondra otherwise. Going to the airport is generally easier than coming back.

Rather than a dedicated bus from D15 to the airport I think we'd all be served better by a better train service to/from Drumcondra.

devnull

Aircoach also run from Drumcondra every 15 mins even if DB do not run.

dowlingm

Cilar wrote: »

Also, Metro West is supposed to solve the situation - but there is not a single bus route following the same route as the planned Metro West route.

Write to the NTA and suggest the adding to the BRT plans of a route more or less on the Metro West EPR, starting with Maynooth Line-Airport.