BusConnects Dublin - Bus Network Changes Discussion

bk

I could be wrong, but I get the impression that they will be rebuilding and renewing the entire width of the roads, including foundations, along these corridors, along with much of the footpath and street space along the route.

So they aren't just painting a bus lane on a road, etc., but a total road structure rebuild, including drainage, foundations, re-routing utilities, etc.

People forget that many of the roads around Dublin are decades old if not approaching a century in some cases and roads need major renewals typically every couple of decades (more then just the surface, the foundations, etc.).

I get the impression, that this major roads renewal is been "hidden" within a Bus project, much like a massive sewage pipes replacement was "hidden" in a simple bike scheme with the Clontarf to city scheme.

I'm not a fan of this sort of thing, it can make cycle/bus schemes look far more expensive then they really are, but it is what it is.

George White

Is the Herbert Raoad going to be rebuilt?

CatInABox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123690052#Comment_123690052

Yes, every project in Dublin now has multiple requirements from multiple stakeholders.

Clontarf to City Centre route? Irish water wanted to put in a new pipe, and ESB should have asked to put in new cables everywhere, but didn't, and then had to anyway as the works made all the oils cables disintegrate anyway.

Royal Canal Greenway? ESB wanted to redo all their leaking cables, which also meant an environment clean up as well.

I don't like it either, but I guess it is forward thinking. I'd just prefer if it was itemised, so that you knew how much was going to the actual project, and how much was going to some other state bodies pet project.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123690832#Comment_123690832

Totally agree with you - I’ve had to correct that perception about the cost of the c2c route more times than I’ve hot dinners.

Sadly the NTA comms was woeful on the main cost which was the water mains total replacement.

tom1ie

Hi all looking for a bit of guidance here- we are getting on the S6 and heading to blackrock dart station then getting the dart to Bray.
We’ll be using my leap card for the 2 adults and 2 kids.
We use the leap card to tap on when getting on the bus, do we have to tap on when getting on the dart and then tap off?
Am I right in thinking the cost is only €2 per person for the entire trip?

tom1ie

Also does anyone know if ya can turn off the speaker that announces what stop is coming up?
The one on this bus (11614 172-D-21003) has a busted speaker and its ear splittingly annoying!

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123691724#Comment_123691724

Yes you still need to tap on and off the DART. The whole journey is €2 per adult provided you enter the DART within 90 mins of paying on the bus, but tapping on the DART will deduct €4 and refund €4 if you tap off at Bray.

On the bus you go to the driver to use one Leap card to pay for multiple people, but I don't know how that's possible on Irish Rail since you're passing through a barrier, and one scan of the card will only admit one person through the barrier. Hopefully someone else can offer advice on that.

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123691782#Comment_123691782

Yeah and it turns out the bus driver let us on for the cost of 1 adult as the tag on machine on the left hand side was busted (along with the speaker!) so we had to scan at the drivers terminal and got charged for 1 Adult 🤷‍♂️

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123691800#Comment_123691800

Well, if paying for multiple people, you have to go to the driver anyway. You can't tag on multiple times at the other machine beside the door to pay for a few tickets. Did you tell the driver you were paying for 2+2? Too late now I suppose, but that's what to do for coming home.

I'm still not sure how you're going to get them all into and out of the DART on one card. I think you will need to buy tickets at the machine. Hopefully one of the experts will let you know soon!

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123691816#Comment_123691816

Yeah said it to the driver but still only got charged for an Adult.

So I spoke to the fella behind the desk ant blackrock station and apparently you cant tag multiple people onto the dart- one person only.
I had to buy a ticket for the mrs and the eldest child of 10. Youngest lad went free as it’s free up to the age of 5.

The DART is very frequent but do they not have air conditioning?

bikeman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123691007#Comment_123691007

Absolutely correct. Me too, it can be tiring at times!!

I was talking to an engineer on the C2CC scheme. The road either side of the Tolka (particularly Fairview side) was thrown down over years and the land around the Tolka was not the best. Even if nothing was to be done, they would have had to take the road up, fix it and lay it again.

As we know here, more than painting a few lines…

dublinman1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123691724#Comment_123691724

I didn't realize that the Bray Air Show was taking place at Bray seafront today.

How was the capacity on the S6 and the Dart today. The Darts must have been rammed once you got down there.

I was reading on the RTÉ News app on my phone this evening that 40k people attended in the air show in Bray this afternoon.

The buses passing Bray Station must have had a lot of passengers on their services for this event.

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123692413#Comment_123692413

The S6 was very busy as we got in at Rathfarnham but emptied out at Dundrum. Then got busy again after UCD all the way to blackrock Dart station.
We missed a Dart 5 mins after we pulled up as we were trying to digger out the leap card business but we got on the next DART 5 mins later.
Great service but absolutely rammed.
We were on carriage 7 and I reckon there were maybe 3 more?
They really need to get air conditioning on these DARTS cause it was tropical 🤣

George White

E1 at 8 o'clock delayed for over half an hour at Cornelscourt. The driver was rude to me when I got on, saying HE'D THROW ME OFF if I talked, because I wanted to know why they had cancelled 4 buses. I almost had an autistic meltdown from the anxiety of waiting for 40 mins in the middle of nowhere on a dual carriageway.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123692717#Comment_123692717

I'd imagine the Airshow in Bray was playing havoc with bus schedules out of Bray today. Never a good idea to ask a bus driver the whereabouts of other buses I wouldn't describe anywhere between Bray and the city centre as the middle of nowhere either.

Arhanedus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123692717#Comment_123692717

The Bray air display ended close to 6pm, which meant that traffic in Bray ended up crawling very slowly, much worse than it is usually, although I would've imagined it had gotten a bit better by 8pm.

As mentioned above there was around 40,000 people attending the air display, and while I'd imagine most people took the DART, there were also many people taking the bus, so they were all very packed. And, of course, due to the insane traffic, most buses had delays of 15+ minutes entering and leaving Bray today. This is the main reason for the delays and cancellations to bus services in the Bray area today, including the E1.

While the bus driver definitely shouldn't have said anything even close to that, he was likely frustrated from having to deal with the huge crowds and standstill traffic the entire day.

Arhanedus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123692512#Comment_123692512

Most of the DARTs are old, so for the most part the best you got is opening the windows and hoping for some wind. But I'd imagine with today's crowds no amount of wind would've saved the day.

At least Irish Rail were sensible enough to run extra services to city centre and Greystones, so even though the trains still get extremely busy, they ran more frequently than a normal Saturday schedule to help get people in and out of Bray. (I wish the same was possible for buses around large events…)

Burt Renaults

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123692717#Comment_123692717

Consider it a lesson learned. You should be grateful that he turned up. It's not his fault that some other buses didn't. Also, from a purely practical perspective, knowing why they didn't turn up won't get you to your destination any quicker. In fact, if everyone felt entitled to question the driver, about issues that he has no control over, you'd find yourself waiting a lot longer.

GerardKeating

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123692717#Comment_123692717

So 4 buses in a row do not turn up, and you give out to the actual driver whom turned up?

Fizzy Duck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123692823#Comment_123692823

Sadly, I find it's part and parcel of the job nowadays.

madnessnmayhem

Why u all posting above in this forum?

senorsmoke

would you not have just raised a complaint with Dublin Bus?

dublinman1990

A recent article from Dublin Inquirer has said that a lot of the new BusConnects Dublin orbital routes along with the E1 are the most frequent no-shows on the current RTPI system according to the new website that logs in buses that don't show up on time at Bus stops.

The NTA have said in response that there will be new timetables in place for the routes that currently have difficulties in keeping up with timekeeping under the current RTPI system while arriving at Bus stops in Q4 2025.

The article also says that the new NTA RPTI contract awarded to Trapeze UK will be in place from next year.

https://www.dublininquirer.com/routes-introduced-under-busconnects-among-most-often-reported-on-no-show-bus-tracker/

I apologise for the earlier link being shown in the post. I am using a phone here. I have sent you a revised link to allow you to read it.

BusGuy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123675604#Comment_123675604

Lots of training buses can be spotted in the airport zone…

BusGuy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123679617#Comment_123679617

This is perfect, but I don't see introducing the freaking L89 if you are not going to axe the 40E, kind of a duplicate tbh.

Daith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123707946#Comment_123707946

No they're not. They're two separate routes. They only overlap at Broombridge

Dub13

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123689141#Comment_123689141

Very true, in London for example even with an amazing tube network the London bus network carries more people than the tube. So we are a long long way from not needing a good bus network.

thomasj

On a 39a this Sunday morning at around 6.30am and got a seat upstairs . By the time the bus got to Blanch Centre all seats were taken upstairs and by the time I was getting off in Stoneybatter the bus was crammed downstairs and had to push through to get off .

It's good to see that with these new timetables NTA are pushing the earlier Sunday morning departures and they will be used but would be nice to see increased frequency on some of the established busy routes on Sunday morning , especially for the routes that do be crammed at 6am on weekdays as they will be used at weekends too .

madnessnmayhem

39A is 24 hours

dublinman1990

The contracts for the Liffey Valley to City Centre CBC have been signed the NTA & GMC Group Ltd. The corridor will begin construction in September 2025.

https://liffeyvalleyscheme.ie/nta-awards-contract-to-gmc-for-the-delivery-of-the-first-busconnects-core-bus-corridor-scheme-2/