BusConnects Dublin - Bus Network Changes Discussion

trellheim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123853340#Comment_123853340

I am not entirely concerned with Blessington alone but the other stops inbound from Manorkilbride , Crooksling, Embankment and so on. The 132 is fine for the outer run of it to Bunclody but if you slow it down to do the all stops like the 65, you'd nearly be better putting the railway back out to Blessington again which is why its faster . So back to the same point - why not keep the 65 , you get to keep serving Terenure and Rathmines for colleges and work . this one route seems excessively like crayoning on the part of the NTA and I have very long experience of it

PlatformNine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123856309#Comment_123856309

I am not entirely concerned with Blessington alone but the other stops inbound from Manorkilbride , Crooksling, Embankment and so on. The 132 is fine for the outer run of it to Bunclody but if you slow it down to do the all stops like the 65, you'd nearly be better putting the railway back out to Blessington again which is why its faster .

There is a middle point between having just the 3 existing stops (Blessington, Tallaght, Connolly) and all the stops on the 65, that's really what the 132 should look like. You can add 2-3 additional stops between Blessington and Tallaght and 2-3 additional pickup/dropoff only stops between Tallaght and Connolly without slowing the route down much, allow for much better connectivity than the existing 132, while still being much faster than the 65.

So back to the same point - why not keep the 65 , you get to keep serving Terenure and Rathmines for colleges and work . this one route seems excessively like crayoning on the part of the NTA and I have very long experience of it

For a reason I already mentioned, Blessington is just way too far from CC to be served by a DB/city bus service, and it could be vastly improved for many if not most of its users. The stopping pattern/frequency and speed of city buses are just not suited to how long of a distance it is.

The L44 is still needed to many of the local journeys/connections as well as offering the interchange in Tallaght, and I would argue should have its frequency increased to 2bph like many of the other outer L routes.

If the demand is still needed to connect the Ballymore/Ballyknockan-Blessington-Tallaght sections with Rathmines and Terenure (and I do believe it would be), I would argue that it should be served by an X43 and X44 rather than the P43 and P44 as proposed specifically because of how far it is.

But the main connection for that section of the N81 corridor to Dublin shouldn't be the 65 or anything like it.

KD345

It’s interesting to note the NTA say they review all routes before launch to ensure sufficient capacity. I do hope they are looking at the increase in homes in the Blessington area with more planning permission also granted during the summer for future developments.

From observing the 65 in recent years the boardings are very healthy at both weekdays and weekends. The last time I took the 65 on a weekday it was full by Templeogue Bridge and left people behind at Tallaght Village and The Square. We know Dublin Bus have had to add additional journeys to cater for school loadings and the 65A was introduced to cater for journeys to Crooksling.

With all this in mind I feel we will see some form of the 65 retained to the city centre like we now have with the 68 and 69. I also believe it could be the solution to retaining the necessary link to Templeogue, Terenure and Rathgar which is now missing with the recent change to the A3. 

BusGuy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123856772#Comment_123856772

I hope there is a good replacemnt for the 114.

trellheim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123856772#Comment_123856772

Which is kind of what I wanted to say, only said better ! .

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123856772#Comment_123856772

Fair point but the one thing I will say is that the 65 only runs 2 with hourly intervals and hourly intervals at certain times of the day which is not exactly a frequent service.

I think an hourly L44 would most certainly be an improvement for Blessington over the 65 and crucially given the current issues with driver and mechanic shortages be provided with a similar PVR to the 65. Additional P43 and P44 departures aswell as having the 132 operating on a P/U and D/O basis should alleviate some of these issues.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123853775#Comment_123853775

Yes and I’m happy to say I was wrong about my earlier fears. Though the fact that it is the only route without a timetable is strange and perhaps an indication of some last minute changes behind the scenes, so perhaps there was something missed there.

I’m not crazy about the route changes, Gardiner St is far less useful then OCS and College Green was more useful for me, but I get the reasoning. At least it will be handy for the constant protests and marches on OCS.

As an aside, it was very annoying standing at the 16 etc. north bound bus stop on OCS yesterday evening, watching buses arrive with “Out Of Serivce” while obviously carrying passengers and indicated as the 16, 1, etc. on the RTPI screen! Later I realised there were parades from Parnell Square likely causing that, but there was no indication at all of such termination of service from the RTPI screens. Communication of service interruption remains terrible by NTA/DB. Hundreds of confused people at bus stops along OCS.

KD345

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123858029#Comment_123858029

Had the A3 remained as the connecting service in Tallaght then I would fully support this, however it will now be removed and leaves, in my opinion, an important connection missing between Tallaght and Templeogue Village, Terenure Village & Rathgar. The proposed 82 falls short in replacing the direct nature of the A3. 

For example, anyone in Terenure or Templeogue Village commuting towards Blessington will now have to take a total of three buses, the A3 to Spawell, the 82 to Tallaght, and then the hourly L44 to Blessington. That travel pattern was never proposed in any of the consultations. The current 65 is not the most frequent of routes as you correctly mention, but at least you can plan your journey around it.

The driver shortage, while impactful, should not influence any of the planning decisions. You design a bus service based on passenger needs and roll it out when you have the resources available. BusConnects was designed to grow and increase services. 

Hopefully we will see further changes and improvements to this plan as it is still some time away yet.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123858853#Comment_123858853

Well if that's the case would continuing the L44 to the Spawell Roundabout not be a fair compromise?

KD345

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123858940#Comment_123858940

Problem solved!

This one change alone would make it so much easier to continue the journey to Templeogue, Terenure and Rathgar. It would also provide a much quicker connection to Rathmines over the 82 via Perrystown, Crumlin Village and Kimmage!

Arhanedus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123858088#Comment_123858088

The 73 is the only route this phase operated by GAI, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's just them not having the timetable ready/finalised yet whereas DB already do. But yeah, I'm glad that in the end it keeps a similar frequency to the 123.

C507

Well nobody has seemed to notice this yet, any new Airport service is welcome and god knows when the N8 will be implemented. Hopefully this will not effect the implementation of the N8. Perhaps if this route is successful Dublin Coach could look at another Airport route to Lucan and beyond. The question remains, would it be a reliable service?

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123859505#Comment_123859505

They got the licence for that a good few years ago I think before covid

C507

I thought it was Dublin Express

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123859505#Comment_123859505

That page has been there years.

dublinman1990

Will the 73 run by GAI have enough buses & drivers to maintain the same level of service like the 123?

I'd imagine the new timetable for the 73 would not have other bus routes from GAI integrated into it.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123859948#Comment_123859948

Well the N2 on Griffith Avenue is also operated by GAI, so I assume behind the scenes drivers and buses will operate across both routes. Could be wrong, just a guess.

Seaswimmer

Apologies if this has been answered. Can anyone tell me where the new route 80 goes when it reaches the south city centre. I have only been able to find a very rough route map which looks like it crosses over at Church Street, up to Christchurch, down Dame Street and a right turn up Georges St as the map shows it going up Aungier Street. i am guessing this is incorrect so I am wondering what is the exact route from town to Rathmines..

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123860845#Comment_123860845

No, you are correct - that is the routing. Why do you think it would be incorrect?

Here you are - it follows the current 140 routing from Georges St to Palmerston Park.

https://www.transportforireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Dublin-Route-80.pdf

There are route maps for each of the new routes on the TFI website on this page:

https://www.transportforireland.ie/getting-around/by-bus/phase-7-f-spine/

DrivingSouth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123839787#Comment_123839787

These plain text docx files are for visually impared users that use screen readers. The fancy pdfs that are great for visual users can be a nightmare if you try get a screen reader to go through it. See link for more details.

https://vvi.ie/our-policies/accessible-communications-policy/6-electronic-documents/#6.3%20

The Mathematician

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123858088#Comment_123858088

Yes, I think a lot more has to be done to inform passengers when buses or trains are not running to their usual timetable. Yesterday, there were extra trains put on for the American football game, and not only were these not showing on the TFI app, the ordinary trains which had their timetables altered to fit in these extras, were showing as running to their usual timetables with (scheduled) added.

BusGuy

No explanation needed, blame the NTA for removing routes that were never full and/or frequently cancelled. (Except the 75)

VG31

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123861173#Comment_123861173

I did actually learn about that in college but it didn't occur to me when I saw that DOCX originally.

Still, I don't know why Dublin Bus released that by itself when the PDFs and Irish versions weren't ready.

TonyK45

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123861414#Comment_123861414

Your showing data from the app. I've seen on numerous occasions, buses showing 'cancelled' in the app that are actually running. In fact I posted on this very subject earlier.

Seaswimmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123860893#Comment_123860893

Thanks for the info. At present as far as I know here is no right turn from Dame St onto Georges St so my query was really how the 80 gets to Aungier St??

p_haugh

A right turn filter has been added at that junction

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123861867#Comment_123861867

There is a right turn there now as above.

There are going to be various changes that are going to be happening to facilitate the new network around the city centre - so best not to look at the routes in terms of the pre-existing traffic flows.

For example, there is a contra-flow bus lane going in on Ely Place and Hume Street to facilitate the 23, 24 and 82 getting from Merrion Street Upper to St Stephen’s Green East.

Burt Renaults

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123860494#Comment_123860494

I've heard it'll be on the same roster as the S4, which would allow for changeovers in Walkinstown, just a short drive from Ballymount.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862948#Comment_123862948

I did notice that they have moved the driver changeover for UCD S4 services to stop 2182, which is closer to the 73 terminus. They tend to park in the Aldi carpark now. They used to park by Eurocycles and then changeover at stop 2181.

TranslatorPS

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123860494#Comment_123860494

To be fair, that's not indicative of anything yet. The N2 at the moment makes use of the Finglas canteen alongside the N6, but they're completely separate duty schedules (there are no N2+N6 duties – at best they share staff cars to and from the depot).

[I wrote this before scrolling further down to see the last two posts.]