Free Public Transport for Pope Francis Mass

devnull

If you have a ticket for the Phoenix Park Mass, then the NTA have arranged with transport providers to allow you to travel for free within Dublin on the day.

In addition Go-Ahead will be deploying 40 of their double deck vehicles to use as shuttle buses.

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/news/leave-your-car-at-home-for-the-pope-francis-mass/

Today the National Transport Authority (NTA), An Gardaí Síochána and public transport operators outlined the comprehensive transportation plan and road closure system to be put in place for the Visit of Pope Francis. The Pontiff visits Dublin and Knock on the weekend of 25 and 26 August on the invitation of the World Meeting of Families 2018.

Leave your car at home, public or private coaches will minimise the walking
It is clear that there is a major oversubscription of those who are expecting to drive to and from the Phoenix Park Mass on Sunday 26 August.

There is no car park near the venue where attendees will be able to park up and walk to the event. While the event organisers have secured additional car parking for this event, these car spaces are for those availing of Park & Ride facilities (more information below).

Speaking on this matter, Garda Superintendent Thomas Murphy: “This is the largest event Ireland has organised in nearly 40 years. It simply will not be possible to accommodate all the people who have indicated they want to travel by car to the Mass. Therefore we are urging people to go by train, bus, coach or Luas to this event. While walking is inevitable, you will be minimising your walk to and from the event by taking public transport or private coaches. ”

Public transport is ready to take you to and from Phoenix Park on Sunday
The NTA has put in place a robust transport plan to cater for everyone attending the event from across the island, including those travelling from Northern Ireland. Tim Gaston Director of Public Transport Services, NTA said, “Every bus, train and tram is being used for this event and for the safety of the travelling public if you have a ticket for the Phoenix Park, you will be allowed to travel for free within Dublin on the day of the event.”

Each operator Iarnrod Éireann, Dublin Bus, Luas, Bus Éireann and Go-Ahead will commence services from early morning especially for those travelling from outside of Dublin. The NTA is working closely with Translink in Northern Ireland and they are providing special rail and bus transport to the event.

There is an extensive range of public transport options available to get to and from the Phoenix Park, including:
- Free travel on all public transport within Dublin for Sunday 26 August.
- 250,000 journeys available from Iarnród Éireann across Intercity, DART and Commuter services.
- Bus Éireann will be operating a weekday service throughout the country to bring people to the event. In excess of 30,000 passenger journeys can be made on the day on Bus Éireann.
- Dublin Bus have created 7 dedicated Papal transport hubs which will take you in close proximity to the gates of the park. Almost 1,000 Dublin Buses will be available to get people to and from the Mass and over 400,000 journeys will be provided.
- Special Park & Ride hubs for this event have been created in a number of locations where people can park up and then take public transport to and from the event. These are Leopardstown Racecourse (Luas), UCD Belfield (Dublin Bus), Maynooth University (train) and Fairyhouse Racecourse (train).
- The LUAS Red and Green line will be operating a 6-10 minute frequency throughout the day.
- There will be a LUAS Stop operating at the Leopardstown racecourse for the first time.

Go-Ahead Ireland is providing shuttle buses to help with the transport requirements for the Papal Mass, using 40 double deck vehicles.

Translink will be offering dedicated rail and bus services for the event to and from Northern Ireland. They will also be op erating the shuttle service for us at Fairyhouse Transport hub.

For those travelling from outside Dublin, the National Transport Authority asks that you please pre-book your train or bus ticket or private coach. This is especially for those who have indicated to the World Meeting of Families that they intend to travel by train or bus but have yet to book their ticket.

goingnowhere

Good to see someone called Translink in to help, they did a great job in Glasgow during the Commonwealth games there a few years ago

Stephen15

So Go-Ahead will be making their Irish debut a little earlier than expected. Be interesting to see how it goes.

Stephen15

goingnowhere wrote: »

Good to see someone called Translink in to help, they did a great job in Glasgow during the Commonwealth games there a few years ago

They might get drivers to wear their sash for the day and sing No Pope of Rome over the intercom

slavetothegrind

Taxpayers expense? Probably quote me health and safety grounds.....

Richest person in the world hosts free gig and government pay for attendees travel. Yaay!

Stephen15

- Special Park & Ride hubs for this event have been created in a number of locations where people can park up and then take public transport to and from the event. These are Leopardstown Racecourse (Luas), UCD Belfield (Dublin Bus), Maynooth University (train) and Fairyhouse Racecourse (train).

Are they busing people to M3 Parkway for that?

devnull

goingnowhere wrote: »

Good to see someone called Translink in to help, they did a great job in Glasgow during the Commonwealth games there a few years ago

Their vehicles were used yes, but they were subcontractors to First who organised it all.

http://www.ukbusawards.org.uk/content/index.php/special-commonwealth

Jamie2k9

- The LUAS Red and Green line will be operating a 6-10 minute frequency throughout the day

Unacceptable Red Line frequency on the day, it will be a disaster. 3-4 minute at a minimum between Connolly-Museum then terminating at Heuston which I guess will be closed.

ConnyMcDavid

I presume the people who aquired tickets in protest will not be using this offer as matter of principle =P

markpb

There will be a LUAS Stop operating at the Leopardstown racecourse for the first time.

Is there a ghost stop there that I've never noticed or is the tram going to just stop randomly between stops to let people on?

goingnowhere

The stop is there but has never been used

It doesn't have any TVM or smartcard equipment, it was fitted but was removed after opening (contract to build had to be completed to get paid...)

L1011

Who is funding this?

Utterly disgusting use of taxpayer money if there isn't external funding. Private event for an insanely wealthy organisation, they can pay for it themselves. Also probably unconstitutional (endowment of religions sections) at that.

ED E

The politics of doing it aside it'll be interesting to have a car free city with massive use of public transport for the day. I'll be enjoying empty streets on the bike.

ArmaniJeanss

Is it free public transport for the day, or free public transport only if going to the Popes mass? (Slightly conflicting text in the press release though I think it's the latter).
If it's a nice day I wouldn't mind going against the traffic and taking the dart out to Howth or Greystones etc

Stephen15

I suspect the barriers will be left open at all the DART stations

Shedite27

goingnowhere wrote: »

The stop is there but has never been used

It doesn't have any TVM or smartcard equipment, it was fitted but was removed after opening (contract to build had to be completed to get paid...)

Where on the line is that? Between what stops? Can't see anything on Google Maps (the satellite images)

Peregrine

Shedite27 wrote: »

Where on the line is that? Between what stops? Can't see anything on Google Maps (the satellite images)

Between Ballyogan Wood and Carrickmines.

https://goo.gl/maps/5nUFW56SHUN2

Jamie2k9

Shedite27 wrote: »

Where on the line is that? Between what stops? Can't see anything on Google Maps (the satellite images)

Its between Ballyogan Wood and Carrickmines stop (after you cross M50) and the other between Carrickmines and Laughanstown

Both clearly show on Google, start at Carrickmines and work your way back.

Marhay70

What's the chances of Frankie hopping on a free 123 bus to Cathal Brugha Street and dropping by the Magdalen Laundry to say sorry or calling over to Tuam while he's in Knock?
I'm appalled that anybody thinks it ok for taxpayers' money to be used to support a propaganda day out for this vile organisation.

Podge_irl

Or it is using taxpayers money to stop the city grinding to a halt with traffic? It is an event of unprecedented size in recent history in the city with a lot of people travelling in from outside Dublin.

Stephen15

Can the mods separate posts which are off topic on this forum. There shouldn't be any political or religious posts here which may be better suited to other forums such as After Hours or Politics Cafe as this thread should be purely to do with the transport situation regarding the pope visit. Thanks.

Dravokivich

Podge_irl wrote: »

Or it is using taxpayers money to stop the city grinding to a halt with traffic? It is an event of unprecedented size in recent history in the city with a lot of people travelling in from outside Dublin.

Forgive me here but I genuinely don't know the numbers... how many tickets/people are we talking about? We've had a lot of high volume events earlier in the summer around the same time.

Podge_irl

Half a million. It dwarfs any other single event - or even multiple simultaneous events - since basically the last one. A concert in the Phoenix park/croker/aviva/Marley simultaneously wouldn’t even come close to matching and they are quite spread out. It makes sense to have extraordinary measures in place.

Stephen15

It begs the question were the authorities a bit naive to make provision for 600,000 tickets given the large scale transport operation, could they gone for something smaller like 82,000 in Croke Park or even just have 100,000 or 200,000 in the Phoenix Park. The last kind of somewhat similar event I can remember was Obama's visit. How many did that attract?

Carawaystick

Podge_irl wrote: »

Or it is using taxpayers money to stop the city grinding to a halt with traffic? It is an event of unprecedented size in recent history in the city with a lot of people travelling in from outside Dublin.

But why not spend money on Public transport every weekday during scholtime, when the city grinds to a halt ?

Stephen15

Carawaystick wrote: »

But why not spend money on Public transport every weekday during scholtime, when the city grinds to a halt ?

Luas BXD, Bus Connects, DART expansion and Metrolink

markpb

Carawaystick wrote: »

But why not spend money on Public transport every weekday during scholtime, when the city grinds to a halt ?

1. They do.

2. To provide free transport to everyone all the time would cost significantly more, every year.

3. To provide free transport to everyone in Dublin would be political suicide.

4. This event has the potential to generate more traffic congestion than typical commuting patterns because of the nature and location of the event and the demographic of the people attending.

5. This event has the potential to attract people and press from outside Ireland so it's not in our interests to present an image of a country that can't get people to the event in any coherent way.

Laneyh

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Is it free public transport for the day, or free public transport only if going to the Popes mass? (Slightly conflicting text in the press release though I think it's the latter).
If it's a nice day I wouldn't mind going against the traffic and taking the dart out to Howth or Greystones etc

It says you need to show your mass ticket but I would expect in reality it'll be free for everyone
I doubt they'd have the staff to check tickets etc.

Infini

Laneyh wrote: »

It says you need to show your mass ticket but I would expect in reality it'll be free for everyone
I doubt they'd have the staff to check tickets etc.

Its only free for mass ticket holders. They wont let people in without tickets to avoid crushes for starters.

Stephen15

Infini wrote: »

Its only free for mass ticket holders. They wont let people in without tickets to avoid crushes for starters.

So people not going to the mass can't use public transport for the day even if they aren't travelling on routes which will be busy. That's quite a lot of disruption if you don't have a car.

donaldtramp

Is anyone doing a car pool?

L1011

Infini wrote: »

Its only free for mass ticket holders. They wont let people in without tickets to avoid crushes for starters.

If this was even attempted I'd be expecting the head of the NTA to resign.

They cannot exclude people who are not going to the mass from using public transport. I expect someone to legally challenge the free service also

Stephen15

L1011 wrote: »

If this was even attempted I'd be expecting the head of the NTA to resign.

They cannot exclude people who are not going to the mass from using public transport. I expect someone to legally challenge the free service also

Agreed can't have free service for some but not others.

Allinall

Stephen15 wrote: »

Agreed can't have free service for some but not others.

Does this not happen every day of the week, with free travel pass holders mixing with paying customers?

donaldtramp

Stephen15 wrote: »

Agreed can't have free service for some but not others.

I don't agree with this at all..

They are only doing this to prevent traffic congestion.
They'd do the same thing for concerts if it was this big.

L1011

donaldtramp wrote: »

I don't agree with this at all..

They are only doing this to prevent traffic congestion.
They'd do the same thing for concerts if it was this big.

Not a hope - if it was felt to be needed, a concert organiser would be obliged to pay for it as part of their licence.

Just as the phenomenally wealthy private members organisation running this should be - but they already owe the state millions they haven't paid so no chance of that.

Infini

Stephen15 wrote: »

Agreed can't have free service for some but not others.

They advertised it as free only for those with mass tickets so I dont see what the complaint is exactly.

Under His Eye

They won't have any checkers on. It will be a free for all.

donaldtramp

L1011 wrote: »

Not a hope - if it was felt to be needed, a concert organiser would be obliged to pay for it as part of their licence.

Just as the phenomenally wealthy private members organisation running this should be - but they already owe the state millions they haven't paid so no chance of that.

This is a great thing for Ireland. Maybe you are forgetting this, but we live in a theocratic state. It is an honor to have the Pope visiting, and the government's duty is to ensure that there is no traffic congestion in Dublin. They are doing their duty, as they would any other day.

Carawaystick

markpb wrote: »

5. This event has the potential to attract people and press from outside Ireland so it's not in our interests to present an image of a country that can't get people to the event in any coherent way.

Ah yes, it would be awful if people going to see the ruler of an organization that systematically incarcerated women and children and raped children, and covered up the perpetrators and sold children were to see the country in a bad light.

donaldtramp

Carawaystick wrote: »

Ah yes, it would be awful if people going to see the ruler of an organization that systematically incarcerated women and children and raped children, and covered up the perpetrators and sold children were to see the country in a bad light.

That's really offensive.

L1011

donaldtramp wrote: »

This is a great thing for Ireland. Maybe you are forgetting this, but we live in a theocratic state. It is an honor to have the Pope visiting, and the government's duty is to ensure that there is no traffic congestion in Dublin. They are doing their duty, as they would any other day.

The 'special position' was removed decades before I was born. You appear to have forgotten that. This is not a theocratic state, although as you find the truth offensive (post above) you may have decided to believe that for some reason

This is a private member's organisation having a private event and they should cover it's costs like anyone else would have to

devnull

Whilst I understand that some of you have strong opinions on the Catholic Church, ultimately the Commuting and Transport forum is not the right place for them.

If you wish to discuss the Catholic Church please go to the Religion forum meanwhile lets get back on-topic.

Should be free for all or free for none.

Typical disgusting abuse of the taxpayer by a state agency for the benefit of the catholic church.

There might be modern buses in Dublin these days but it’s a truly regressive move to provide free transport to a gig by one of the biggest acts to visit since Jesus supposedly got up 3 days after he died.

I’m embarrassed once again for Ireland. Should be a mass (pun intended) sit in protest on buses, luas and rail services. Fill them to the gills and refuse to vacate seating until Franky cuts a cheque to cover the hire.

Under His Eye

A bill should be prepared and sent to the Vatican for payment.

donaldtramp

L1011 wrote: »

The 'special position' was removed decades before I was born. You appear to have forgotten that. This is not a theocratic state, although as you find the truth offensive (post above) you may have decided to believe that for some reason

This is a private member's organisation having a private event and they should cover it's costs like anyone else would have to

They have literally done this for several other events over the years, many of which were MUCH smaller than this one.

Just because you have some agenda against the Church doesn't make this wrong?

Stephen15

I don't have any gripes against the pope coming to Dublin but I don't think people going to see the pope should be entitled to free transport over people who are not attending. If their gonna give free transport fine but at least give it to everyone not just people going to see the pope. Whatever about free travel it's a different argument for a different day but still this if it is the case is unfair.

I wonder will people who block booked tickets use them for free transport. Also will the people who bought the papal travel pass be entitled to refunds?

blazard

Stephen15 wrote: »

I suspect the barriers will be left open at all the DART stations

brexit

L1011

donaldtramp wrote: »

They have literally done this for several other events over the years, many of which were MUCH smaller than this one.

Can you name any?

SteM

L1011 wrote: »

Can you name any?

He's a contrarian, I wouldn't bother engaging because he'll only drag you down to his level.

There's no way this won't be a free for all. The tickets are print at home tickets as far as I'm aware, no reason that someone couldn't print off multiple tickets and use them on public transport. There's no way that amount of tickets will be checked on the day, how could they?

Podge_irl

It'll be a free for all on any transport going anywhere near the event at least.

It is of benefit to everyone to not have a few hundred thousand people trying to drive into town on a Sunday.