The Luas line proposals

iamstop

Crazy to me that Dublin is one of the few capitals in the EU to not have any trains or trams to the airport. Still.

Just found this article from 2018, proposal to have it in for 2040. Twenty feckin' years to put in a rail line? What the heck are they smoking?

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/four-new-luas-lines-expected-14297469

:rolleyes:

IAMAMORON

The Taxi's are lobbying against an Airport Luas Link.

iamstop

IAMAMORON wrote: »

The Taxi's are lobbying against an Airport Luas Link.

I could see them trying that alright but they shouldn't be allowed to stop the progress.

Thelonious Monk

There has never been the political will or leadership behind these type of things. Parish pump politics gets in the way often too. They've been faffing about with planning orders etc for the Metro for years now, and it will be called off or postponed again during the upcoming deep recession we're probably facing.
The amount of bypasses and motorways we've built around the country in the last 30 years or so is staggering, but we can't lay any new over or underground track for some reason, apart from some of the Luas.
I'm 40 now and I doubt I'll be able to use a Metro here before I retire, no way.

IAMAMORON

iamstop wrote: »

I could see them trying that alright but they shouldn't be allowed to stop the progress.

They have a huge lobby in Dublin. Almost 30,000 members ( off the top of my head). Their entire livelihood relies on there being a need for them. If they built an efficient Luas to the City Centre they would be out of a job.

The council are kicking it down the street as a result ( about 20 year down the street).

The airport would not actually benefit from a Luas. It would lose parking income and the rates it gets from the taxi federation.

No one is really that fussed.

salmocab

iamstop wrote: »

Crazy to me that Dublin is one of the few capitals in the EU to not have any trains or trams to the airport. Still.

Just found this article from 2018, proposal to have it in for 2040. Twenty feckin' years to put in a rail line? What the heck are they smoking?

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/four-new-luas-lines-expected-14297469

:rolleyes:

Metro link is to be ready 2027, it’s being delayed with covid and a few other bits but I’d say 2030 if it’s not shelved.
A luas wouldn’t be good enough for the airport

iamstop

salmocab wrote: »

Metro link is to be ready 2027, it’s being delayed with covid and a few other bits but I’d say 2030 if it’s not shelved.
A luas wouldn’t be good enough for the airport

Have you a link to the current status?

Thelonious Monk

iamstop wrote: »

Have you a link to the current status?

There's a thread on it on the infrastructure thread, they're on the ball with updates.

Eduard Khil

Find it hard to believe taxis complaining about LUAS to the city from airport every taxi driver moans and groans if the fare isn't going outside of greater Dublin area try get a taxi to Swords Santry Ballymun or Finglas the taxi driver looks like they're having a stroke.

IAMAMORON

Eduard Khil wrote: »

Find it hard to believe taxis complaining about LUAS to the city from airport every taxi driver moans and groans if the fare isn't going outside of greater Dublin area try get a taxi to Swords Santry Ballymun or Finglas the taxi driver looks like they're having a stroke.

It cost circa € 50-70 from the southside depending on where you are. Yes, Taxi's will have a canary if you are getting dropped to Dorset st etc, but the big loss would be south siders being connected to the airport via Luas.

As I said they have a big lobby. I would not be holding your breath on any rail link to the airport for some time.

I mean rationally, if they really wanted it done they could go express from Connelly and then follow the M50 out. Easily done, they own all the land.

But there is no real appetite and Na Fianna GAA have them by the balls also for the city centre route.

It is only a plan on a document to say they have aspirations of doing one, but it is most def on the long finger for sure.

blanch152

IAMAMORON wrote: »

It cost circa € 50-70 from the southside depending on where you are. Yes, Taxi's will have a canary if you are getting dropped to Dorset st etc, but the big loss would be south siders being connected to the airport via Luas.

As I said they have a big lobby. I would not be holding your breath on any rail link to the airport for some time.

I mean rationally, if they really wanted it done they could go express from Connelly and then follow the M50 out. Easily done, they own all the land.

But there is no real appetite and Na Fianna GAA have them by the balls also for the city centre route.

It is only a plan on a document to say they have aspirations of doing one, but it is most def on the long finger for sure.

The only people who will get a Metro or a Luas to the airport are those who only have carry-on luggage.

salmocab

blanch152 wrote: »

The only people who will get a Metro or a Luas to the airport are those who only have carry-on luggage.

Lots of staff will there are thousands of people employed there with very little parking. plenty of inbound tourists will use it both ways even with luggage.

IAMAMORON

blanch152 wrote: »

The only people who will get a Metro or a Luas to the airport are those who only have carry-on luggage.

and airport staff. ( sorry , but I think the debate is on when it is getting built as opposed to why )

The main q is why has it not been built yet? There are various reasons but I think the main one at the moment is that it is not a priority. Even if they had the money handy, they might be averse to setting up any large infrastructure projects given the current hot potato and PR disaster of the childrens' hospital.

Far easier to leave the project for the future or even use it as an electoral promise going forward.

Victor

blanch152 wrote: »

The only people who will get a Metro or a Luas to the airport are those who only have carry-on luggage.

Also, it's not just about the airport.

iamstop

I can't think of any other capital city in Europe that I've been to that doesn't have some rail link to the airport(s) of that city. There may be some, just none I've been to as far as I can remember.
I think the Luas is great and serves a great number of people but I think not routing it out to the airport was extremely short sighted.

blanch152

iamstop wrote: »

I can't think of any other capital city in Europe that I've been to that doesn't have some rail link to the airport(s) of that city. There may be some, just none I've been to as far as I can remember.
I think the Luas is great and serves a great number of people but I think not routing it out to the airport was extremely short sighted.

Paris: While Charles De Gaulle has a direct rail link to the city, Beauvais has none, and Orly has no direct connection.

Riga: None

Tallin: None

Yes, large airports in large cities have direct rail links, but not all airports in those large cities have them, and once you look at comparable sized cities in comparable sized countries, you begin to find many that compare to Ireland.

Badly Drunk Boy

iamstop wrote: »

I can't think of any other capital city in Europe that I've been to that doesn't have some rail link to the airport(s) of that city. There may be some, just none I've been to as far as I can remember.
I think the Luas is great and serves a great number of people but I think not routing it out to the airport was extremely short sighted.

I don't think Bratislava has one, or I didn't notice it when I was there.

dasdog

blanch152 wrote: »

The only people who will get a Metro or a Luas to the airport are those who only have carry-on luggage.

I try and get to at least two cities in Europe I haven't been to before every year, nearly always get the airport metro or train on arrival/departure and always have check-in luggage with me. A metro to DUB would be most welcome.

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I don't think Bratislava has one, or I didn't notice it when I was there.

Valletta is another but Malta doesn't have any train infrastructure.

hotmail.com

Dublin Airport is fairly close to the city centre by bus or taxi. I don't see what the problem is.

end of the road

hotmail.com wrote: »

Dublin Airport is fairly close to the city centre by bus or taxi. I don't see what the problem is.

1. the airport is only going to grow and grow and it needs a heavy capacity service between it and the city which bus can't offer, never mind taxi.
both will continue to be convenient for some however there is way to much road traffic to the airport and it's not sustainable.

2. metrolink if it goes ahead, and later a luas line if one is built would both serve more then the airport.

iamstop

hotmail.com wrote: »

Dublin Airport is fairly close to the city centre by bus or taxi. I don't see what the problem is.

Dublin is steadily sprawling out in all directions but east (Irish Sea :pac:).
Anyway, as it is it can take 45 min to an hour to get to the city on Dublin Bus from some parts of the south city depending on traffic. Then you have to still spend 30 to 45 getting to the airport. You couldn't go to work with those kind of wild swings in times let alone try to catch a flight!

A Luas or Metro or whatever not only reduces the times but also gives a much better consistency to expected travel times.

And as someone else mentioned, it will take a fair chunk of traffic off the roads too!

Much needed.

Hodors Appletart

the Luas spur from Broombridge to Charlestown (4 stops in Finglas) is a good start, there is a good bit of unused land between Charlestown and the Airport, I think the other option is a Dart spur from Howth Jct out via Northern Cross/Belcamp, but that's becoming more and more built up year on year.

Yurt2

Mr.S wrote: »

This is why I started to use FreeNow / Uber at the airport instead of the rank, they are much better drivers then the rank lot who seem to get royally pissed off if your fare is under €40, or the classic "my card machine isn't working". :rolleyes:

I don't know what's going on with the taxi guys at the airport but a lot of them are a special type of w*nker. Among other run-ins I had one throw a massive strop at me one day as I needed to go to Malahide.

They are apparently, owed a fare to Leopardstown every time they pull up at the rank.

Ush1

We can't even get Bus Connects going, I'd be shocked if we get a metro to the airport in my life and I'm only 35.

miezekatze

hotmail.com wrote: »

Dublin Airport is fairly close to the city centre by bus or taxi. I don't see what the problem is.

I live in the very south of Dublin. A taxi to the airport costs 50-60 € each way (ridiculous imo), Aircoach takes about 90 minutes and I'll still have to take the luas to get to/from the aircoach stop and walk to/from the stop with my luggage. Parking at the airport is not exactly cheap either, and not everyone has a car anyway. There's definitely a demand for a direct luas to the airport.

Victor

dasdog wrote: »

Valletta is another but Malta doesn't have any train infrastructure.

Cyprus is also train-free.

iamstop

Ush1 wrote: »

We can't even get Bus Connects going, I'd be shocked if we get a metro to the airport in my life and I'm only 35.

That's a whole 'nother thread IMHO. Been saying this since I was introduced to the transfer concept from visiting Canada. It's a no brainer with Dublin's layout and current bus routes. Most cross city journeys require a change in buses. It shouldn't cost the paying punter 2 full fares because the routing is inadequate.
I'd even support a nominal fare for a transfer. Say your fare is two fiddy. A transfer on top could be fiddy cent. But paying twice for one journey is obscene. Having to do that twice a day for work and back! Are you working to live or living to work?

Victor

iamstop wrote: »

It shouldn't cost the paying punter 2 full fares because the routing is inadequate.

Get a Leap Card. There is a €1 discount on the second and subsequent legs of the journey.

If you are making 4 trips a day, you need to consider how you are paying.

There is even a tourist Leap Card.

Geuze

iamstop wrote: »

I can't think of any other capital city in Europe that I've been to that doesn't have some rail link to the airport(s) of that city. There may be some, just none I've been to as far as I can remember.
I think the Luas is great and serves a great number of people but I think not routing it out to the airport was extremely short sighted.

I suspect DUB is the biggest airport without a rail link.

iamstop

Victor wrote: »

Get a Leap Card. There is a €1 discount on the second and subsequent legs of the journey.

If you are making 4 trips a day, you need to consider how you are paying.

There is even a tourist Leap Card.

Yeah, Leap card is the way to go if you make any amount of frequent travel on public transport in Dublin. Now if they just had a Luas to the airport...

salmocab

iamstop wrote: »

Yeah, Leap card is the way to go if you make any amount of frequent travel on public transport in Dublin. Now if they just had a Luas to the airport...

Don’t think there will ever be a Luas to the airport. The metro is the only show in town.

iamstop

Metro link would be grand, particularly if you can use the Leap between it and Luas and busses

salmocab

iamstop wrote: »

Metro link would be grand, particularly if you can use the Leap between it and Luas and busses

It will be on the metro and almost certainly part of the 90 minute transfer plan.

Hamsterchops

iamstop wrote: »

Crazy to me that Dublin is one of the few capitals in the EU to not have any trains or trams to the airport. Still.

Just found this article from 2018, proposal to have it in for 2040. Twenty feckin' years to put in a rail line? What the heck are they smoking?

Here here I agree, it's madness that there isn't a rail link of some description. There was talk of a spur line off the DART, then talk of a LUAS line, but here we are twenty years after the first ideas were suggested with nothing to show

riclad

There's a good bus service into the city centre and there's plenty of taxis. It would be very expensive to provide a luas to the city centre. It only takes maybe 20 minutes to get to the city centre from the airport.
Dublin is not LA where the traffic is very slow or liable to delays. It makes no financial sense to build a luas versus saving a few minutes on travel time vs using a bus

end of the road

riclad wrote: »

There's a good bus service into the city centre and there's plenty of taxis.

all add to the cronic traffic issues the city faces.
the bus service while frequent is not reliable enough because of the cronic road traffic issues and addressing those issues either way will be expensive.

riclad wrote: »

It would be very expensive to provide a luas to the city centre.

infrastructure is expensive, however a luas on top of the metro, serving the communities a luas line would serve would help remove some of the large amount of road traffic from the city coming from those areas.

riclad wrote: »

It only takes maybe 20 minutes to get to the city centre from the airport.

off peak maybe, but certainly not for the most part during much of the day.

riclad wrote: »

Dublin is not LA where the traffic is very slow or liable to delays.

slow moving traffic and cronic delays are absolutely the case in dublin city centre, it won't effect every area and it won't be at all times of the day, but it exists to a problematic extent.

riclad wrote: »

It makes no financial sense to build a luas versus saving a few minutes on travel time vs using a bus

it makes every financial sense to build a luas which will in turn make some of the buses redundant and in turn remove large amounts of road traffic from the city, something we do know luas is successful at doing.
there is no saving on the bus due to the cronic road traffic, whereas with luas removing traffic, and perhapse eventually when we grow up more and start giving luas the priority in the city we should be giving it, more savings will come in terms of journey times.
not to mention that luas wouldn't be specifically about the airport but will be more about the communities it serves, for the airport specific rail link then something heavier will be needed then trams.

petronius

The benefits of Luas, Metro or Dart are that they remove cars, taxis, buses from the road, reduces conjestion, which is good for our environmental commitments. The serve not only the destination, but populations on the way, increases capacity and speed and because they are fixed, they can be more dependable.
The finglas extension is interesting since is seems to go over some parkland, reducing the space on roads it will co-exist with traffic.
I think the idea to stop drop offs at the airport from private cars, is a bad idea, forcing people not on an airport bus route or convienent access to one to pay a fee to park, be dropped off, or forced to use a taxi..

goose2005

iamstop wrote: »

I can't think of any other capital city in Europe that I've been to that doesn't have some rail link to the airport(s) of that city. There may be some, just none I've been to as far as I can remember.
I think the Luas is great and serves a great number of people but I think not routing it out to the airport was extremely short sighted.

There are no railroads in Cyprus at all