More Dublin/Drogheda Arrow services needed?

Flukey

From Monday for a few weeks I have to work in Balbriggan. I am going from the southside of Dublin. I have to use public transport as I don't drive. Getting into town is ok by bus. The problem is town to Balbriggan. First option was to get the bus. However on further examination, given the distance and the journey time, that was not going to suffice. So the only other option was the train. One leaves town about 8am and the next is not until about 8:45. The 8am would be about right for me. You would think that, although most people would be communting in, there might be an earlier one and another between those two.

Coming back in the evening is different again. Through most of the afternoon, the Arrows back to Dublin are fairly frequent. Coming through Balbriggan there are ones at 13:18, 13:35, 13:50, 14:30, 14:45, 15:30 and 16:10. There is then one that starts from Balbriggan at 16:15. That seems pretty good. However, just as you are coming into the rush hour period when people are starting to leave work, the next one is not until 17:17. The 16:15 would be just slightly too early and it would be a long wait for the next one. There should be at least one other between those two, circa 16:45. On Fridays a train leaves Drogheda at 16:35. That sounds OK, but, first of all it is only on Fridays and secondly, it does not stop until Connolly. If that ran everyday and stopped at the normal stops, it would be fine.

Not everyone is commuting into Dublin in the morning and out of it in the evening. There are a lot of people doing it the other way. There would certainly seem to be a case for a few more trains in the morning and on the evening run. I am sure the same problems are to be found on other routes.

maxheadroom

Flukey wrote:

Not everyone is commuting into Dublin in the morning and out of it in the evening. There are a lot of people doing it the other way. There would certainly seem to be a case for a few more trains in the morning and on the evening run. I am sure the same problems are to be found on other routes.

I'm not an expert on this but AFAIK the northern line (especially paths into and out of connoly) are at full capacity all day. I'd imagine that an increace in DART frequency in rush hour is going to negatively impact on other servcies using the tracks - such as Dragheda arrows.

The solution is to get the interconnector built and remove the connoly bottleneck for once and for all.

Flukey

Perhaps. A bit like the next train, it won't be any time soon.

John R

It is also that all the available units are in use at that time of the day providing peak direction services.

For bus services from Balbriggan to the city look at Bus Eireann not Dublin Bus. They are more frequent, every half hour or better and much quicker.

http://www.buseireann.ie/site/your_journey/printed_timetable_pdfs/local/101north.pdf
http://www.buseireann.ie/site/your_journey/printed_timetable_pdfs/local/101south.pdf

The only downside is that short hop commuter tickets are not valid on Bus Eireann so you will need to get a medium hop commuter ticket €39 (all bus and rail for 7 days) or a 10 journey in one week Dublin - Balbriggan bus ticket €29 as well as your other bus fares.
I reccommend the first option, it gives you the freedom to use whatever means is most convenient and should work out cheaper overall.

Flukey

I am going to use the train anyway, but I just thought it was bad. I know they don't, as we all do when it comes to public transport, but they should be able to organise it a bit better and get even one extra train in between that morning gap and evening gap. With a little planning it could be done in such a way that it did not inconvenience anyone. I suppose the "Connolly bottleneck" and other lack of infrastructure are the problem.