Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2022 - 2042

I love the bit scheduled for 2037 to 2042: "Planning and Design for Dart+ Tunnel".

If that's the Dart Underground tunnel, then there was loads of design and re-design done over the past 10 to 15 years. Another 15 years to start another re-invention of the wheel?

If it's literally what it says : the "Dart+tunnel", chis already exists under the Phoenix Park. Maybe the planners are so divorced from reality they don't know this. In that case I demand my fat consultancy fee.😁

Also, surely Luas Finglas can be delivered sooner than 2031-36. It's already gone for planning? What's the story?....

Three stand-out points for me:

1) Their "post-2042" Luas plan is ridiculous. They're gonna spend billions upgrading core bus corridors only to dig them all up again 10/15 years later??...

2) What strikes me from the "combined rail map" is the complete lack of a radial route except for the inner city Dart+ tunnel, which itself isn't planned until post-2042.

The success of the N4 radial bus route demonstrates the value of a decent radial route. Metro West will pop its head again soon, I'm sure!...

3) Lucan Luas on the map continues across College Green to Tara Street / Pearse Street. I see enormous challenges here given the disruption this would cause to the North-South corridor around Trinity.

"They suggest that some of the busconnects corridors won't have enough capacity with the current double decker vehicles"

So let me get this straight, we had a transport strategy that envisioned a pretty extensive metro network to deal with this problem over a decade ago, we ditched that for a multi-billion euro upgrade to the bus network which is now years overdue and which is looking increasingly like a stillbirth on arrival, and now we're being told that this multi-billion euro plan is going to be totally inadequate? Any idiot standing without a transport or engineering degree could tell you that bus-based public transport is woefully inadequate for a city the size of Dublin. Why can't we just go back to the previous plan?

@cgcsb - responding to your comment from cross border rail thread. Any discussion of DU etc is better discussed here.

It's a shame that the Northern line isn't connected to the western lines. Knocking Ballybough flats is not an ideal solution though - that area is already criss crossed by enough rail lines - we couldn't split it further and knock flats in the process.

I've always thought a new Dart station between North Strand and East Wall would be a great connection point, especially now with the DART+ SW and W lines. CPO'ing some houses in North Strand would be far more realistic.

That would solve a lot of issues, particularly for DART. The other issue is there's to be frequent darts mixed with Belfast trains all the way to Drogheda on 2 tracks

The cover of the new NTA Greater Dublin strategy says it all: going around in endless circles.

Looks like the NTA staff got together to photograph their toy trains and buses.

Living in Terenure am slightly underwhelmed about the plan. This plan confirms that I will not see a tram or metro in Terenure in my life time even though we have been promised a better bus service for 20+ years.

I appreciate that the metro construction and Dart enhancements will commence, I just feel that the Rathmines, Rathgar, Terenure, Templeogue and Rathfarnham corridor requires a better service than currently exists. This morning I saw 8 buses queue at the bus lane in Rathmines coming up to the canal and on average 2 buses managed to get thru on each traffic light sequence meaning that most punters on the bus were delayed by about 5 minutes due to totally inadequate traffic light sequences and poor road design.

I just wish there was more vision on this route which appears totally busy and really high loadings on the buses which transverse this route!

It is a perfect represtation of the infantile minds of the Irish Establishment when it comes to public transport. A theme park ride for the kiddies to get to the seaside. I actually find this graphic pretty depressing. These people have no idea what they are doing and why. If I didn't know better (and maybe I don't), I'd say they were mocking us.

I never see the point in these long term plans, things are inevitably going to change, not least as new infrastructure is built. Anything beyound the next 10 years is obviously going to be reviewed based on the situation at the time, putting it in a plan now doesn't make it any more likely to happen. It seems to be just to pacify people and say "you'll get yours, just be patient". The focus should be on delivering things for the next 10 years, with a review every 5 years looking at the new 5 years as part of the next 10 from that point, if you know what I mean.

I fully expect that extending Metro down the Green Line to Sandyford will be a high priority once Metrolink opens. That would then mean extending the remaining Green Line via UCD and up the N11 would be more attractive. It also would open up the possibility of extending Luas east or west from Finglas meaning Luas to Tyrrelstown or Balgriffen become extensions rather than entirely new lines.

Good to hear that they are finally realising that articulated buses are required for capacity, not to mention speeding up boarding/alighting. I wonder is it the difficulty recruiting drivers which brought on this realisation, less than 100 passengers max per driver with DDs is ridiculous. BusConnects should have been based on articulated buses and would be far more successful had it been. As planning applications there have stalled and some applications wont happen for years, they really should pivot now for those corridors.

One thing which doesn't even get mentioned but I think will be vital for Dublin going forward is a public/active transport bridge across the Liffey. Proper orbital transport can relieve the need for more and more radial Luas lines. A high frequency bus service along the R136+R113 and R121 would link up the western suburbs which would be hugely benefitial in itself but also allow people to transfer to DART+W/SW if going to the city centre (which many people rarely do). It would take enormous pressure off the M50 too.

I think tri-axle double deck buses such as those in Berlin with two staircases would be a better buy - more seats and about the same capacity.

The distances travelled on many of the routes here really aren’t conducive to standing on an articulated vehicle, and that’s before you get into the issue of street space and infrastructure.

I'm tired of these Crayola projects. Every time something like this is submitted to a Government, they approve it. Then there's a general election, the Government changes and they commission another report. Rinse and repeat.