BusConnects Dublin - Bus Network Changes Discussion

Where is this new bus stop next to Balally on the 161?

I had to use the form fillout to ask why they axed the email, and they had to ask me again because they did not know that they'd had an email for the help service beforehand (!). And when I asked them why they email was axed, the reply was,

'

 We are contacting you to confirm the outcome of your query, reference number 638474. We would like to inform you that we handle queries for multiple transport operators. We utilise an online form for all enquiries related to these transport operators. You can submit the form online for any enquiries regarding the following transport operators.'

That is not an answer.

I asked why was the email axed? Instead, you just tell me, 'we use this to handle queries dfor mutliple operators'. But why isn't there an email, an email that I can send using my email address rather than fiddling with a very janky and sometimes hard to use interface.

I wait three days for an answer, and just get told what I already know. With the old Dublin Bus service, you got an answer in at most ten minutes. Now, are staff not allowed to give you an actual reason and explanation why the email was canned? Is it omerta in TFI circles?

'

A bigger change is 40D which will now loop around Hollywoodrath before going to Tyrrelstown terminus at the hotel. New 40E and 40D timetables, effective from 22nd of March are published on the Dublin Bus website for nearly three weeks.

Not a huge, but still a difference that there no longer be 40D 10 min and 20 min gaps during peak times Mon-Fri - will be every 15 min.

And Sunday evening 40D will be every 60 min instead of 55 min.

I do wonder who does the timings for buses. There's no way the 40e is getting from Finglas West to Broombridge in 10 mins! The Ratoath road from Finglas to Cabra is painful at that time of the day.

Got a letter from the Transport Minister's secretary in response to my letter to him complaining about the TFI help centre.

Told me the Department of Transport can't do anything and told me to send another letter back through the Help Centre.

All they are doing is keeping up a bureaucratic nightmare.

I was on the C1 from Ringsend Bus Garage to Aston Quay on Friday night around 7pm. It took nearly fifteen minutes to travel from Pearse Street Garda Station to Aston Quay. Traffic was horrific. Could have walked it far quicker. 

Just thinking out loud, but would it be possible to build a bus underpasses at certain pinch points on the quays? Surely Busconnects needs to examine city centre property measures like this (separate to DCC’s traffic plan)

On the southside, you could build one from just before the Rosie Hackett Bridge to resurface on Aston Quay. Buses and taxis could avoid the congestion of the O’Connell Bridge area. East-west buses using an underpass on the quays segregates them from north-south buses and the Luas travelling from Westmoreland to O’Connell Street. They could do with another at the Usher’s Quay/Bridge Street junction.

On the northside, have one from Arran Quay to Inns Quay and another from Bachelors Walk to Eden Quay just before the Rosie Hackett Bridge. This would allow the C Spine to turn into the Rosie Hackett Bridge

I’m sure this could be achieved with safe gradients etc. Some bus stops would need to be moved. But it would easily shave about 10-15 mins off journey times for buses using the quays.

Physical segregation like building a kerb or small island to separate the bus lanes for general traffic lanes on Pearse Street/Tara Street would also help. 

I don't know if it was the problem on Friday evening but buses can be stuck at the lights at the Erne Street junction for the guts of ten minutes in the evening while cars turning from Erne Street onto Pearse St block access to the bus lane through multiple green light cycles. It's ridiculous.

Anyone here know why there is a road marked bus stop outside Laughanstown Luas stop? Is any future BusConnects route due to pass there?

No, because you cant access it by car, and the road was only built in 2022 or so.

Well, I can't imagine 4 things that really confuse me.

1: Why are some passengers (including me) who live in the N11 southbound area, who want to use the Laughanstown Luas stop, required to do a full hiking trip and are expected to climb such a big hill just to use a simple tram? Like that is so stupid, and yet the NTA is too dumb to realise that a major connection between the E1 + Luas could be established, and yet, nothing has been done. This is tiring for many passengers, and I'm shocked that there haven't been at least some additions to this "stop" in phases 5 or 6.

2: The E1 is mixed, and yet there cannot be a single bloody bus (and tram) in Dublin that you don't have to barge into people just to get out. This issue needs to be fixed ASAP.

3: It's shocking to see that for commuters that are living across the N11 who want to use the Luas that don't want to climb up a hill, have to waste their time getting an E1 first, then interchange for a L14 to Cherrywood I believe, and then god knows what happens (like a delay), then your better off getting the E1, then S6, then S4 to Milltown Luas. The whole Cabinteely area is a DISASTER for people to go to the city.

4: And also, a connection via the DART could also happen, but you also have to waste your travel time just to get to Bray or Shankill station. This is obscure, and no doubt I'll be complaining to the NTA about why there isn't a single bus that goes to Laughanstown Luas. There have been 2 phases based around the southside of Dublin, and yet Laughanstown remains the loneliest Luas stop (Green line) in Dublin.

(Don't even get me started on the 2 closed stops along the Green line. 1 new stop for the DART (Woodbrook), but yet a stop that has been closed for many years can't even be used properly?)

And also, can I just add that since Luas has a new operator, and there have been mentions of a new tram order (from an Irish press agency where I got the info from), where will Luas go after that? I mean, I'm not saying the whole passenger chaos will be fixed anytime soon anyway, but I have noticed a handful of people when there's a disruption of the Luas (like a medical emergency), seem to walk on the tracks. I saw this myself a couple of times.