Dublin Coach Launching Dundrum - Red Cow - Dublin Airport Service

Balally Luas is a stone’s throw from the roundabout at the bottom of Wyckham Way, and is the Luas stop closest to and associated with the Dundrum Town Centre, why take in more traffic congestion heading down to Dundrums main street / Dundrum Luas then back up again, seems totally unnecessary.

Aw darn, was hoping it'd stop in Terenure like the old Aircoach route!

Grandad99 wrote: »

Balally Luas is a stone’s throw from the roundabout at the bottom of Wyckham Way, and is the Luas stop closest to and associated with the Dundrum Town Centre, why take in more traffic congestion heading down to Dundrums main street / Dundrum Luas then back up again, seems totally unnecessary.

Given John o Sullivan's highly astute decisions thus far,I would share some of the mystification at the choice of "Dundrum" Luas as the terminus for the new service.

Locals in the Dundrum/Milltown/Goatstown area tend to avoid the Main Street like the plague.
Most savvy folk doing Car/Tram interaction tend to plump for Balally,which has become the dei-facto new "Dundrum"

Opting for Balally would have recognized the reality that for MOST,the new Dundrum Town Centre IS Dundrum as well as avoiding the regular traffic "situations" to be found along the Sandyford Road side of the Centre.

One thing can be guaranteed...CityScape's Saturday & Sunday timings will most certainly be "advisory" unless they recognize reality and look to Balally instead.

Grandad99 wrote: »

Saw a few over the weekend, they are indeed using the Cityscape name, the coaches I saw were 04 Setras, which I believe are ex Aircoach.

Its funny how the operator bought a ton of 2014 tri axle mercs and got huge tax savings as they were put on the new city tour they operated.

Now all these tri axles have been pulled and are running on the limerick route.

The stop they have in Dolier st is taking up 140, 46a and 145 bus stops as they are parking 2 to 3 coaches there at any one given time. Also a number of xpresso services are affected.



They are running a load of very noisey 2003 open tops on the tours around the city now and were brought to court as the colour was very similar to Dublin Bus tour green.
The now gold colour tour buses have also taken over the bus stop outside the Greshom Hotel, Aircoach, other tour coach operators use this and also the 123 & 44 which now can't get into the stop.

I would love to know who is the main planner for all this and how anyone thinks its ok and most of all safe.
Nassau st is also a nightmare with passengers left behind as private coach take over the db stops.



They are running 2004 setras that are ex aircoach on the Dundrum leg and have taken over the space in dundrum leaving not enough space for the 14 route as also Eircom park there vans inside the bus stops and bus only area.

foggy_lad wrote: »

The red cow luas stop is very difficult to get a bus into and around at the best of times due to the lack of space and many awkward turns and roundabouts.

The new bus Eireann tri axle coaches on routes 4, 7, and other BE routes that use this place plus JJ Kavanagh to/from Waterford and Clonmel as well as the Dublin coach double deckers to/from Portlaoise and buses to/from Waterford and now to/from Limerick/Kerry every half hour and a new route with buses every half hour to/from Dundrum means this stop will be a nightmare and only a matter if time before there is a serious accident there!

Have the people in the NTA that allow this ever seen this stop when Dublin coach have two or three of those double deckers parked up plus a couple of their Limerick/Waterford buses in the que and other buses are trying to get past them safely? Have they ever used buses?

They have really let public transport down by trying to turn this pokey little tram stop into a multiple operator bus hub! An easy solution would be to sacrifice some of the parking spaces to allow bus parking and room for buses to turn around but that wouldn't happen as the carpark might lose a few euro.

AlekSmart wrote: »

It is highly unlikely that any of the nabob's of the NTA would have frequent-flyer points on ANY Bus or Coach service they now administer.

The Westmoreland St and Red Cow locations remain,for me,two prime examples where the professional qualifications of the NTA's high-end management could be challenged in some form of open court.

Zero example of ANY appreciation of either Vehicular or Pedestrian safety combined with an equal ignorance of Road Traffic Laws.

The Red-Cow is possibly even worse,as it was Greenfield site,fully capable of being turned into a very functional Public Transport hub with P&R capability.

With the majority of the site being low-lying,it would have been reasonable to construct a multi-level car park,with the Red Line & Bus/Coach services running through at ground level.

What we currently have is one VERY clear example of our native inability/reluctance,to even attempt,at planning stuff...:mad:

Responsibility for approving the stopping points is with the Local Authority or land owner (if on private land), they would have the local knowledge not the people in the NTA, if they give approval for a stop why would the NTA query that?

Seems to me if you have money a lot of power and say also seems to come along with it.

LeChienMefiant wrote: »

There's a problem identified there, and it's not Dublin Coach.

That's for sure.

The main "Problem" as I see it lies with the choice of the current "Dundrum Village" terminus for the 14/Cityscape 161 44B etc.

It appears to have been viewed as a kind of cool looking "Interchange" when scribbled in as part of the William Dargan Overbridge construction phase.

I'm confident that back in Dargan's time it would have represented THE prime location for such a contrivance,however,a century and a half later,time has altered the landscape.

Some recogniscance was/is required of the FACT that Dundrum Town Centre is NOT the Centre of Dundrum,as Dargan might have seen it.

The combined attributes of access to/from the M50,coupled with one of the most unusually concieved by-passes around,are some aspects that Mr Dargan might well have admired and utilised...

Balally Luas should have merited a significant amount of Public Transport planning and research,not to mention the actual Dundrum Town Centre itself,which is remarkably free of any on-site Public Transport facility.

I remain confident that Cityscape will soon realize the potential that lies to the East of Dundrum and amend their terminus appropriately....It may take somewhat longer for others to recognize this....;)

foggy_lad wrote: »

The Limerick service will also be every 30 minutes from Westmoreland St with every second bus going to Ennis and the rest going to Tralee. Are they trying to put Irish Rail out of business on the Limerick & Tralee routes?

http://www.dublincoach.ie/downloads/DublinCoachM7KillarneyTralee.pdf

i'd doubt it. tralee seems to be one of the places where the train is more then competitive with road.

lxflyer wrote: »

Just to my post above, routing the 14 buses along Ballinteer Road is important as it serves a large residential market.

When there is traffic congestion around the Dundrum centre, that route is generally quicker than continuing along Wyckham Way.

Indeed,particularly with the assistance of the "Bus Lane NOT In Use" signs,which certainly does'nt help the customers of the Fast,Frequent DB Route 116...that's for sure

For a project which was one of the largest single retail site developments in the British Isles,the Dundrum Town Centre remains a VERY odd concoction indeed.....almost as if some of the pages blew away before the builders got them....a most oddly configured place

lxflyer wrote: »

I still would not change the 14 at all Alek - the bus route serves residential communities along Ballinteer Road and then the Dundrum town centre, Dundrum Village and the LUAS, all of which are needed.

The incorporation of the Balally Luas as a terminus would bring FAR more useage to the 14 at this end...as it stands it is VERY rare to have more than a single soul left after Dundrum Church.

Any potential for re-routing would leave those Balinteer connections in place,with only two stops being surrendered,one of which could be easily relocated to the East of the village X-Roads. (Mind you some realignment/traffic management of the X-Road would be required...which might well require the services of another William Dargan,and there are not too many of his type knocking about these parts today )