Bus Stop Of The Month

This month we have a bus stop that has had a number of routes pass by it (including one that still does) but am unsure as to which ones actually stopped there. The stop is located in Edenmore, on Tonlegee Avenue beside Cameron Park. Over the years, various bus routes have used all four roads around the park. The current 27A uses Tonlegee Drive, Tonlegee Avenue and Glenwood Road, as did the 42A and 42B before it. Route 28 also used these roads and used to terminate on Glenwood Road. For a brief period after Network Direct changes, new cross-city route 27 also terminated on Glenwood Road, and used all four roads around the park. However, all of these routes passed the bus stop in this photograph on the other side of the road, and therefore did not serve it.

It is also worth pointing out there is a second disused bus stop in the background, at the front of the white car and beside the two poles. This is after the junction of Glenwood Road, which means it has to have been served by buses using Tonlegee Avenue to access Edenmore Avenue, and therefore buses in the opposite direction probably served the bus stop under discussion here. A number of routes fulfill that criteria. The first one is the 101 which operated between 1986 and 2000. The Network Direct changes that brought the 27 to Edenmore in 2011 also brought the 104 there via Edenmore Avenue and Tonlegee Avenue. This lasted just over six months when the 104 was taken out of Edenmore in 2012. Two other routes that may have also served just this stop for a while were the 27N (which ceased in 2011) and the 29N (which now goes via the Raheny Road). 

If anyone has anymore information about what served these bus stops, I would love to hear about it.

Edenmore, 30/04/2022

This month we are breaking the format of this series, by showcasing an active bus stop. But it does contain a relic of the past that showcases the history of the bus services in Dublin. 

Stop 128 is located on Glasnevin Avenue in north Dublin. When this picture was taken it was served by Go-Ahead Ireland route 17A from Kilbarrack to the Blanchardstown Centre. Since the 29th May 2022, it has been served by Dublin Bus route N4 from the Point Village to the Blanchardstown Centre. 

The main point of interest on this shelter is the CitySwift branded glass. CitySwift was introduced into the Dublin Bus network in 1993 with route 39 to Blanchardstown. The idea was to introduce high-frequency services on key routes. It soon spread around the city to key routes such as the 13/A, 51B, 46A, 77 etc. As part of the route transformation, buses were in a special livery and bus stops and bus shelters were painted blue, with the latter receiving orange seating and branded glazing. However this stop on Glasnevin Avenue was not on one of the CitySwift routes, nor did it receive the full CitySwift treatment by being painted blue. More than likely the bus shelter received these glass panels by mistake as replacement for other panels at some point prior to 2009 (the furthest back Google Streetview goes). It is also the last shelter to still have the CItySwift branded glazing in 2022.

14/05/2022

This month we are going down to Dublin Dockland's, and to a bus stop that has been out of service longer than it was in service. Although, to be technically accurate, the stop and the bus route that serve it are more suspended rather than removed from the network. Stop 7705 on Sheriff Street Upper is the terminus for route 53A. This bus route started on the 8th July 2019, and operated hourly between the peaks, Monday to Friday. It was a short route, running from Talbot Street to Sheriff Street via Summerhill, and had a maximum journey time of 15 minutes. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in early-2020 a number of lightly-used routes were suspended including the 53A which has not run since the 8th June 2020.

The route is still suspended, as the timetable is still on the Dublin Bus website with a note saying it will not operate "until further notice". Under Bus Connects the route is due to be replaced by the L91, so it remains to be seen if the 53A will ever return or will this stop be next used by the L91 (in which case this pole will probably be replaced by a new TFI one first). 

04/09/2022

I suspect it was on one of the variations on the 13. Must add this one to my list of stops to record. Nice that it is still blue.

This month we are going to a fully fitted out, new bus stop / shelter that was never used. This stop is located on Longfield Road, within The Coast development in Baldoyle. In the early-2000s the land on both sides of the Dublin to Belfast railway line at Donaghmede / Baldoyle was developed as new communities to accommodate the growing city population. The Dublin City Council lands on the western side became Clongriffin (which also gave its name to the new railway station) while The Coast on eastern side fell under Fingal County Council jurisdiction. However, both sides were due to be connected by a new public transport bridge at the railway station. The bridge was built and the ramp up from the western side was complete, but the corresponding ramp on the eastern side was not. The new developments were planned to be served by buses too, which would have used the new bridge and served this stop. New route 128 from Rathmines started in 2007 and terminated at Clongriffin station, and it has been suggested it would have been extended over the bridge to serve the stop here and continue on to Baldoyle. It was also suggested the 29A would have been extended from Donaghemde to Baldoyle via Clongriffin and The Coast. It was extended in 2012, but via Grange Road and not Clongriffin. It has also been speculated that the 32B, which went to nearby Abbey Park, would have been extended to here, but that route was also cancelled in 2012. In 2021 the 29A became the H1 under Bus Connects and it is planned to terminate at Clongriffin Station, but will be extended from the Baldoyle end and go via Red Arches. So this stop, and the associated bus lane, will remain unserved. The H1 does serve a bus stop near the junction of Longfield Road and Grange Road.

At least the ad agency is getting some benefit from it. 

10/12/2022

This month for Bus Stop Of The Month we are going to Maynooth in County Kildare. Stop 6209 is an inbound stop located on Meadowbrook Road, near the junction with the Meadowbrook Link Road (which also has two abandoned bus stops on it). From research it seems these stops may have been served by the morning route 66X departure from Cluain Aoibhinn. This route started around 2000 and used to go via Parson Street, Main Street and Straffan Road to access the N4. Around late-2006 / early-2007 work took place to rebuild the bridge over the canal and railway on Parson Street and the 66X was diverted via Meadowbrook Road and Meadowbrook Link Road and going up Straffan Road to do a u-turn at the then 67A terminus to head back to the N4. This diversion then became permanent, although it should be noted there was never a corresponding return journey in the evenings from Dublin. In 2010 Network Direct arrived to Maynooth and this 66X departure was removed from the timetable. In the planning phase for Network Direct there was a proposal to run the 66 via Maynooth Main Street, Parson Street, Meadowbrook Road, Meadowbrook Link Road and terminate at the then 67A terminus on Straffan Road at the railway station, but this didn't happen. 

Since then Bus Connects came along in 2021 and the 66 became the C3 and the 67 became the C4, but the Meadowbrook area is still unserved. Parson Street (and the nearby Newtown Road) have been served by route 139 since 2018, which runs between Blanchardstown and Naas. 

28/01/2023

This month we have our first Transport for Ireland (TFI) bus stop. Stop 10162 is located on Sydenham Road in Dundrum. This stop was installed when Go-Ahead Ireland took over the operation of route 75 (Dun Laoghaire to Tallaght) in October 2018. The route was changed in Dundrum so it could serve the bus stop at the Luas tram station, with it going via Sydenham Road and Main Street to reach Ballinteer Road. The part of Kilmacud Road Upper between Sydenham Road and Main Street was no longer served by a bus. Less than two years later, in August 2020, the westbound route was sent back via Kilmacud Road Upper to reach Ballinteer Road. This was due to Main Street being made one-way so the footpaths could be enlarged as part of the social distancing measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. No bus stop though was reinstated on Kilamcud Road Upper, and this stop fell out of use. 

This style of bus stop was introduced by TFI when they took over responsibility for public transport services in Ireland. The first use of this style of stop was in the Midlands when route 828 was introduced in late 2013 between Portlaoise and Cashel. As per the style guide at that time, the stop heads were green and white. In 2016 the bus stops were first rolled out in Cork in this updated blue and white colour scheme. Then when Bus Connects started in Dublin in 2021, the stops settled on a green and yellow style. The bus stop opposite the one in the picture has been updated from the blue/white head to a green/yellow one as it is still in use.  

07/04/2023

This month we are going to Airton Road in Tallaght. This stop is located near the junction with Belgard Road. It also has a surviving companion on the opposite (south) side of the road. Airton Road has been served over the years by variations on other routes. The 65B started serving it around 1989 and lasted until around 2012. The 77A also started serving it from around 1989 until around 1994. In 1990 the 75 gained Airton Road variations shortly after it started. This lasted up until Go-Ahead Ireland took over the route in 2018. The 77 served from around 1994 (replacing the 77A) until Network Direct saw the end of the route in 2011.

Some local routes also got in on the action with variations serving Airton Road. The T01, T02 and T03 covered it in the late-1980s, as did the successor routes 201,202 and 203 up until around 1991.

17/06/2023

This month we are visiting stop 7558 on Cardiff Lane, in the Grand Canal Dock area of Dublin. This stop first went into use in 2014 when Dublin Bus started the Docklands Tour. It was stop number 7 on that open-air bus tour around Dublin's Docklands, serving the Bord Gais Energy Theatre. 2016 was a big year for the bus stop. Due to construction work in the Docklands area, routes 15A and 15B were moved from their terminus in Grand Canal Dock, to Ringsend Road, and thus started serving this bus stop. They would later be joined by route 15D in 2017. June 2016 also saw the start of Airlink route 757 between Dublin Airport and Charlotte Way. This stop was served by buses from the airport, and I believe was also the driver change-over location. However in May 2017, the 757 was redirected away from here and started operating via Tara Street and Bus Aras. 2017 also saw the end of the Docklands Tour, but was partially replaced by the regular Hop-On, Hop-Off tour. 2018 saw routes 15A, 15B and 15D rerouted to operate fully along Pearse Street and no longer serve this stop. All tours were suspended in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and upon resumption, the Hop On, Hop Off tour no longer served this stop. 

29/09/2023

This month we are visiting stop 6355 on Beach Road in Irishtown. This stop was installed in 2007, when route 18 was cut back from Donnybrook Garage to Sandymount. It was used by Dublin Bus as a bus layover on that route from then until the route transferred to Go-Ahead Ireland in 2019. Up until May 2012 it was also used by the Saturday route 2 departure from Pigeon House to Sandymount. 

Since 26th November 2023, new route S2 (which partially replaced route 18) has passed this stop, but that route serves new stop 7933 installed further south on Beach Road.

Finally buses would have passed this way for many years when on diversion for events such as the Dublin City Marathon or the Mini-Marathon.  

02/12/2023