BusConnects Dublin - Big changes to Bus Network

Yup, why not? It's additional 5 minutes journey time compared to continuing to Hazelhatch, hardly a massive extension.

According to previous posts on FB, the issue with this wasn't additional distance but in fact the NTA feared negative response when the connection reverted back to Hazelhatch. Which has to go down as one of the most Irish reasons ever to not implement an improvement

It really doesn't matter what the headways are along a spine once they're above a certain frequency - I really hope no one planning services are thinking along those lines

It is really really exciting that these routes are being launched. This will be the first real test to see if people will actually switch from cars to public transport.

It's actually mind blowing that these routes don't already exist. On the M50 section, will the W4 have to sit in traffic across the toll?

Some smart marketing could be used for the W4 "€2 leap fare, it's cheaper than the toll"

The Double deckers are limited to 70km/h so they will never catch the end of the traffic on the M50. 😂

"I'm referring to rush hour traffic on that section of road! Which is as good as a physical barrier..."

It'll be in the same traffic as the 76A so. Having a different route number on the bus won't get it through the toll section any quicker!

Spines are designed to provide a solid regular frequency mainly for inner Dublin city. Once the spines' branches split, these suburbs aren't getting a benefit except the potentially new connections and 24/7 service. But capacity is the problem due to the frequencies. This should be addressed by providing more L or P/X routes (or increased frequency/extended hours). We should have had super spines on top of the spines which could go to the suburbs skipping some stops within the inner city (aka regular frequent X routes all day long), while shorter spines could focus on the inner city capacities and not necessarily be spread too far.

Older BC had a spine going to Malahide along the new BS bus 20 route.

We could be better having X serving Malahide, Howth, Swords, Blanch, Tallaght, Celbridge, Maynooth, Bray, Greystones etc. L could be in a much stronger position.

That doesn't make any sense. At the moment, the minimum headway is every 8 minutes on C spine - so even if you add additional services to just one route along the spine, you're not going to dilute the 8 minute headway along the spine. That's my point: if you have your desired minimum headway and you've achieved it, then it no longer is about maintaining the headway gaps (which you've achieved), you can actually add extra services at will. The problem occurs when you try to increase services AND maintaining a consistent (and reducing) gap in headway at the same time.

The issue is buses "bunching up". It's like a runaway loop.

If the average time between buses at every stop is different, you create a situation where one bus stops at every stop to pick up passengers (creating delays), while the next bus speeds past the empty stops and "catches up" with the previous bus.

Think of the Tube in London, if you've been on it. Trains arrive every 3-4 minutes, if one was late by 1-2 minutes the platforms would be overrun with people. It's the same idea on bus routes and it's more difficult to manage as every passenger has to tag-on using one machine.

It doesn't matter if the frequency is every 2 minutes or every 10 minutes, it's the same issue.

If I want to get to Leixlip, I don't care how many or how frequent C1 or C2 buses are as they don't get me to my destination. I care how often and how frequent C3/52/X25 are. I do catch X28 buses to the Spa hotel in the hope of catching an upstream bus, but more often than not I'm left waiting upwards of 30 mins for bus to complete the rest of the journey. The capacity and frequency just isn't there to support passenger needs. I have a very short commute if I get on a bus. More often than not I can be waiting 30-40 mins at rush hour to get on a bus which is ridiculous and between 3 and 5 nearly all buses on the C spine are full and don't let anyone on beyond Aston Quay. It's pathetic and was easily predicted that a reduction in city centre buses serving already oversubscribed areas wouldn't work. They only got away with it as long as they did because of covid.

On another note, the TFI app is losing information for several stops now. Makes the shoddy service even worse.

It depends on what you're advertising as being committed to in terms of frequency. If you advertise the spine as being 8 minute headway at peak times, then you're not really breaking that promise if the frequencies are better than that occassionally to facilitate extra demand in Maynooth. Of course, if the extra services to Maynooth (which are sorely needed) are inadequate to facilitate being able to claim better frequencies, then the solution isn't to doggedly stick to the existing timetable and dilute the customer experience by sending busses that are full by the time they reach a certain point in the route and leaving people behind, the solution is to put on extra services without trying to claim that it will reduce your advertised minimum headway. Nobody is going to gripe about the gap between services being less than 8 minutes and not as advertised if it actually represents an improvement in service.

That's a horrendous story, I don't think I've ever heard of anything as severe as that happening on a dublin bus. I don't particularly understand how the driver could have been so unaware of the assaults on the bus that he didn't pull over until a passenger asked, although the reporting may not be fully accurate in that regard. It's also fairly unnerving that they haven't identifed some of the victims. I hope they are ok and got appropriate medical treatment.