R139 Bus lane?

H3llR4iser

Hey folks - quick question about the "ghost bust lane" on the R139 between Clare Hall and the M50 - Is it an actual bus lane? The markings are badly faded, I've never seen a single bus on that road and most private vehicles drivers use it regularly...anyone got any more detailed information?

K.Flyer

No, its not a bus lane.
I phoned Coolock Garda Station (01 666 4200) about it years ago as I was using the road on a very regular basis at the time.

Buckfast W

It used to be for the airport bus that ran from Killbarrack but it hasn't been a bus lane in donkeys years.

Lovely Bloke

I'm sure there used to be a sign up to that effect too.

H3llR4iser

Buckfast W wrote: »

It used to be for the airport bus that ran from Killbarrack but it hasn't been a bus lane in donkeys years.

Well, an airport bus from the area wouldn't be a bad thing- especially now with Clongriffin and Donaghmede being quite populated.

Buckfast W

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Well, an airport bus from the area wouldn't be a bad thing- especially now with Clongriffin and Donaghmede being quite populated.

Yeah I suppose so, the amount of building going on around the area is crazy. I'm remember getting the bus years ago from Donaghmede but never ever seen it full so I'm guessing thats why it stopped.

But yeah it was very handy and cheaper than a taxi.

Davy

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Hey folks - quick question about the "ghost bust lane" on the R139 between Clare Hall and the M50 - Is it an actual bus lane? The markings are badly faded, I've never seen a single bus on that road and most private vehicles drivers use it regularly...anyone got any more detailed information?

Aerdart bus was suspended in 2007 and it became not in operation a year or two after that iirc.

For awhile it had signs saying bus lane not in operation but then all the signs were moved 2010ish. Once the blue sign with times is no longer there its not a bus lane technically despite what road markings are in place.

It was also the N32 then :P

odyssey06

*sigh* I miss the AerDart... trains, planes and automobiles...

OldGoat

For a while that defunct buslane was bliss, an almost empty lane that very few people used. Now sadly everyone has realised that it's safe to use as a normal lane.

H3llR4iser

OldGoat wrote: »

For a while that defunct buslane was bliss, an almost empty lane that very few people used. Now sadly everyone has realised that it's safe to use as a normal lane.

Well, not really - at least not at the times I use it; it's about 75%/25% split between people hanging on the right lane, and those using it as a normal driving lane - enough to make me wonder if it was still active at all.

I can imagine it being completely blocked up in case of a heavy traffic, however.

odyssey06 wrote: »

*sigh* I miss the AerDart... trains, planes and automobiles...

An airport connection from Howt Junction would indeed make a lot of sense - get out of the city traffic on rail, get on the bus relatively close to the airport...

spurious

I think AerDart was a little bit ahead of its time, plus it wasn't that well marketed.

The salubrious surroundings of Howth Junction may also have put some off, but it was a great service while it lasted. I think it was used quite a bit by people who worked in the airport.

H3llR4iser

spurious wrote: »

I think AerDart was a little bit ahead of its time, plus it wasn't that well marketed.

The salubrious surroundings of Howth Junction may also have put some off, but it was a great service while it lasted. I think it was used quite a bit by people who worked in the airport.

Lol @ the "salubrious surroundings" :D:D

But yeah, probably was a bit early...in general 'though, it's the #1 problem with Dublin public transport in general - the lack of integration: services that do not cross properly or all converge in the same spot, different fares (e.g. having to take two buses means two fares, even if it's the same journey...) and timings being all over the place, often for no apparent reason whatsoever.

L1011

Port Tunnel works killed it's time efficiency. If clongriffin had more service it could be replicated now

GerardKeating

L1011 wrote: »

Port Tunnel works killed it's time efficiency. If clongriffin had more service it could be replicated now

It was more the upgrades to longer platforms that killed it, no DARTS at weekend for the past part of six/seven months.

Buckfast W

I live in Donaghmede, I can see the planes landing and taking off from my house.

It's crazy that my options for getting to the airport are

A.Get a taxi. (which is usually over 20 euro)
B.Get a lift off someone.
C. Get the bus or dart into town and get a bus to the airport.

That pretty much goes for the whole D.13 and D.5 areas.

GM228

Davy wrote: »

Aerdart bus was suspended in 2007 and it became not in operation a year or two after that iirc.

And 12 years later the Aerdart website is still active, it was suspended in 2005, not 2007.

http://www.aerdart.ie/

GerardKeating wrote: »

L1011 wrote: »

Port Tunnel works killed it's time efficiency. If clongriffin had more service it could be replicated now

It was more the upgrades to longer platforms that killed it, no DARTS at weekend for the past part of six/seven months.

Indeed it was DART weekend works that ended the service.

https://www.rte.ie/amp/60766/

Oddly enough the RTE report shows 2007, but it did cease on 20.3.05.

ProudDUB

Buckfast W wrote: »

I live in Donaghmede, I can see the planes landing and taking off from my house.

It's crazy that my options for getting to the airport are

A.Get a taxi. (which is usually over 20 euro)
B.Get a lift off someone.
C. Get the bus or dart into town and get a bus to the airport.

That pretty much goes for the whole D.13 and D.5 areas.

Not entirely true. I'm in D13. I live beside the terminus for the 102. It runs from Sutton Dart station to the airport. However, it usually only runs once an hour. The trip time is about an hour, as it goes via Portmarnock, Malahide & Swords villages & takes lots of detours thru housing estates along the way. The trip time can be well over an hour during peak commuter times, especially if the bus runs into traffic in Malahide & Swords villages, where there are no bus lanes.

I agree with your overall point. The areas to the immediate east & west of the airport, are very badly served by public transport. Not everyone who travels to the airport, or works there, lives on a north/south axis in Santry or Swords, that have a half decent airport service. There should be more than one airport bus serving all of Baldoyle, Donaghmede, Sutton, Portmarnock, Malahide etc etc. The service should also be a lot more frequent than once an hour imo.

humberklog

I'm in Belmayne and it only costs 13ish quid to airport.

There is a sneeky route to airport: pop onto the hotel feeder busses leaving The Hilton or Bewleys, very regular and no questions asked .

Buckfast W

humberklog wrote: »

I'm in Belmayne and it only costs 13ish quid to airport.

There is a sneeky route to airport: pop onto the hotel feeder busses leaving The Hilton or Bewleys, very regular and no questions asked .

You sir are a sssssnake, I have passed your details onto the Gardai, I have no doubts they'll want to chat to you about committing fraud

Seriously though that's a great idea.

I'm currently living in Belmayne, next time I see some wheeling a suitcase up to the Hilton I'll give you a wave.

tricky D

Buckfast W wrote: »

I live in Donaghmede, I can see the planes landing and taking off from my house.

It's crazy that my options for getting to the airport are

A.Get a taxi. (which is usually over 20 euro)
B.Get a lift off someone.
C. Get the bus or dart into town and get a bus to the airport.

That pretty much goes for the whole D.13 and D.5 areas.

29A to Baldoyle and then the 102 might be another option.

Buckfast W

tricky D wrote: »

29A to Baldoyle and then the 102 might be another option.

Yeah true but as another poster said it kinda goes around the world a bit to get there. In a car I can be up to the airport in 10-15mins. It's not a long journey, as I said I can see the planes landing and taking off. Plus if you have an early morning flight then your kinda snookered.

Most people pay for a taxi rather than have the headache of trying to take 2 buses which will probably take well over an hour.

humberklog

I stayed in the Bewley's hotel for 2 weeks a few year ago while work was being done on the apartment. I reckon at least 50% of guests were Northerners staying overnight waiting on flights.

Now with the new train station at Clongriffin surely it would make sense to re-instate the airport bus from there with stops at both hotels?

Although I can imagine the brain freeze on Dublin Bus and Iarnrod Eirinn management at that meeting.

H3llR4iser

Buckfast W wrote: »

Most people pay for a taxi rather than have the headache of trying to take 2 buses which will probably take well over an hour.

As a matter of fact, from Clongriffin it's even better to use your own car - if you book the parking in advance it's usually less than 40 euro for a week in the Blue or Red car parks; Every time I took a taxi it's been 25 euro each way, not to mention the fact that during some peak seasons I had to queue over an hour at the airport.

humberklog wrote: »

Now with the new train station at Clongriffin surely it would make sense to re-instate the airport bus from there with stops at both hotels?

It would be great, the only issue there being the damn 30-minutes interval on trains at Clongriffin, that goes up to nearly an hour at specific times of the day

bren2001

H3llR4iser wrote: »

As a matter of fact, from Clongriffin it's even better to use your own car - if you book the parking in advance it's usually less than 40 euro for a week in the Blue or Red car parks; Every time I took a taxi it's been 25 euro each way, not to mention the fact that during some peak seasons I had to queue over an hour at the airport.



It would be great, the only issue there being the damn 30-minutes interval on trains at Clongriffin, that goes up to nearly an hour at specific times of the day

I never understood why the dart was not extended to the airport. Seems the simplest way to connect the airport to the city centre along with connecting a huge section with a direct connection.

L1011

bren2001 wrote: »

I never understood why the dart was not extended to the airport. Seems the simplest way to connect the airport to the city centre along with connecting a huge section with a direct connection.

Extremely lack of capacity on the lines in to Connolly. Would be near impossible to provide a better than half hourly service without billions in investment. It also wouldn't be very fast.

neris

bren2001 wrote: »

I never understood why the dart was not extended to the airport. Seems the simplest way to connect the airport to the city centre along with connecting a huge section with a direct connection.

because the people who plan design and implement public transport systems/road and other infrastructure think in "The Now" and not what will the needs be in years to come. The M50 being 1 example of crap planning for the future

LXFlyer

L1011 wrote: »

Extremely lack of capacity on the lines in to Connolly. Would be near impossible to provide a better than half hourly service without billions in investment. It also wouldn't be very fast.

Nonsense.

Perfectly possible to provide a decent service - convert the Howth Branch into a dedicated shuttle between Howth and Howth Junction and have Malahide & Portmarnock covered by a half-hourly diesel service on the Northern Line.

L1011

lxflyer wrote: »

Nonsense.

Perfectly possible to provide a decent service - convert the Howth Branch into a dedicated shuttle between Howth and Howth Junction and have Malahide & Portmarnock covered by a half-hourly diesel service on the Northern Line.

And make all Belfast and further Northern services unviably slow; and all for a service about as quick as getting a bus.

The Clongriffin spur proposal is just a grab by IE/CIE trying to stop another service going to a private operator - its not viable and won't be viable without quad tracking.

LXFlyer

L1011 wrote: »

And make all Belfast and further Northern services unviably slow; and all for a service about as quick as getting a bus.

The Clongriffin spur proposal is just a grab by IE/CIE trying to stop another service going to a private operator - its not viable and won't be viable without quad tracking.

Why? That would just use the existing DART service level that is in place but with a Howth branch shuttle.

It is perfectly possible to put such a service in place with the current 15 minute frequency and not affect other services.

Now personally I don't think the 10 minute service should be put in place without proper infrastructural improvements such as additional quad-tracking and loops, as it will render improving the Enterprise or Northern Line services impossible.

L1011

lxflyer wrote: »

Why? That would just use the existing DART service level that is in place but with a Howth branch shuttle.

And your additional Northern Line services, which will impact for a much longer distance/time too.

Captain Chaos

Buckfast W wrote: »

I live in Donaghmede, I can see the planes landing and taking off from my house.

It's crazy that my options for getting to the airport are

A.Get a taxi. (which is usually over 20 euro)
B.Get a lift off someone.
C. Get the bus or dart into town and get a bus to the airport.

That pretty much goes for the whole D.13 and D.5 areas.

This exactly, when I worked in the airport as part of a construction project I had to get the first morning DART to town, 8km in the wrong direction to wait 30mins for a bus to travel the 8km back on myself and a further 3 km to the airport. It took me about 90mins to get from Donaghmede to the airport using public transport as apposed to a 10min drive at that hour of the morning.

Madness that there is no proper airport transport link for the majority of D13 and D5 area.

A 29B bus route would be good, follow the same route as the 29A except turn onto the R139 towards Clarehall to the airport at Donaghmede as apposed to towards Baldoyle. Let the A do the Baldoyle/ Coast spur and the B does Clarehall/ Airport.