BusConnects Dublin - Bus Network Changes Discussion

loyatemu

Also how does the short fare work if you make another journey within 90 mins. Say you pay the short fare and decide to do another journey then are you only charged the extra 60c or do you have to pay the full €1.30 short fare or the €2 90 min fare. If the later not great for the short fare at all as you're paying more than would if you just paid the 90 minute fare in the first place.

I think you get charged the extra 70c - I've seen this on the Leap Card app. Not sure what the start time for the 90 mins is in that case though.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122255023#Comment_122255023

I wouldn't necessarily regard the N4 and S2 as being outer orbitals. The N6 had to be implemented at the same time as the N4 as both routes were replacing the 17a and the S2 had to be implemented same time as the S4, S6 and S8 as all three routes were replacing parts of the 17, 18, 75 and 175.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122255030#Comment_122255030

But how many stages and what do stages even mean?

Any info about stages or how many stages a short fare is has been removed from the Dublin Bus website! Also the fare calculators has been removed from both the DB and NTA travel planners!

So the only way to figure out if it might apply is asking a driver! Would many drivers even know, specially newer drivers.

Does this sound like a good customer experience?

Here is what the Leap card site says about it:

https://about.leapcard.ie/dublin-bus

The short fares applies to a journey on any single route up to approx.
2km to 3km in length, so some variances will exist in relation to
distances people can travel on the short fare. This is for a variety of
reasons including the location of individual stops on the public
transport network relative to fare boundaries and to the need to
maintain fares consistency when routes use different streets depending
on direction of travel.

I mean could you get any more vague? Are you supposed to be clairvoyant? Are bus drivers supposed to do complicated maths to figure out if it should apply or not.

Also I believe the distance that applies is longer on new BusConnects routes, then older stage based routes, thus the 2km to 3km flap above, it is actually 3km on BusConnects routes, but shorter on stage routes, which is all rather unfair.

Say you pay the short fare and decide to do another journey then are you only charged the extra 60c or do you have to pay the full €1.30 short fare or the €2 90 min fare.

The ticket machine works that out automatically and charges just an extra 70c, at least on Leap cards.

Also if fares have to be increased in years to come due to budget constraints. I would much rather they'd just scrap the short fare altogether as opposed to increasing the 90 minute fare.

I agree completely. Don't get me wrong I'm fine with them completely dropping the short fare and basically making the 90 minute fare a flat fare and making boarding simpler and faster.

But as long as the short fare exists, I feel strongly that it should be easy for people to figure out if it should apply or not, rather then just this weird "secret" fare.

bk

BTW I'm less then 3km from OCS, so if I was on a BusConnects route, I could just pay the short fare, however I'm over the 3 stages, so instead I pay €2, when for the past 4 years or so I could have been using the cheaper €1.30 short fare (going up to €1.50 so) if it wasn't for the NTA being too lazy to apply it to all routes and update the journey planners.

I wonder with the upcoming introduction of the Dublin City Zone and Dublin Commuter Zone, will they reintroduce the fare planners or will they continue to expect people to just guess fares?

halfpastneverr

They've bodged busconnects badly. To take so long to implement it is a joke, and to implement it without any necessary infrastructure is also a joke. They replaced the 40 with the G's and the reliable/frequent 79 with the awful hourly 60. The G's still crawl through Inchicore and Mount Brown due to there still being no camera enforced bus gate at peak despite the G's launching nearly 2 years ago & they all get stuck on the quays too, due to no camera enforced bus gates there either. If the proposed August bus gates are implemented like the ignored one on College Green, you may as well not bother at all.

Also, still no 24hr routes for the majority of Tallaght and Clondalkin which you'll struggle to get a taxi to accept a fare to late night, if you could afford to throw down €35+ for the privilege that is. Why should we have to pay that taxi or the inflated nightlink fare at weekends that residents of other areas with 24/7 routes don't have to?

I have zero faith in it being any more than an expensive route renumbering exercise at this stage, with hybrid and electric buses that sit in the same auld traffic as they did 30 years ago when they were talking up QBC's and Cityswift etc.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122254407#Comment_122254407

Theres been a layout stop added on the U-turn that the 46a/99 uses on parkgate street, so the N2 could use that until the relevant infrastructure is in place to get across to Heuston

p_haugh

One thing I havent seen mentioned that much - will the 46N be scrapped come the launch of the E-spine? The E1 being 24 hours will make 80% of it's route redundant. The Cabinteely → Dundrum section of the 46n would need to be retained somehow, as even when the A-spine starts up (assuming the A2 is made 24 hours), The gallops & Stepaside will still be without a night service (at weekends).

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122256316#Comment_122256316

The N2 will now serve Stoneybatter and the quays instead of Infirmary road so it won't use it anyway.

Funny enough that'll put an actual bus route using the south bound bus lane on James Joyce Bridge, which has never seen actual use before.

trellheim

when did th

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122256602#Comment_122256602

When did that change get announced ? Serving Infirmary Road and western NCR was actually important

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122256602#Comment_122256602

Ah right, didnt realise that. Had a look on Google Maps streetview there, and the bus lane was only actually added recently - sometime between June and October 2021!

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122256694#Comment_122256694

ItIt's On the bus connects website there's a map called '2024 revisions' I.e. sod the 3 rounds of public consultation and 3 years of chat.

trellheim

Ah ffs they've only updated that one map https://busconnects.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/A3-Big-Picture-Map-11.04.24-B.pdf

the original area maps still have the old routing https://busconnects.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cabra-area-map.pdf

there must be something weird about not being able to put in traffic signal infrastructure on parkgate st/sean heuston bridge to allow the N2 to launch

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122256355#Comment_122256355

I assume they'll announce that closer to the time. Supposedly both the E1 and E2 will be 24hr but they'll then need to do something to replace the 84N as well as it serves Greystones and some other places along the route that the E2 won't cover.

p_haugh

Was at Taste of Dublin over the weekend and noticed the bus shelter on Merrion Square West had two timetable holders (with one dedicated to DoDublin Tours). I really wish they would do this at more stops, especially those with multiple routes!

Daith

A person who objected to a bus stop outside their front door as part of the Clongriffin bus corridor has been granted leave to challenge it.

I could be wrong here, but I don't think they can just proceed with the rest of the corridor until this is settled?

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122280545#Comment_122280545

Correct. If the objection succeeds a new planning application will have to be made.

jd

They've updated the network map again :)

https://busconnects.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/A3-Big-Picture-Map-13.6.24.pdf

cgcsb

I'm not seeing much difference. Other than The F1 is serving IKEA as the 140 does at present.

I wonder why they're still showing the A spine going east to West on college green. Surely that's settled by now.

dublinman1990

I'm not sure if this covered under the changes from the previous map. The L27 from Dún Laoghaire will now be terminating at Leopardstown Luas Stop rather than at Ballyogan Avenue. It says the bus will now serve Ballyogan Avenue in both directions once it's rolled out for passenger service. I have to wonder how it will do that in future The buses on the 63 usually go around that estate in a one way loop in either direction. The 44/44C used to do that when they served Ballyogan in the past.

I would assume that the L27 will just stick with the one way route around Ballyogan Avenue & Ballyogan Court once it goes live.

Is the L27 still being rolled out with the other E-Spine routes this year?

DUBLINBUSGUY

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122281304#Comment_122281304

I would imagine it is rolling out at same time as E spine because I seen some GAI buses training in that area and there is a new bus stop kerbing built on Johnstown Road at St. Gabriel's opposite the stop across the road.

GRUF

I am reliably informed that the F Spine bus stops and other minor works are currently past the planning process, and are hopefully gonna be starting construction in the short term. I like to think it'll all be completed long before the end of the year.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122281304#Comment_122281304

They'd be better off extending that one up to Belarmine

dublinman1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122281330#Comment_122281330

That's great news. Has there been some buses doing training on the L26 in the Carrickmines/Kilternan area as well?

dublinbusdude

Any update on the next lot of changes? Would thought there would been some by now as schools are out for the Summer break!!

CatInABox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122281225#Comment_122281225

The N routes got some small changes.

The N2 will no longer follow the O route near phoenix park. Not sure why.

The N6 has been extended down to Blackbanks, although this is on hold until works are done to enable it. Presumably they're going to put a roundabout or something here, although it's meant to be a terminus, so they'll need a place to park as well, right? Not sure how it'll work, to be honest.

trellheim

Regarding the N2 there would have had to be some infrastructure changes to get it into Heuston ( the same ones needed for the O route, although they could have turned it like the 46a and additionally I am not sure there is room to turn a doubledecker left off NCR onto Blackhorse without movement of stop lines

VG31

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122285034#Comment_122285034

They've been due in June →July → September and now October according to a poster here a page or two back so who knows. All I know is they continue at this extremely slow rate, it could be in to the 2030s until Bus Connects is fully implemented!

trellheim

Some very strange crayoning going on with the E2 being pulled out of Finglas back to IKEA and leaving the northwestern part of St Margarets Road without a service , was it done just to have high freq F route on Jamestown road

TheChrisD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122288194#Comment_122288194

The roads for the suggested routing from Balbutcher Lane north straight through to IKEA aren't really suitable for bus operations; hence the redirect through Hampton Wood Drive. Presumably then E2 terminus was moved to IKEA to continue to be able to serve there directly, and the F1 was also moved to retain the Finglas→IKEA connection from the current 140 routing.

Duit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122280879#Comment_122280879

Thank you for this! I've never seen this map before. I don't know if this has been debated before but why do the 6 bus from Malahide doesn't continue through Clontarf Rd similar to the X78 (Current 32X bus). It would have speed up the commuting times, increased connectivity around Clontarf and could reconnect back with the H spine in Fairview. I don't get who designed the bus connects network. I'm looking at this map in it's entirety for the first time and it doesn't make much sense…