Dublin People

Locals urged to engage with revised bus plan

Details of the new plan have been announced. PHOTO: BIGSTOCK

NORTHSIDERS are being urged to engage with the revised BusConnects plan after details were announced last week.

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The level of bus services in the Dublin network will increase by 22 percent as a result of the Dublin Area Bus Network redesign.

Under the plan, the network will now be arranged on the basis of eight spines radiating from the city centre. 

Spines are very frequent routes made up of individual bus services timetabled to work together along a corridor. 

At the end of the spine, the individual services branch off to serve different areas. An additional spine has been included in this plan to serve Howth and parts of the north-east city.

The initial proposals to change the Dublin Bus network last year sparked huge debate with public meetings taking place all over the city and county.

The revised plans have generally received a warm welcome among public representatives and transport groups. 

Dublin Bay North TD Sean Haughey (FF) welcomed news that direct services into the city centre will remain in place. 

“The need to interchange has all but been eliminated in Dublin Bay North,” he said.

“I am pleased in particular that commuters living in Howth and Sutton will now continue to have a direct service into the city following the public consultation process.” 

Dublin Fingal TD Darragh O’Brien (FF) also welcomed the “significant changes” made to the BusConnects routes in his constituency.

“These changes address most of the concerns that I and my colleagues, along with residents all across the north county, raised during the consultation process,” said Deputy O’Brien.

“We now have direct buses back from Donabate and Portrane, Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Kinsealy, Portmarnock and the Seabury area of Malahide. There will also be a direct bus service for the Rolestown area and increased services to Swords

“Over 50,000 submissions were submitted by the public on this very important issue and it is one which my party has worked very hard on with the people of north county Dublin to get agreement on.”

Deputy O’Brien added: “It’s clear from the large number of people who attended our meetings that many local residents had legitimate concerns about how the proposals would affect their local bus services.”

National Transport Authority (NTA) chief executive Anne Graham said: “Last year, we published for public consultation, our draft network plan. The level of engagement we saw from members of the public in that process was unprecedented, and it provided us with the kind of insight into our bus services, that cannot be garnered any other way.

“We have responded very constructively to the issues that were raised, and I have no doubt that the plan we are publishing today is one that will increase overall services levels for bus customers. “It will also make the bus network more useful to more people and will make all parts of Dublin more accessible than ever before.”

As part of the engagement process, the National Transport Authority (NTA) will deliver a leaflet to every home and business in the city with details of the new scheme.

Details of the new plans can be obtained at www. busconnects.ie.

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