In December I sought an urgent review into Dublin Bus schedules, as frequent overcrowding on peak time services contrast starkly with a newly-announced increase in DART services, which will now arrive every ten minutes instead of every 15 minutes, from early 2016.
When services reach Glasnevin, Drumcondra or Finglas South in the morning, people are finding that the buses are full and simply can’t pick any more people up.
Our area doesn’t have the DART, the LUAS, or any second mode of public transport, so it’s clear an increase in peak time bus services is badly needed here. And while the Metro announcement is broadly welcomed, it is many years away.
While full buses are a sure sign of a recovering economy as more people go to work, they also serve as a daily reminder that we need more capacity.
I note Irish Rail has published a consultation document in December, which proposes to increase DART weekday frequency from every 15 minutes to every 10 minutes from early 2016. I am calling on Dublin Bus to begin a process to bring about a similar increase in capacity on the routes that clearly need it.
The increase in DART capacity, in response to continuing passenger growth, is warmly welcomed – but it’s clear that for areas where the DART simply isn’t an option, we must be urgently working to increase capacity on bus routes during weekdays at peak times.