Busconnects Consultation with Navan Road Residents

Dublin 7 (or Dublin Central in electoral terms) is not some local Dublin area. It remains one of the key entry points into the city centre, (the N7) the other being the Chapelizod By-pass, and the other being (the Phibsborough road), all funneling traffic into the city centre. The 2018 consultation was essentially a public relations exercise as the plans could be altered as the National Transport Authority sees fit.

Consultation with Navan Road Residents

The Busconnects website stated in 2018, "You can now have your say on four of the new bus corridors proposed in the BusConnects programme – the overhaul of Dublin's bus network."

The Busconnects plan would see the entire city's bus routes largely based around 16 dedicated Core Bus Corridors. These are key commuter routes where buses will have priority, with 230km of bus lanes and 200km of cycle lanes along them. The aim is to cut bus journey times by around 20-30 minutes and avoid the growing traffic congestion in the city."

Local Dublin 7 Connections

As to the apparent contraction of services involved in these Busconnects planned routes, it appears that in particular, for local Dublin 7 residents, there were to be substantial reductions in local services with the new route travelling down the N3 dual carraigeway.

The intention is to remove both the 70 and 270 routes with a new 264 local only route connecting Dunboyne to the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre.

Blanchardstown Shopping Centre to Dublin 7

The 264 would travel down Littlepace Road and Huntstown Way via a new 'bus gate' at Huntstown Wood (a side road at some distance from Blanchardstown proper). Bus users would need to switch to a "B spine service" (where?) to continue into the city centre. 

Huntstown Wood

The frequency of the 264 is estimated at 10-15 minutes. It is apparent from a glance at a map that there is a lot of land to be rezoned at "Huntsdown Wood". Huntstown Wood is itself removed from Blanchardstown proper and does not serve the regular traffic running down that route, therefore further land rezoning is planned in the area, citing this 'Bus-Gate' as an advantage using this realignment of routes to the city.

Bus Connects Public Consultation Information Meetings - Hollywoodrath Residents.

Navan Road

The revised plan will still involve the vast majority of buses from Dublin West converging on the Navan Road to go towards the city.

The proposal for the 39A is to replace it with a spinal network called B1/B2 which would go from Clonsilla/Ongar areas via a new hub in the Blanchardstown Centre to UCD through the Navan Road. Local concerns over capacity issues at peak times remain.

Buses Every Hour

The current 37/38 would become the 34/35 and both would travel via the Navan Road and on to the south city via Phibsborough and would bypass Skreen Road/Stoneybatter as the 37 currently does.

The 122 would be replaced by the 97. This would restore access between Ashington and the city centre but it would not continue onto the southside and would operate just once every hour.

An N2 route is proposed which would begin in Clontarf and travel across north Dublin via Griffith Avenue and Broombridge, then down the Nephin Road and Blackhorse Avenue terminating at Heuston Station. This would run every 20 minutes.

A new 36 route would replace the 120 but would run from Ratoath Road near Ashtown train station to Ballsbridge via Rathborne, Royal Canal Avenue, Cabra, Faussagh Ave. & Phibsborough.

Bus Connects Public Consultation Information Meetings - Hollywoodrath Residents

Explanation of Spines - You searched for B-Spine | Transport for Ireland

Another point to make is that reductions in services are based on employer needs (getting the right amount of workers who do not drive cars to work hence the hourly service). This is also very useful for private bus companies as they can maintain a minimum service with a low cost base.

Navan Road Peak-time Buses

The proposals include several new peak-time bus routes, originating from the Dublin 15 area. However, it is unclear whether these peak-time buses will stop on the Navan Road, if people from the Navan Road will be allowed board these buses and if so, where.

This remains to be clarified. It was vital that for confirmation that people from the Navan Road, areas like Ashington and Villa Park, will be able to get buses on the Navan Road and travel to the city centre and the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre.

It seems quite clear, however, that services to Blanchardstown village and the centre proper are to be scaled back in favour of providing bus parks at outlying locations.

BusConnects Public Consultations (joanburton.ie)

Navan Road/Cabra/Stoneybatter

There was significant concern in Cabra in 2019 regarding the elimination of the 120 and 122 routes as residents from Ratoath Estate, Carnlough Road, Bannow Road, Ratoath Road and Skreen Road would be left without any bus service. Elderly residents in Cabra and adjacent areas who depend on the bus would not be able to walk long distances to bus stops. These proposals are also discriminatory against people with disabilities/mobility impairments.

BroomBridge Intersection

The proposal to route three new routes, the N2, 36 and 262, over the old bridge at the Royal Canal Broombridgelocation was 'hugely problematic'. It is not clear how Broombridge could facilitate three routes travelling in both directions and it is argued that this will simply create new traffic bottlenecks. It would also push more road traffic over a historic structure).

The local residents of Ashington would see their bus service greatly reduced under the busconnects plan. The Bus Eireann No. 122 currently provides a good service every 10 minutes during rush hour. The reduction of a service in Ashington to every 30 minutes with the new 36 is route unacceptable. Also, the proposed 36 service does not link to the main entrance of the Mater Hospital.

Prussia Street Bus Corridor

The proposal to create a dedicated Bus Corridor on Prussia Street and the Old Cabra Road will have a huge negative impact on the residential amenity of neighbouring streets. Aughrim Street itself is a very narrow street and would not be able to cope with the volume of traffic being re-routed off Prussia Street itself. (Why not make Aughrim Street a bus only corridor) The proposal will also cause a large degree of re-routed traffic through Oxmantown Road/Arbour Hill and other residential streets.

Blackhorse Avenue, (adjacent, in fact parallel to the Phoenix Park) also a narrow, winding road with ramps will also be impacted by increased traffic levels.

Old Cabra Road / Stoneybatter Interchange

There is a question of just how much local access will be facilitated on the Cabra Drive (running onto the Old Cabra Road), and the Manor St. / Prussia Street road interchange at Stoneybatter as well as facilitating residential access to local shopping centres is uncertain. When this proposal was first introduced, there was widespread opposition to this proposal.

https://www.joecostello.ie/news/local/2020/05/05/submission-to-busconnects-on-northside-core-corrid/

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2019/0323/1038183-stoneybatter-bus-protest/

Phibsborough Interchange

Then-TD Joe Costello mentioned that there was considerable opposition to the abolition of the 46A in both the Stoneybatter/Phibsborough area when these proposals were first announced. The current 39 route is already full by the time it reaches the Old Cabra Road (a major artery into the city centre, and the proposed schedule of every 7.5 minutes would not cater for the demand upon abolition of the 46a route. 'In fact, a significant number of people take the 46A to UCD and the lack of a direct service to UCD will impact negatively on many local residents.

https://gadra.ie/images/route-by-route-comparison-table-Bus-Connects.pdf

https://www.dublininquirer.com/2018/08/08/busconnects-what-s-the-logic-of-interchanges-and-what-might-they-look-like

It should be pointed out, (in relation to the chatter about expaned choice with regard to the proposed bus interchanges), that when the Busconnects system was announced, it was supposed to be connected to the expanded Dart+ line, and the proposed Metrolink line, both of which have been axed.

Road Widening on the Old Cabra Road

Submission to Bus Connects | Cllr Joe Costello - Labour. It is apparent from the tree-cutting efforts along the Navan Road that this is a road widening proposal. - link. History of Dublin Road-Widening proposals in the city-centre:

Old Cabra Road

It is apparent that Dublin's road-widening process has reappeared and has now migrated to its immediate suburbs, along existing residential roads such as the Navan Road. This new designated '264' route, will proceed down the N3 dual carrigeway without troubling to provide much in the way of direct connections in the areas adoining the Navan Road / Old Cabra Road / North Circular Road areas.

It does however, connect the planned development lands of Dunboyne to the Navan Road and Dublin City, reinforcing this point, a new railway station was recently built outside Dunboyne located at an empty field, the lands obviously slated for housing development.

Dunboyne

Both transport hubs providing transport 'infrastructure' for further housing development in Dunboyne and surrounds. In short, the railway station is functionally useless for any transport purposes of Dunboyne itself, (as it lies well outside the town) but does serve rezoning purposes.

In terms of planning designation for housing, rail will not be provided unless it is specifically linked to land rezoning or private housing development. The busconnects bus route ('Dunboyne' lands to the City Centre) simply reinforces this point. Also, Dunboyne is a flood plain.

The difference between a Public bus service and private bus service

The Busconnects system was designed by a US designer, Walker, who stated that it was thrown in his face that he was introducing a US style system into Dublin city. Whatever about the merits of the claim, US bus transport is firmly secondary to car transport and in fact is used as a method for workers who cannot afford to drive cars to get to work.

This, however, is different from a public bus service, whose purpose is to facilitate transport across the city, to hospitals, schools and universities. That is the point of a public transport service, not of a privately run, and publicly subsidized, transport service that runs workers across a few main highways into hubs where they can connect to other routes. It is an employer, led facility and not providing a public service for all Dublin residents. It might also be noted that a decrease in the number of bus routes means an increase in the number of cars as deprived local area residents turn to other alternatives, such as taxies.

Another point is the ongoing privatisation of Dublin Bus routes and the firing of Dublin Bus drivers which will be dealt with later.