Public transport

**awec** · 27/01/2010, 12:37 AM

I'm convinced this country has the some of the worst public transport websites in the world for giving information how to get places.

Can someone with experience tell me how I can get from the area around Leopardstown racecourse to bray on public transport?

Surely it's not a case of having to go the whole way into Dublin Centre and then back out again?!

**theworm2345** · 27/01/2010, 1:31 AM

I do think having some sort of rail to the airport would be good. After the France match I hopped on a bus to the airport and after waiting to get on I found out that you needed exact change to get on. Fortunately the driver let me on for free but I would've been screwed as I slept in the airport. Furthermore, they don't announce the stops on the bus so I was never sure I was even going to the airport or if the bus actually pulled up there.

One thing I did like was on the city rail (Luas?) they had the times showing how far away the next train was.

Well thats my experience on Dublin transportation.

**John83** · 27/01/2010, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by awec

I'm convinced this country has the some of the worst public transport websites in the world for giving information how to get places.

Can someone with experience tell me how I can get from the area around Leopardstown racecourse to bray on public transport?

Surely it's not a case of having to go the whole way into Dublin Centre and then back out again?!

It's a short walk to the N11. Various buses there. 45, 84, etc. Check out the google maps links for the stops of the various routes listed here.

**paul_oshea** · 27/01/2010, 10:33 AM

has dublin corporation not paid ofr something like this:
tfl.gov.uk

someone outthere with a bit of IT know how should go and develop this and sell it onto them for a few hundred grand.

**pineapple stu** · 27/01/2010, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by John83

It's a short walk to the N11. Various buses there. 45, 84, etc. Check out the google maps links for the stops of the various routes listed here.

Yep. Also, the LUAS is being extended from across the way from Leopardstown race course to Cherrywood and ultimately to Bray. you'll have to wait a while, but at least something's being done.

The board showing how far away the next train is is a common thing throughout Europe; it's also on the DART here. I think there's a bus stop near Richmond Park which has the same thing as well; remember seeing one very randomly a while back.

Agree it's mad we've no rail link to the airport.

**endabob1** · 27/01/2010, 11:05 AM

I thought there were plans afoot for a Metro with underground trains linking the city with the airport & the Luas & Dart to come up with some sort of fully integrated system. I asusme they have been shelved in the current financial climate.

**Pauro 76** · 27/01/2010, 1:06 PM

I reckon Dublin must be the only European capital city without a rail link from their airport...

**brendy_éire** · 27/01/2010, 1:08 PM

Originally Posted by awec

I'm convinced this country has the some of the worst public transport websites in the world for giving information how to get places.

Certainly agree with that. CIÉ need a site with a journey planner that includes all public transport.
One would assume that putting the bus and rail journey planners together wouldn't be too much bother.
Translink have one for the north which is really handy.

**awec** · 27/01/2010, 1:56 PM

Originally Posted by theworm2345

I do think having some sort of rail to the airport would be good. After the France match I hopped on a bus to the airport and after waiting to get on I found out that you needed exact change to get on. Fortunately the driver let me on for free but I would've been screwed as I slept in the airport. Furthermore, they don't announce the stops on the bus so I was never sure I was even going to the airport or if the bus actually pulled up there.

One thing I did like was on the city rail (Luas?) they had the times showing how far away the next train was.

Well thats my experience on Dublin transportation.

The Luas is decent but at present there are nowhere near enough Lines. Not to mention that the red and green lines don't ever meet at any point.

My biggest problem is the bus website isn't too informative to the users who don't know their way about. It expects me to know where abouts on a 3 mile long road the bus stop is. It expects me to know where my bus will terminate etc.

Very uninformative.

I'd love something where I typed in a pickup and a destination, and it could work out the cheapest and quickest way for me to get there.

The Luas is getting extended to Bray but that will probably take them about 10 years to sort out ffs.

**Bluebeard** · 27/01/2010, 2:08 PM

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Yep. Also, the LUAS is being extended from across the way from Leopardstown race course to Cherrywood and ultimately to Bray. you'll have to wait a while....

You'd want to start walking to the N11 so AWEC.

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

has dublin corporation not paid ofr something like this:
tfl.gov.uk

someone outthere with a bit of IT know how should go and develop this and sell it onto them for a few hundred grand.

It, and the oyster card system, are great examples of how an integrated transport network can run. It took them ages in London to agree oyster, I'm told, as the network was composed of different companies, each of which had to be bartered with before agreeing.

Dublin Bus, and the DART, and I think the LUAS are all interconnected, so it should be no problem. However, you probably need the buses to run above 60% of their operating hours within 10m of the scheduled time for each stop, and that seldom happened when I was there. It seemed to me to be the case that if the bus got there early it left early, or more commonly the case, if it got there late, well, it left late, or not at all if at a terminus. There simply has not been the funding or the political will to make it happen, or to make it realistic, either in Dublin Bus, or in the management of DUblin's traffic problem.

**pineapple stu** · 27/01/2010, 2:09 PM

Originally Posted by Pauro 76

I reckon Dublin must be the only European capital city without a rail link from their airport...

There's a few, though mainly small. Cyprus is possibly the largest European country without a rail connection from its airport (in Larnaka).

**brianw82** · 27/01/2010, 2:20 PM

Originally Posted by Pauro 76

I reckon Dublin must be the only European capital city without a rail link from their airport...

Prague as well.

**pineapple stu** · 27/01/2010, 2:29 PM

Bratislava too actually, I think.

Edit - Podgorica also.

**Bluebeard** · 27/01/2010, 3:22 PM

Sure if the Slavs don't bother, and the Greek Cypriots don't bother, sure Dublin Airport mustn't be such a bad place at all now...

**passinginterest** · 27/01/2010, 3:29 PM

Edinburgh also lacks a rail link, although they are building a tram link at the moment. I seem to remember reading that all Dublin buses have had GPS installed to allow for the rollout of an accurate tracking system but no sign of it yet. I do think it would be pretty easy to update to Dublin Bus site with actual maps showing real stops and locations rather that what's there now, the timetable system here is far too difficult to interpret as it stands. There seems to be some genuine effort towards integrating the systems over here but it's a long way off still and a few simple improvements in the meantime would make all the difference.

**Schumi** · 27/01/2010, 3:34 PM

Originally Posted by passinginterest

I do think it would be pretty easy to update to Dublin Bus site with actual maps showing real stops and locations rather that what's there now.

They have google maps with the stop locations on their timetable pages now. The link could stand out better though.

**passinginterest** · 27/01/2010, 3:48 PM

Originally Posted by Schumi

They have google maps with the stop locations on their timetable pages now. The link could stand out better though.

So they do! Hadn't noticed that before, it's a start at least.

**awec** · 27/01/2010, 4:33 PM

The timetables are hard to understand because they don't have all the stops in them. At the bottom, the numbers beside the stops, what are they? The time at every hour a bus gets to the stop, the time after teh bus leaves the first stop that it gets to it? What? :s

**Bluebeard** · 27/01/2010, 4:58 PM

Originally Posted by awec

The timetables are hard to understand because they don't have all the stops in them. At the bottom, the numbers beside the stops, what are they? The time at every hour a bus gets to the stop, the time after teh bus leaves the first stop that it gets to it? What? :s

Next week's lotto numbers?