Dublin Metro line to cost 5 Billion

[pete]

[*]There's not enough good photo ops for buses as opposed to shiny new trams/ trains/ metro's.

Saying you approved a couple of hundred new buses is not eye catching for Election campaigns.

[mypost]

New trainlines,metro or Luas systems are unfeasible in my opinion. The viable option seems to be more buses and bus lanes for Dublin city where the congestion is worst. The billions the government has earmarked for the metro would go further buying hundreds more buses and construction of bus lanes out to the suburbs thus benefiting the majority rather than the minority.

Meanwhile Dublin Bus have to wait for National Development funds to improve a service that doesnt make loses like the other C.I.E companies.

The Luas is a privately-owned firm. Dublin Bus however, is a subsidiary of CIE, one of the biggest funded institutions in the country. If they can't fund buses from all the train, bus, and Luas cut they get every year, why should they be funded further?

Every major city that i can think of in Europe and the USA has a Metro system. Others have tram systems. Bizarrely, the reason they're there is because they're needed. The Luas takes 20 million passengers, and almost as many cars off the road every year. What would we do without it?

There's more than enough Dublin Buses, and Bus Eireann coaches to serve the country's needs. The bad news is, most of them are either out of service or parked in the garage.

[pete]

Every major city that i can think of in Europe and the USA has a Metro system. Others have tram systems. Bizarrely, the reason they're there is because they're needed. The Luas takes 20 million passengers, and almost as many cars off the road every year. What would we do without it?

For all its problems Luas cost maybe E1bn for both lines. This proposed cut price Metro is projected to cost 5 times as much & lets be honest no one expects it to be completed near that number & has various fundamental flaws - Under capacity being a massive one.

Underground transport is required but should only be considered when a realistic costing for future capacity & no hidden numbers is provided.

[MeathDrog]

By right, every county in the country should have a rail service. The fact that some Ulster counties don't even have a service in this day and age is a national disgrace. The fact that in order for you to travel from Limerick to Galway by train, you have to change at Kildare is an outrage, as is the fact you can't go direct from Maynooth to Celbridge, even though it's in the same fn' county.

There should be a line from Cork to Derry connecting with Limerick-Galway- Sligo-Donegal, and from Derry to Dublin via Monaghan. Whether the demand is there or not is not the issue, if you can run a bus service into every nook and cranny in the country, you should build a railway line too. There should also be night trains, and not the joke of a situation where Heuston and Connolly are practically deserted after 8pm. Wouldn't happen anywhere else.

Even in Meath you can't get a tran to Dublin even though we are right beside it! Why the hell don't we have a train service? The railway line is in place and is already used to bring cargo from Tara Mines to Dublin Port

[Saint MacDara]

There's more than enough Dublin Buses, and Bus Eireann coaches to serve the country's needs. The bad news is, most of them are either out of service or parked in the garage.

There simply arent enough buses for the sprawlling Dublin suburbs,many stuck in traffic most of the time.Every area is crying out for new/improved services but they cant be provided because every vehicle is accounted for.

Outside my house there is a bus lane almost fully connected running into the city centre but no service fully utalizes it because theres not enough buses to go round (and it takes forever for a private company to get a licence).And now the Metro is planned to go through my area but of course it will be no use as it goes to Dublin airport when everyone else wants to go into town!

Im not disputing the fact that C.I.E are heavily subsidised but the biggest share of that money goes to Irish Rail.Do we really need another company to drain public funds like that?

Yes trains are a lovely and romantic form of public transport that's a piece of nostalgia will never be rivaled and i personally would prefer to use high speed trains like the TGV to travel around every town in Ireland and a subway system in Dublin but we have to take a reality check.Yes,by all means use the train lines we already have to capacity,new trains,news stations,feeder services but let's not go on a drunken spending spree trying to recreate the past with new lines and walking up with an expensive train set!

[mypost]

Even in Meath you can't get a tran to Dublin even though we are right beside it! Why the hell don't we have a train service?

There are 3 train stations in Meath, at Enfield, Laytown, and Gormanston. We do have disused train lines in many parts of the country, and stations that were shut down when economics dictated. However, there is more than enough money to provide an efficient public transport system nationwide these days. People whinge about the cost, but if you want the best, you pay for it. If you don't, you put up with the current situation.

[gilberto_eire]

They can't get clean water in Galway. What chance have they of getting a train?

the colleges top student scores full-marks for his jokes again!!... the water situation has been fixed, try come up with something new....also your pretty much saying that its up to us to get it...dont you realise we have a GOVERMENT situatied in DUBLIN that deal with this sort of thing?!

[John83]

the colleges top student scores full-marks for his jokes again!!... the water situation has been fixed, try come up with something new....also your pretty much saying that its up to us to get it...dont you realise we have a GOVERMENT situatied in DUBLIN that deal with this sort of thing?!

Wow, clean water and still no sense of humour.

Or if you like, you can look at the website of Galway City Council (who are responsible for your water), where the latest boil water notice still indicates quite a large area [pdf warning] of contamination.

[gilberto_eire]

Wow, clean water and still no sense of humour.

Or if you like, you can look at the website of Galway City Council (who are responsible for your water), where the latest boil water notice still indicates quite a large area [pdf warning] of contamination.

yes which has been sorted a few weeks ago with the switch-over just the notice is remaining!!....

im glad you take time out to keep an eye on our water situation!!

[MeathDrog]

There are 3 train stations in Meath, at Enfield, Laytown, and Gormanston. We do have disused train lines in many parts of the country, and stations that were shut down when economics dictated. However, there is more than enough money to provide an efficient public transport system nationwide these days. People whinge about the cost, but if you want the best, you pay for it. If you don't, you put up with the current situation.

All them 3 stations are along the coast and they are not much good to you if you live in Navan or Trim or anywhere else in the county.Laytown is a 35 minute drive from Navan so you might as well drive into Dublin

[mypost]

All them 3 stations are along the coast

Enfield is along the coast??

[Poor Student]

Does anyone find a lot of bus lanes in more central locations redundant due to cars parked on the kerb and larger vehicles from the main lane occupying part of the bus lane? The bus lane in Rathmines is fairly useless from 8-9 on a weekday morning for example.

[pete]

Does anyone find a lot of bus lanes in more central locations redundant due to cars parked on the kerb and larger vehicles from the main lane occupying part of the bus lane? The bus lane in Rathmines is fairly useless from 8-9 on a weekday morning for example.

There so many things wrong with Dublin Transport I could not even list in one post. Its amazing paid professionals cannot detect it.

* What is the point of bus lanes if there is a gap of say 100 yards when down to 1 lane of regular traffic?
* Why have 24/7 bus lanes?
* Why have Saturday bus lanes in places with no traffic?
* Why are there so many bus stops? Some less than 100 yards away from each other.

[Poor Student]

There was a bus lane somewhere, the Malahide Rd. I think, that hadn't had a bus route operating on it in years and traffic was needlessly jammed into one lane!

[MeathDrog]

Enfield is along the coast??

Apart from Enfield,but that's nearly in Kildare so not much good to me

[Ceirtlis]

By right, every county in the country should have a rail service. The fact that some Ulster counties don't even have a service in this day and age is a national disgrace. The fact that in order for you to travel from Limerick to Galway by train, you have to change at Kildare is an outrage, as is the fact you can't go direct from Maynooth to Celbridge, even though it's in the same fn' county.

There should be a line from Cork to Derry connecting with Limerick-Galway- Sligo-Donegal, and from Derry to Dublin via Monaghan. Whether the demand is there or not is not the issue, if you can run a bus service into every nook and cranny in the country, you should build a railway line too. There should also be night trains, and not the joke of a situation where Heuston and Connolly are practically deserted after 8pm. Wouldn't happen anywhere else.

There is no point providing a service if their is damn all demand for it and i cant see much demand for a train service between Galway and Cork because Citylink buses have started a service between Gy and ck and there are very little people using it.
In any case there are plans to reopen some or all of the Western Rail Corridor, they were announced a year or two ago. It wont be an overnight job either as some of them lines are in a right state.

[mypost]

There is no point providing a service if their is damn all demand for it and i cant see much demand for a train service between Galway and Cork because Citylink buses have started a service between Gy and ck and there are very little people using it.

CIE is the state transport system, and can absorb loss making routes, by road and rail. Ffs, who goes by train to Rosslare Europort? Manulla Junction? Roscommon? Ballybrophy? Yet they still have a daily service from Dublin. A Galway-Cork route would have demand, enough to half fill a Commuter train at least, as it's two major cities you're talking about.

I like the overnight Derry-Dublin bus service too, it's the way to go, but unfortunately it's the exception, rather than the norm which it should be.

[Schumi]

who goes by train to... Manulla Junction?

Everyone who's going to Ballina, a reasonable number of people any time I was on it.

[onceahoop]

There was a bus lane somewhere, the Malahide Rd. I think, that hadn't had a bus route operating on it in years and traffic was needlessly jammed into one lane!

That was the M50 extension down to the Malahide Road. The only bus using it was the Dart feeder from the Airport which ceased to operate a few years ago but the Bus lane didn't. Add that to the idiotically slow speed limit and it's a joke to drive on. Fingal County Council also have 24/7 bus lanes alomg the Swords Road. A joke.

[Macy]

I don't really agree with the arguement, but I don't think that bus lane on the M32 was ever a driving lane. It was a hard shoulder before it was a bus lane afaik. Still no reason it couldn't be opened up.

I'm not sure what arguement you're trying to put up really mypost. The Rosslare route is packed everyday, as it's the commuter line for Arklow, Wicklow, Rathdrum etc. It's nicknamed the calcutta express in Bray and Greystones it's that packed by the time it gets there!

Saint MacDara there's no need for that bus lane to be empty, and it doesn't need private companies. It just needs the Government to allow Dublin Bus to buy more feckin buses. It all comes down to them being so obssessed with rail options that to justify them they run down the alternatives.