Cuts in Dublin Bus to have 'no impact on customers'

THE REMOVAL of 90 buses from the Dublin Bus fleet and cuts of about 150 staff will have “no impact on customers”, the company has said.

Dublin Bus is undertaking its largest reorganisation of services which it hopes will save more than €12 million a year and encourage more people to take the bus.

The company said it will provide a more frequent service, a greater number of direct and “orbital” routes – eliminating unnecessary journey through the city centre – an amalgamation of some routes and a reduction in the need to change buses on many journeys.

The reduction in city centre traffic, the increase in the number of quality bus corridors (QBCs), and the introduction of bus priority at junctions enabled Dublin Bus to remove 90 buses without impairing the service, a spokeswoman said. “No bus routes are being removed. Ninety buses are going, but this is mainly because traffic volumes in the city have dropped. Previously, because of congestion, we had to have extra buses on to try to meet the time table, but because of the QBCs, bus priority, and critically the bus gate, things are moving much faster.”

While no routes are being axed, several will be amalgamated. No areas will be left without services, but some passengers may find themselves with an increased walk to reach bus stops. On average no customer would be more than 300m from a stop, she said.

Most parts of Dublin will be affected by route changes, but some passengers will face greater change than others.

“There have been major changes in travel patterns . . . and while we have been making smaller changes, a major review of the network was needed,” the spokeswoman said.

Growing suburbs such as Ongar near Blanchardstown would be getting an enhanced service. Other changes would reflect the introduction of new rail or Luas services by serving stations, but not running parallel with a rail route which had seen a considerable modal shift away from buses.

Details of the first new routes will be announced on Monday for services in Blanchardstown, Stillorgan and Lucan, but the changes will not be implemented until July.

The revised network would include more orbital services, which avoid the city centre and more cross-town services which would eliminate buses terminating in the centre and driving back from whence they came.

“There will be 30 per cent less bus flow on O’Connell Street and 25 per cent less on Westmoreland Street. Passengers whose destination isn’t the centre will be able to get from one side of the city to the other without changing buses.”

Redundancies will be voluntary, the company said. A spokesman for Siptu said he had been assured terms and conditions would not be affected.

Opposition transport spokesmen were critical of the plan to cut bus numbers.

“It is very hard to believe that commuters can look forward to a better service with the loss of up to 90 buses from the fleet,” Labour’s Tommy Broughan said.

Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd said the numbers didn’t “stack up” for passengers. “The company is axing routes . . . How can that be of benefit to anyone?”