Additional gardaí and public transport services have been deployed in Dublin to keep the city's traffic moving over the Christmas season.
Operation Open City, which runs until January 1st, is co-ordinated by the Garda, but involves the National Transport Authority, National Roads Authority, the four Dublin local authorities, transport providers and the business community in an effort to encourage shoppers and party-goers to use public transport.
In addition to the usual Garda traffic enforcement, 85 probationer gardaí from the most recent Garda College graduation class have have been temporally assigned to the Dublin region to keep traffic moving, with members stationed on the main routes in and out of the capital in the mornings and evenings.
Public transport providers have increased their services in the run-up to Christmas, but the usual Christmas stoppages will apply.
Luas services finish at 8pm on Christmas Eve and resume at 9am on St Stephen’s Day, running until 11.30pm with a Sunday frequency. Trams will run to a Saturday service for the rest of the week until December 30th, when a Sunday service will apply.
Night Luas services will also run on December 15th, 21st, 22nd and on New Year’s Eve from about midnight until about 3am, depending on stop location.
Nitelink services
Dublin Bus will run its Nitelink services until 4am on December 15th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th and 31st.
Dublin Bus services finish at 9pm on Christmas Eve until St Stephen’s Day when a Sunday service will operate. Saturday services run the rest of the week, with a Sunday service on December 30th. New Year’s Eve services, apart from Nitelink, also run to a Saturday service but finish at 10pm. A Sunday service applies on New Year’s Day.
Dart services will operate to a Saturday service until 9pm on Christmas Eve, with no services running on Christmas Day or on St Stephen's Day. Saturday services operate for the rest of the week until December 30th when a Sunday service applies. No Irish Rail services operate on St Stephen's Day.
Late-night rail services will operate on the Pearse-Maynooth line at 12.20am and 1.50am, the Pearse -Kildare line at 23.50pm and 1.50am, the Pearse-Dundalk line at 12.40am and 1.40am and on the Dart line at 12.30am and 1.30am from Connolly and Pearse stations, on December 15th, 21st and 22nd.
Road closures will be place for the New Year's Eve Festival at Custom House Quay from 6am on December 29th until 9pm on New Year's Day and on George's Quay from 4pm on New Year's Eve until 2am on New Year's Day. More details are available on the Operation Open City section of transportforireland.ie.
