Festive shopping season will see 100 more garda∅ on capital's streets

One of the main elements of Operation Freeflow this year will be an additional 100 garda∅ on Dublin streets to facilitate traffic flow.

There will also be 5,000 extra Nitelink services carrying up to a quarter of a million people over the Christmas period from December 6th to January 5th. Services will run to 4.30a.m. There will also be additional buses in operation and enhanced services on nine quality bus corridors (QBCs).

No new non-emergency roadworks will be permitted on the major commuter routes in the Dublin region. Exempted from the Freeflow roadworks ban are the N1/M1 Northern Motorway, the N1 Port Tunnel, the N11 Wyattville works; Brewery Road, Stillorgan; the Dundrum bypass, Luas works, and certain QBC works.

There will be 134 Garda foot patrols on duty over a 12-hour period, as well as 48 motorcycle patrols, 10 patrol cars, two tow wagons and Dublin Corporation's parking enforcers.

DART and suburban rail timetables will be extended. The last DART will leave the city centre at 3 a.m. and special low-cost fares will apply.

Existing park-and-ride facilities will be available as usual, while taxi numbers have more than doubled since last year to a new total of more than 7,000.

There are 11,400 car-parking spaces available in the city centre for shoppers. A strict clampdown on illegal parking will be in force.