Stillorgan QBC to be tourism trail route

It is barely one month old but the south Dublin Quality Bus Corridor is set to become a tourist facility.

Dublin Bus has just announced that it is to take tourists from Dublin city centre out through the "Georgian south inner city" to the new ICON centre at Leopardstown Racecourse, developed as an interpretative centre for visitors to Ireland.

The ICON Shuttle, as the service is to be known, will operate seven days a week, leaving every 70 minutes from Parnell Square East. The buses will be 44-seat single-decker and the passenger fare is £1.50 for an adult single.

Meanwhile, the Dublin Transportation Office says it expects to have "definitive figures" within a matter of days on the number of people using the Stillorgan Road since the introduction of the QBC.

The spokesman said the figures were expected to show a significant increase in the number of people using buses on the corridor, an increase in the number of buses and quicker journey times.

However, as on the Malahide corridor overall numbers of people using the route fell in the aftermath of the imposition of that QBC, the DTO and others will be keen to see figures for overall road capacity.

The AA has consistently maintained that overall capacity at peak times is the real measurement of success or otherwise of the route.