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The final version of Dublin’s bus network redesign under BusConnects has been published by the National Transport Authority (NTA).
The redesign follows three rounds of public consultations and 72,000 submissions and will be implemented in 11 phases over several years.
Work will begin in early 2021 and will be “subject to government funding,” the NTA said.
BusConnects aims to review the bus system in Dublin and has two main components; the creation of 230 km of exclusive bus lanes and 200 km of cycle paths, and the redesign of the bus network.
The provision of 16 designated bus corridors to accommodate the new network will potentially require the widening of roads and the loss of parking spaces, trees, and portions of front yards.
A third round of public consultations regarding these corridors, some of which have proven controversial, will take place later this year.
Climate Action, Communication Networks and Transportation Minister Eamon Ryan said BusConnects is a key part of the government’s plan to improve public transportation and address climate change.
“Bus services in Dublin needed to be redesigned to be more consistent and efficient to meet the demands of a growing city,” he said.
“The last six months have been very challenging for everyone in Dublin and throughout Ireland. Bus services have provided essential frontline service to the public and the city during this time. ”
Ryan said the redesign, called the Dublin area bus network, “will allow service to grow to meet the needs of people as the city recovers.”
The NTA said the new network will see an increase in night and weekend services, with the most frequent routes operating every 15 minutes or more on weekdays and Saturdays, and most services at this level as well. Sundays.
Several routes will operate 24 hours a day. Overall, bus services on the Dublin network will increase by 23 percent as a result of the redesign, according to the NTA.
At the center of the redesign are eight spinal routes, with letters A through H, which will operate at a very high frequency and run through the center of the city.
Numbers are used to indicate different branches of a column; for example, while all A buses would go through Terenure, the A1 continues to Knocklyon, while the A2 goes to Dundrum and the A3 to Tallaght.
These spines will be supplemented by 12 orbital routes (with letters O, N, S, W) for passengers who want to travel outside of the city center and that provide connections between the suburbs and city centers, along with rail connections. , Luas and other bus routes.
The spines and orbital routes are supported by a series of local routes (L), city-bound routes (1-99), peak-only routes (P), and express routes (X).
The network redesign will also include a 90-minute ticketing system covering all short hop bus, Luas or Dart trips started in 90 minutes, as well as a short-haul fare option for short trips.
Tim Gaston, Director of Public Transportation Services for the NTA, said the network redesign proposals had “evolved significantly” over the past three years.
“The new network plan is subject to government funding and will be implemented over several years and in stages. So when the city, its people and the economy recover and prosper again, there will be better bus service with more access to jobs, schools, stores and hospitals, ”he said.
A map of the new network is available at busconnects.ie.
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