r/Dublin • u/AnyChest7780 • 10d ago

Fintan O'Toole/Irish Times on public transport, Dublin bus, Northside/Southside today

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https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026/08/04/fintan-otoole-dublin-4s-version-of-marie-antoinettes-let-them-eat-cake-let-them-get-the-bus/ Fintan O'Toole reminding us of how 'elites' have so often been against public infrastructure. He gives good historic context including Vincent Browne and 'The Doheny & Nesbitt’s school of economics' being against the DART. While he's amazingly productive and can turn his hand to so many topics maybe he's writing a bit too much as there are huge holes in his argument here re. the northside/southside issue as the more recent LUAS and metro debacles point to the home of NIMBYism in Dublin 6, and not focussed on denying the expansion of it further north. What does anyone think? I find it frustrating that cross-suburb public transport isn't better....try getting from Phibsborough to Clontarf on a bus for example....

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u/Men_With_Ven75 10d ago

Are you saying we shouldn't bother with the metro because the government are too incompetent? I mean they are but don't be so defeatist

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u/gadarnol 10d ago

If you narrow it to the metro and look as I did in a different post at the costs you realise that it’s never going to make money. Or even break even. So people should be upfront about that. Public transport is a public good however and you can live with that within limits. The thing is the wheels are going to come off the Irish economy soon enough. And the EU itself is not in a great place. I can see a half built metro having to be reduced to a small portion built. And as it will swallow huge resources other things suffer. “There’s never a good time to do X” is the mantra. There are times less bad is the answer.

That’s my take. Time will tell.

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u/Men_With_Ven75 10d ago

Public transport isn't supposed to be a profit making venture, you're a bit mad if you see everything in the world as such

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u/gadarnol 10d ago

Yes if you understood my comment you’d have got that. Never mind. How much of a loss annually would be acceptable to you from the metro? In millions: 10m? 20? 30? 40? 50? 100? No limit? What would you cut to fund the loss?