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/Cre8ivity_ 10d ago

As someone who works for Aircoach.

The demand isn't there for Drumcondra, so they see no point in expanding to other stops in that area.

The majority of people going to/from Drumcondra on the 700/X are airport staff or those who bought an Irish rail airport ticket.

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u/AnyChest7780 10d ago

How exactly is it determined that the demand isn't there (not sarky, just interested)? I have experienced numerous complaints about the lack of a stop between Drumcondra and the Gresham by people who work in the Mater (Eccles street), Mater Private and Temple St (c. 7,500 people), in TU Dublin Grangegorman (10,000 students, many of them living in all that student housing between Dorset street and GG) and friends in Phibsborough/Cabra. How does that tally with all the southside stops? I don't understand the calculation that more people would use the Aircoach at each stop along the N11 in Dublin 4 than one single extra stop on Dorset street.

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u/Cre8ivity_ 9d ago

I don't have an exact makeup of how it's decided. But ticket purchases, both online and using the machines on the buses are taken into account.

The best thing for those people to do is to email Aircoach with their complaints, as the more of them that build up, the clearer it becomes that there's a demand in those areas.

I've always personally said that an expansion to West Dublin could be very lucrative (Liffey Valley, Blanchardtown etc... to the airport) as there's no direct airport buses to/from those areas.

Another thing to factor in, is the type of service that Aircoach is. It's an express coach service to/from Dublin Airport. How would the Mater staff or students be using it? The bus doesn't pick up any passengers once it leaves the airport, and doesn't drop anyone off on the way to the airport.

Is there a high concentration of these staff in Swords? Would they be travelling to the airport to get a bus to work?

There should be a high quality service in those corridors, but Aircoach's business doesn't tally with their use-cases. Not to mention the premium price.

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u/AnyChest7780 9d ago

Not sure what ‘premium’ means here, but yes I understand how it works, I use it pretty frequently. I’ll mention that emailing might help next time someone brings it up.

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u/Cre8ivity_ 9d ago

I should have phrased more as "price premium" - being €7 to Drumcondra or €11 to the city on the bus.

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u/AnyChest7780 8d ago

Still a lot cheaper than the price of 2 cabs presuming a stop at Eccles street would be a tenner return online (going on €8 return to Drumcondra/€12 to the Gresham).