Dublin Bus

Original logo from 1987 to 2000

Dublin Bus logo 2000–2007

Alexander ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TLs

Alexander bodied Leyland Olympian in March 1994

Alexander bodied Volvo Olympian in May 2003

Alexander ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TL in August 2006

Line up at Ringsend depot in May 2010

New TFI liveried Dublin Bus SG Class. This new colour scheme was introduced for all NTA/TFI services in 2021

Dublin Bus was established on 2 February 1987, when Córas Iompair Éireann was split into 3 subsidiaries, Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and Irish Rail.[2] In September 2011, Dublin Bus received a significant technological upgrade with its introduction of real time passenger information.[3]

Dublin Bus operates an extensive network of 110 radial, cross-city and peripheral routes and 18 night routes in the city of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area. The company carries around 325,000 people each day.[4] The main radial routes are focused upon Dublin's sixteen Quality Bus Corridors which provide buses with prioritised access, daytime on some routes, 24 hours on others, to the city centre. Express buses (branded "Xpresso") operate on similar routes but have a limited number of stops and a higher minimum fare. These services run Monday to Friday at peak times and do not operate on public holidays.

Dublin Bus operates a "Nitelink" service of 18 routes overnight which up until January 2009 ran between Monday and Saturday, with the greatest service frequency being on Friday and Saturday nights. Due to cutbacks necessitated by the economic downturn in Ireland, the midweek schedule was scrapped.[5] Special (higher) fares apply on Nitelink buses of €4.50 if paying with a Leap card or €6.60 if paying with coins.[6]

Dublin Bus also runs a Ghost Bus Tour passing some of the supposedly haunted places in the city including St Kevin's Church and St Audoen's Church.[7] The tour usually runs in the evening time and includes two stops where passengers leave the bus behind and visit locations where ghosts have allegedly been seen.[8]

• 
  The ghostbus

In April 2010, Dublin Bus announced it would be simplifying many of its routes around the city in order to create better efficiency. This programme was called Network Direct. However, as part of these measures, the company also announced that 150 jobs would be lost.[9][10]

The RTPI system used by Dublin Bus, pictured at Liffey Valley.

During the 2010s, Dublin Bus rolled out an RTPI system (Real Time Passenger Information) at certain stops, which shows the amount of time before a bus arrives directly to the user.[11]

In 2016, the company carried 125 million passengers, which was a reduction of 14% compared to 2005 numbers (first full year of the Luas, which has seen an increase of 33.6% passengers in the same period).[12][13][14]

Between September 2018 and March 2019, 24 Dublin Bus routes and 125 buses were progressively taken over by Go-Ahead Ireland after the National Transport Authority put their operation out to tender.;[15][16] however an equivalent number of new buses were provided to Dublin Bus to retain existing fleet numbers, with increased services and new routes or route variations introduced on the same day as Go-Ahead took over each route batch.

Since midnight on 01 December 2019, routes 15 and 41 began operating on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis with no difference in fare. These busses depart at intervals of 30 minutes between the hours of 11.30pm and 05:00am.[17][18] Announcing the change, the NTA CEO Anne Graham explained “The patterns of work and socialising have changed. For instance, the success in attracting to the city, major employers who are headquartered many time-zones away, serving markets around the world, means that commercial and economic activity in Dublin continues around the clock".[19]

Route 39a began 24-hour operation on the 13 December 2020.[17][20] On 28 November 2021 the National Transport Authority began the rollout of its latest Dublin network with new C1-C4 routes serving the west of the city. The C1 and C2 services operate 24-hours a day, while the C3 and C4 buses turn into the C5 and C6 routes respectively at night, offering 24-hour services for commuters, but operate through Chapelizod instead of the Chapelizod bypass at night. The night-time routes operate every hour, starting between 11:36pm and 00:35am every night of the week, and ending at 4am when normal services commence.[21]

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of Airlink, Nitelink and some Xpresso services since March 2020; Airlink services were later permanently suspended. With the easing of restrictions in January 2022, Dublin Bus announced all Nitelink services would return to normal from Friday January 28.[22]

Uniquely for a capital city's primary transit network,[23] no full system-wide street and route map is available online. Dublin Bus cites high licensing fees from fellow state-owned company, Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI). OSI historically published a printed street map, reissued every two to five years, which included bus routes. However, the edition published June 2011 omitted these for the first time.

Dublin Bus's Core Route Map[24] does, however, provide some visual information about key routes in the city.

Routes:

1 Shanard Road to Shaw Street

4 Harristown to Monkstown Avenue

6 Lower Abbey Street to Howth Station

7 Mountjoy Square to Brides Glen Luas

7A Mountjoy Square to Loughlinstown Park

7B Mountjoy Square to Shankill

7D Mountjoy Square to Dalkey

7N Mountjoy Square to Loughlinstown Park

9 Charlestown to Limekiln Avenue

11 St Pappins Road to Sandyford Business Park

13 Harristown to Grange Castle

14 Dundrum to Ardlea Rd

15 Clongriffin to Ballycullen Road

15A Merrion Square to Limekiln Avenue

15B Merrion Square to Stocking Avenue

15D Merrion Square to Whitechurch

16 Ballinteer to Dublin Airport

26 Merrion Square to Liffey Valley

27 Clare Hall to Jobstown

27A Eden Quay to Blunden Drive.

27B Eden Quay to Harristown

27X Clare Hall to UCD

31D DCU to Baldoyle

32X UCD to Malahide

33 Abbey Street to Skerries/Balbriggan.

33D Custom House Quay/St. Stephen's Green to Portrane

33X Custom House Quay/St. Stephen's Green to Balbriggan.

37 Blanchardstown S.C. to Wilton Terrace

38/a/b Burlington Road to Damastown

39 Burlington Road to Ongar

39a UCD to Ongar

39x Burlington Road to Ongar

40 Liffey Valley to Charlestown

40b Parnell Street to Toberburr

40d Parnell Street to Tyrrelstown

40e Broombridge Luas to Tyrrelstown

41 Abbey Street to Swords Manor

41b Abbey Street to Rolestown

41c Abbey Street to Swords Manor

41d Abbey Street to Swords Business Park

41x UCD to Knocksedan/Swords Manor

42 Talbot Street to Malahide

42d DCU to Portmarnock

43 Talbot Street to Swords Business Park

44 DCU to Enniskerry

44b Glencullen to Dundrum

46a Dún Laoghaire to Phoenix Park

46e Blackrock Station to Mountjoy Square

47 Poolbeg Street to Belarmine

49 Pearse Street to The Square

51d Aston Quay to Clondalkin

51x Dunawley to UCD Belfield

52 Ringsend Road to Leixlip Intel

53 Talbot Street to Dublin Ferryport

54a Pearse Street to Kiltipper

56a Ringsend Road to Tallaght

61 Eden Quay to Whitechurch

65 Poolbeg Street to Blessington

65b Poolbeg Street to Citywest

68 Poolbeg Street to Newcastle/Greenogue Business Park

68a Poolbeg Street to Bulfin Road

68x Poolbeg Street to Newcastle/Greenogue Business Park

69 Poolbeg Street to Rathcoole

69x Poolbeg Street to Rathcoole

70 Burlington Road to Dunboyne

70d DCU to Dunboyne

77a Ringsend Road to Citywest

77x Citywest to UCD Belfield

79 Aston Quay to Spiddal Park

79a Aston Quay to Parkwest

83/a Harristown to Kimmage

84 Blackrock to Newcastle

84a Blackrock to Bray

84x Eden Quay to Kilcoole/Newcastle

90 Heuston Station to I.F.S.C.

116 Parnell Square to Whitechurch

118 Kilternan to Eden Quay

120 Parnell Square to Ashtown Station.

122 Ashington to Drimnagh Road

123 Kilnamanagh Road to Marino

130 Talbot Street to Castle Avenue

140 Rathmines to IKEA

142 UCD Belfield to Portmarnock

145 Heuston Station to Ballywaltrim

150 Rossmore to Hawkins Street

151 Docklands to Foxborough

155 IKEA to Bray

H-Spine:

H1 Abbey Street to Baldoyle

H2 Abbey Street to Malahide Village

H3 Abbey Street to Howth Summit

H9 Howth Road to Abbey Street

6 Abbey Street to Howth Station

C-Spine:

C1 - Adamstown Station to Sandymount

C2 - Adamstown Station to Sandymount

C3 - Maynooth to Ringsend Road via Leixlip

C4 - Maynooth to Ringsend Road via Celbridge

C5 - Maynooth to Ringsend Road via Leixlip

C6 - Maynooth to Ringsend Road via Celbridge

Local routes:

L51 - Adamstown Stn to Liffey Valley

L52 - Adamstown Stn to Blanchardstown SC

L53 - Adamstown Stn to Liffey Valley

L54 - Red Cow Luas to River Forest (Leixlip)

L58 - River Forest (Leixlip) to Hazelhatch Station

L59 - River Forest (Leixlip) to Hazelhatch Station

In 2021, Dublin Bus fares migrated to a simplified system, with a short journey fare for journeys of up to three "fare stages" (roughly 2-3km) and a normal fare for longer trips. Paying the normal fare using a Leap card allows free transfers to other Dublin Bus, Luas, and certain Iarnród Éireann services for a 90-minute period.[25][26] Transfers are not available on paper tickets. Higher fares apply to limited-stop peak time Xpresso services (route numbers suffixed with X) and to late-night Nitelink services (route numbers suffixed with N).[27][28]

In general, Dublin Bus encourages prepaid or reloadable ticket use, and for cash payment it operates an 'exact fare' policy. Passengers must place the exact fare in coins (notes are not accepted) in a "fare box" at the driver's cabin, and the ticket is issued. In case of overpayment, no change is given and a system of issuing 'refund due' receipts, which operated for many years, ended in September 2018.

The wide variety of pre-paid tickets historically issued for Dublin Bus services has been withdrawn over time. Fare capping applies to frequent use of the same Leap card within a day or calendar week (Monday to Sunday), and a "rambler" pack of five or 30 non-consecutive one-day unlimited travel can be purchased and loaded to a Leap card for a slight discount. Monthly and annual season tickets are also offered.

Prepaid tickets must be validated in a machine by the door of the bus at the start of each journey, although the validation process for leap cards differs depending on the distance being travelled and the ticket being used.

Old age pensioners and children aged five and under (as of 1 December 2017) are allowed to travel free of charge; this is part of the national "Free Travel Pass"[29] system operated by the Department of Social Protection.

Passengers who choose not to pay a fare or who travel beyond the limit paid for may be issued a fine, called a "standard fare", of €50, which doubles to €100 if not paid within 3 weeks. Continued non-payment may result in prosecution.[30]

As of October 2019, the fleet consisted of 1,048 buses.[23][31]

As the vehicles of the Dublin Bus fleet come of age, they are withdrawn to make way for newer technology. Types of significance such as the GAC Ireland have been preserved by the National Transport Museum of Ireland who house R1 (the first Dublin United Tramways Leyland double-decker service bus in Dublin).

Many ex-CIÉ types have been acquired by private preservationists, some of whom associated with the Transport Enthusiasts Club (TEC). The vehicles are garaged, restored and run by the owners without state funds and take part in films, television programs and in vintage rallies. One event was CIE 60th. 30 October 2005 saw Dublin Bus host CIE 60th in the new Harristown depot. This event was done in coordination with the Transport Enthusiasts Club. Buses, new and old, were on display, showing the contrast and how far the company had come.

September 1961 with the airport bus and horse-powered hackney carriage competition.

Dublin's main bus operator was formerly the Dublin United Transport Company. This company was incorporated into CIÉ in 1945.

In July 2018, the National Transport Authority revealed proposals for a major overhaul of Dublin's bus service. Proposed changes include renumbering routes and concentration of routes along primary thoroughfares, increased frequency, simplification of fares to include integrated ticketing allowing cost-free transfer to other public transport services, and creation of many new orbital routes.[42] As part of this a new livery was introduced with the Yellow and Blue livery being replaced by a new standardised Green and Yellow livery. This livery is planned to be rolled out to all PSO bus services in Ireland meaning it will not be solely used by Dublin Bus and features both Transport for Ireland and operator branding.

On 27 June 2021 the first part of the Bus Connects program was rolled out with routes 29a, 31/a/b and 32 being replaced by the "H Spine" routes H1, H2 and H3. Route 6 was also introduced to replace route 31a and 31b in Howth. Increased frequency particularly at weekends and earlier and later services were also added with these changes.[43]

On 28 November 2021, Phase 2 of the Bus Connects program was rolled out with routes 25, 25a, 25b, 25d, 25x, 66, 66a, 66b, 66e, 66n, 66x, 67, 67n and 67x (and the 239 operated by Go-Ahead Ireland) being replaced by the new routes C1, C2, C3, C4, route 52, along with peak time routes P29, X25, X26, X27, X28, X30, X31 and X32 and six local routes (L51 and L52 operated by Go-Ahead Ireland) L53, L54, L58 and L59. Two night-time routes C5 and C6 were also introduced. The route 26 was enhanced with more frequent buses. This phase serves West Dublin and East Kildare.[44]

• Dublin Area Rapid Transit, local rail services in Dublin
• Bus Éireann, national bus operator
• Go-Ahead Ireland, operates peripheral bus services in Dublin formerly operated by Dublin Bus
• Luas, tram system in Dublin
• Transport in Dublin

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dublin Bus.

• Company website
• Dublin Bus journey planner Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine
• Dublin Bus information on Dublin Public Transport portal