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A DUBLIN TD and Senator have welcomed the deferral of planned changes that would have impacted upon the Number 11 Dublin Bus route.
However, the deferral has also impacted the roll-out of a 24-hours service that would have operated in areas including Bray, city centre, Ballymun and Santry, which has been described as “unacceptable” by some.
The Number 11 Bus runs from Wadelai Park in north Dublin towards Sandyford Business District in south Dublin.
Bus Connects had planned to bring in changes on 8 December that would have replaced the No 11 bus with a new No 19 bus route, but this has now been deferred until January.
Bus Connects added that “the exact revised launch date has yet to be confirmed”.
This new route would run from Dublin Airport, through Ballymun, on to Wadelai, through Drumcondra and on to the centre of Dublin, but would terminate at Parnell Square.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) said users of the route 11 service in the Wadelai area “will have a similar experience to the one they are accustomed to” but residents started petitions to “protect the Number 11 Bus route”.
The deferral has also postponed the rollout of a 24-hour service before Christmas, that would have served areas including Bray, city centre, Ballymun and Santry.
Last month, Gary Gannon also started a petition to “Save the Number 11 Bus” which has garnered over 2,100 signatures.
In the petition, Gannon said that “eliminating this service would effectively isolate significant parts of our community”.
IrishCycle.com claimed that the deferral follows “weeks of misinformation and political pressure”, while Dublin Commuters Coalition said the deferral was “unacceptable”.
Dublin Commuters Coalition said the “new 19 route effectively serves the exact same journey as the 11 as far as Parnell Square, where commuters can connect to the Green Line Luas”.
It claimed that the Social Democrats have been “incredibly short sighted on transport projects over the last few months” and that “we can’t accept delaying of the 24-hour route over the Christmas period”.
However, Gannon told The Journal: “IrishCycle.com and the Dublin Commuter Coalition, it’s all very well and good to have these Twitter pages, but we have to stare into the whites of the eyes of the people that are going to be impacted by these decisions.”
Gannon also made reference to people “hiding behind a pseudonym on Twitter” and said: “Let me be very clear; I was the first person to hear the level of fear in Drumcondra and in Wadelai Park also in relation to this.”
Gannon said that while some have “tried to make out that they’re scared of getting off at Parnell Street, that wasn’t the issue”.
“When you actually speak to a person in a wheelchair, who is telling you they cannot get off at Parnell Street to get on to another bus to go across to Grafton Street, it’s a very different situation than hiding behind the fake Twitter account and being reverential.”
He added: “I want to maintain a bus route that has people on it, who would otherwise either not go into the city or would drive into the city, just to put their arrogance down a little.”
When asked about the impact on the proposed 24-hour bus service, Gannon said: “I’m not worried about the 24-hour bus service for South Dublin, I’m worried about a reliable bus service from people going north and south.”
He added: “There’s a community in Drumcondra and Wadelai, which has a higher than average proportion of older residents and people with disabilities, who wouldn’t have been able to use any services here.
“This was one of the questions we put to the NTA in terms of the accessibility proofing of the route.
“The NTA has a public sector duty and responsibility to accessibility and that any changes are accessibility proofed.
“That’s something that they failed in, so they should absolutely go back to the drawing board.”
Gannon remarked that his opposition to the changes “isn’t just an election stunt” and that it’s “something that is deeply personal, having met some of the people who are impacted by this”.
“So unlike others, I’m not just making an election stand here, this is something I’ll be taking straight back on in January, if need be,” said Gannon.
The deferral appeared to have been announced yesterday on social media by Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick, who said the “NTA must now listen to residents and permanently retain the cross city 11 bus service”.
In a statement today, she said the NTA “must be more accountable to the public, and engage further with the concerns of residents”.
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Stop FG’s big sell-off of homeownership to foreign funds, high costs of living, and their chaotic immigration. Change the government
@F1rYnpWc: Poor you, trapped in a loser’s body.
@Alex: He offended your fg pretentious affluent class sensibilities Alex? You get beat up by kids with no disposable income when you were young & really held onto a grudge since? Or… are you just a child, like you portray yourself through your comments?
Maybe an article on the religion of peace from Irak?
Age of consent reduced from 18 to 9.
Women can’t ask for divorce, they can’t get their kids and no access to inheritance. Great religion isn’t it? Sounds like Middle Ages.
@Alex: Get a new hobby. You need to go out more. It will reduce your stress levels due to deep thinking.
@Alex: there are 89200 peaceful members of that religion now in Ireland and the numbers set to rise. Does that frighten you? Will it upset you more that they’re poor?
@Alex: it’s spelt: Iraq, by the way.
@wwvCLOuF: Pedantic prat!
@Alex: I presume you are talking about the laws in Iraq… Not Irak….
What do those laws have anything to do with Ireland ?
@Alex: It is the Irish section and it is important news.
Not every article in any publication is going to be about human and civil rights issues in Iraq!
Great to see those ” cowardly hiding behind pseudonyms” being called out ….. wish the journal would have a cull of all the multi account juvenile trolls on here…. brenny & ‘kevin kerrr’ & those factor 50′s have this once great comments board ruined
@Kevvy kerrr: no doubt they’ll be along in jig time with their pointless woke lefty insults….my money is on the Claire powers one to get the ball rolling
@Frank Mc Carthy: rich vein of irony in these two posts lol
@Frank Mc Carthy: isn’t more like Clare rather than Claire?
@Alex: they change so often, I can’t keep up….like whack-a-mole on here
Anyone living along the old 175 route has been left without a direct route to UCD. There are 100’s of students left having to leave earlier to get multiple buses. Omni shambles.
@John Roberts: The multiple changing modes of transport is the model the NTA choose.
They were told it will not work here but they choose to ignore the local lived experience and listen to an American urban planner.
Who had already failed miserably in New Zealand and could nit understand the hostility from the disabled community over Bus Connects.
Which he said “No changes can be made or the whole plan will fail”.
We are up to version four or five at this stage.
So according to the designed Bus Connects will fail!
It’s not postponed due to residents concerns, it’s due to the fact that they’re hemorrhaging driver because they’re sick of being treated so poorly by management. It’s postponed until at least March 2025.
Gerry “the rabbit” hutch will get it sorted.
The saddest part about the changes of bus numbers is the loss of the 46A…. Iconic and one of the best songs written
@Blue Moon: “I met her at the bus stop of the 46A…..she wore a hat, the hat was black….”
@Blue Moon: I hear ya but a 24h route makes up for it, Dun Laoghaire really needs it
But sure the luas could be a 20 minute walk or more from people using the 11 bus…that’s ridiculous. Are they serious?
They 11 bus will change to the number 19 but not do any of the route from parnell to sandyford?
Different SocDems policy but still; https://greenlens.ie/2024/11/14/irelands-social-democrats-climate-and-environmental-policies-bold-ambitions-or-uncertain-reality/
Big NATIONAL Issue for Social Democrats, what’s the next big issue ? Cleaning Pigeon droppings off the PB4P vacant Dáil seats after they are outed as a Party of apparent disingenuous policies ?
There isn’t a PB4P T.D. who might deny that as a “Borderline” Party, they as individuals see Salary and Expenses before People !
@James Keogh: It is a local issue for the local TD, It is a Dublin issue as it is the implementation of Bus Connects.
It is a National issue as they intend to use Dublin as the model to baser the entire transport system in other cities.
So apart from you upset at Gary Gannon for no apparent reason, did the PBP people run over your dog or something? As they are getting it big time off you!
““When you actually speak to a person in a wheelchair, who is telling you they cannot get off at Parnell Street to get on to another bus to go across to Grafton Street, it’s a very different situation than hiding behind the fake Twitter account and being reverential.””. Surely the Luas would be better than another bus?
Read the first and second lines on there own! The second half of the second line is PB4P bashing and is the warm up for the rest of the post!
I’ll miss the bus on this one, don’t want to have to use the translation key.
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