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After nearly 100 years, Dublin's 46A bus route will cease operation tonight

The iconic bus route is being replaced under Bus Connects plans.

IT’S THE END of an era.

After just under 99 years in service, the iconic 46A bus route will cease operation today, to be replaced by a new 24-hour service as part of the wider Bus Connects transport plan.

The 46A, which has travelled from Dún Laoghaire into the city centre for decades, and beyond as far as Phoenix Park in recent years, is being replaced by the E-Spine and associated radial and local routes.

The E1 and E2 routes will serve areas from Bray or Dún Laoghaire, through the city centre, out to Ballymun and Santry and Northwood and will operate for 24 hours. According to the NTA and Transport for Ireland (TfI), there will be buses every 10 minutes at peak times.

They join the current BusConnects routes already in operation, in the ongoing massive overhaul of Dublin’s bus service which is designed to increase the connectivity, frequency and reliability of buses and increase passenger numbers.

The multi-year rollout of the new service has not been without controversy, however.

A new 19 route will also start tomorrow from Dublin Airport, serving areas in Ballymun and Glasnevin formerly served by the 11 bus, which will be re-routed to Phoenix Park.

The 19 will initially terminate at Parnell Square and Merrion Square at peak times. This is due to change to the bus terminating at Merrion Square at all times in April.

The changes to the 11 route were the focus of intense campaigning last year by Glasnevin residents, who objected to the re-routing of the bus and secured some changes to the Bus Connects plans.

The 46e, 63, 63a, 84, 84a, 84x, 143, 144, 145, 155, 184 and 185 are also all being eliminated, while there are significant changes to the 4, 11 and 13 routes.

However, it is the axing of the iconic 46A that has caught the public’s attention the most. With many taking to social media and the airwaves in recent months to wistfully recall the role the route played in their lives throughout the years. The last bus is scheduled at 11:30pm this evening.

The route itself has been immortalised in Bagatelle’s Summer in Dublin, with lead singer Liam Reilly’s singing how his humming was “smothered by the 46A, and the scream of a low flying jet”. 

He then “hops on a bus to Dún Laoghaire”, which must also have been a 46A, where a drunk on the bus tells him how to get rich.

While the loss of the route is being met with nostalgic reflections, the NTA are hoping the improved bus service will make up for it.

Residents of the northside end of the 46A, which went through Phibsboro as far as the Phoenix Park, may not feel the sting of the loss of the route as much as their southside counterparts. The 46A was only a blow-in on the northside, taking place of the beloved Number 10 bus, which was axed back in 2010. 

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