THE DUBLIN COMMUTER Coalition has raised alarm over reduced public transport services during the Christmas season, as they warn that delays to new bus services and a temporary suspension of cross-city trains will pose significant commuting challenges.

Dart and train services will be suspended between Grand Canal Dock and Connolly station from 27 December until 5 January for track renewal works, which the Dublin Commuter Coalition says will “effectively cut off” many people from visiting family or heading out over the tail-end of the festive period.

The Coalition, a community-led and run advocacy group aiming to improve the provision of sustainable mobility in the Greater Dublin Area, has called on the National Transport Authority (NTA) to address the shortfall by reallocating resources and increasing bus frequencies to meet commuter demand for one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Thousands of commuters are set to be affected by the upgrade works and limited bus services. The Dart train service is also expected to be busy over the festive period.

Jason Cullen, chairperson of the Dublin City Commuter Coalition, said that rail works of this significance haven’t been done “in 20 years”.

“Irish Rail’s argument for conducting the upgrades now is that usage during that period is lower, and that is correct, because a lot of people are not commuting to work,” Cullen said.

Irish Rail has said that the track repair works between Grand Canal Docks and Connolly Station are an “unavoidable disruption” but they are working to “ensure that any such disruption is minimised, and that the number of customers affected is minimised too”.

“For Irish Rail, it’s the ideal time, but from the National Transport Authority’s perspective, they’re not taking into account that they’re cutting off an entire arm of public transportation and not giving the additional bus service or even a shuffle service during Christmas – one of the most important times of year for commuters to be able to get around Dublin,” Cullen said.

Bus upgrade delays

Compounding the problem of Dublin’s public transport supply over the festive period, Dublin Commuter Coalition chairperson Jason Cullen explained that Phase 6a of the BusConnects Network Redesign, originally scheduled to launch in December 2024, has been deferred until January.

This, Cullen says, leaves limited services in place for communities like Bray and Dún Laoghaire.

The planned rollout included 24-hour E1 and E2 spines and a range of local and express routes designed to improve connectivity across Dublin and beyond.

BusConnects' planned Phase 6a, which will provide extra bus services to south Dublin and Wicklow. TFI TFI

Cullen noted the burden placed on south side communities by the delay, saying that people in Bray and the wider area “are effectively forced into expensive taxis, meaning an unnecessary extra bit of spending close to Christmas”.

The Dublin Commuter Coalition has said that efforts to address the public transport gaps over the Christmas period with Dublin City Council and the National Transport Authority (NTA) were met with limited results.

“I tried to bring this up with Dublin City Council’s Mobility and Public Realm Strategic Policy Committee, as well as the NTA in separate meetings, but both organisations essentially said that they haven’t been able to provide nearly the amount of additional services they were hoping for,” Cullen said.

The Coalition has urged the NTA to redeploy resources from Phase 6a to bolster bus services during the Christmas period. Key routes such as the 46a, 145, and the C Spine (C1-C3) were identified as critical to accommodate displaced Dart commuters.

Dublin Bus is running weekend timetable services from the 26 December until 2 January, which Cullen said only adds to “a well-signposted lack of public transport for the Christmas period”.

We are calling on the NTA to boost bus provision over the Christmas period

It is incredibly concerning that there will be little increase in bus capacity while there is no cross-city DART service over Christmas this yearhttps://t.co/zcosgfre0R

— Dublin Commuters (@DublinCommuters) December 9, 2024

While the NTA and Dublin Bus have announced some additional Nitelink and 24-hour bus services, the Coalition believes these measures fall far short of addressing the lost rail capacity.

The full list of public transport services over the Christmas period can be found on the TFI website.