Dublin, whose thousand-and-change buses carry nearly 150 million passengers a year is about to make changes that will affect nearly every route in the city, and hopefully make travel faster and easier to figure out.
The system's present 110 routes have been criticized as confusing, with many overlaps, different schedules—and no published map of the system. As well, ride prices vary by distance, and passengers boarding with fare cards need to tell the driver their destination or be charged the highest fare. The driver enters it on a keypad, often delaying the bus.
Under the new plan, buses crossing the city center will be organized into seven main corridors, labeled A through G, with numbered branches at the ends of the routes, and a new set of 'orbital' routes will circle the center, connecting with the main spines. The goal is to have nearly every address in the Dublin area within 400 m of a bus stop with buses every 10 to 15 minutes.
A new fare structure will be in place if the plan is approved in hearings later this year, with one fare for short hops by bus, and the other allowing use of any train, bus or tram within the city for 90 minutes with unlimited transfer. That will speed up bus loading.
Because some of the major routes involve narrow streets, the plan also calls for construction that will widen some streets at the expense of front yards, and may turn some streets one-way. That's expected to be the most controversial part of the plan, which is to go into effect next year.
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