Comments on: Dublin Airport Metro Announced

By: David

David — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 04:13:58 +0000

Every big city in europe has a metro system..i think its a great idea..fair enough taxs will be hiked..but when it is completed we all will use it and thats a fact..and if a metro is leaving every 90 seconds in peak times we will no longer be late for work or have to worry about traffic of timing a bus or luas..fair enough the luas are fairly frequent but many times i have arrived at a luas station and it has says 15 mins or 18 mins untill the next one..plus it will benefit the people who are not lucky enough to have a luas station in walking distance and have to rely on dublin bus..and the fact it is underground means you will not get soaked while you are waiting..im all for it

By: Seamus

Seamus — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 13:54:50 +0000

I agree with Dervla’s point of first integrating the rail lines we have. Dublin’s existing rail lines lend them-selfs very well to doing this and can be seen on http://www.darganproject.com

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 08:12:08 +0000

The entire tunnel from Stephens Green to Ballymun and the Airport to Swords will be bored. Two of the stations that would cause the most disruption while being built are going to be bored from underneath. Yes there’ll be disruption but not as much as the Luas and it will be worth it in the long run.

By: Dervla

Dervla — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 09:50:29 +0000

Whats the point of building a whole new system without first integrating the ones we have? Fix what we have first, then create a new mode of transport. Also, please point me to where it states the metro was advanced because it will have minimum distrubance to city centre traffic? "Underground, surface and elevated tracks from St. Stephens Green, O'Connell Bridge, Parnell Square, Mater Hospital ..." from Martin Cullens speech sounds like a lot of disturbance to me!

By: paul

paul — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:33:07 +0000

Dervala,
It may be true that the bus lanes are vital, but bus lanes are not possible to construct around the city centre. We need alternative modes of transport, suburban train, luas, buses and metro all integrated. I am not sure what you have against the metro as the reason it got the green light is because it will have the minimun disturbance to city centre traffic compared with the alternative’s.
Not much point with having rows of bus’es around the city centre with them backed up behind all the traffic lights.

By: Dervla

Dervla — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 20:00:37 +0000

An efficient public bus service running on dedicated bus lanes is not at all short sighted in my opinion. In fact the opening of bus lanes has improved service and decreased journey times in many parts of the city. The whole point of public transport is to take cars off the road. This is what the Luas and Dart park and ride facility is trying to promote. As for far greater transport needs, there are many, and a 10 lane M50 is not a bad idea, along with scrapping the toll. I would suggest that investing in our current modes of public transport and making them more efficient would be a good start.

1. Integrate the ticketing system for all modes of public transport so one ticket will suffice between Dublin Bus, Dart, Iarnrod Eireann and Luas.
2. Increase the frequency of Dart services. Since the Malahide station was put into service the frequency of Darts to Howth have decreased.
3. Invest in a more efficient Dart service. I have regularly sat at Clontarf Road station while an announcement of â€œthe next Dart has been cancelled due to staff shortageâ€? has been made. Why not spend money on sorting out staff shortages?
4. Electronic boards at bus stops to advise when the next bus is due.

The â€œsufferingâ€? during the Luas construction in the city affected many businesses not just motorists. I have no objection to progress. However, I do not understand why it necessary to dig up the roads every year.

By: Ap

Ap — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 12:22:55 +0000

It’s fairly short sighted to say “put more busses on the road”. While that would help alleviate the problem somewhat, for the long term it is not a solution as there are going to be ever more cars on the road. Also busses just cannot give the same kind of high capacity a metro can.
Yes there has been suffering before (mainly car drivers) but that should not hinder us for planning in the future. If daily life wasn’t disrupted we wouldn’t have a Dart, nor a Luas, would that be preferable to disruption?
As for “far greater transport needs”, what would they be? Having a 10 lane M50?

And yes, they are going under the Liffey.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 20:27:38 +0000

The map looks like the plan is to go under O’Connell street bridge. Is that correct? So, they are going to go under the Liffey? My main question about the underground is this: isn’t Dublin built above an underground lake? How far down are they going to have to build to go under the lake? Or has it dried up, is smaller than I am imagining, or just imagining it? Also, Dublin is close to the sea. It seems that there would have to be some good engineering happening for this to work.

By: JC Skinner

JC Skinner — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:05:27 +0000

Well, come 2098 when it’s finally finished after we’ve spent 198 trillion euro on it, I’m sure it will be fantastic.
Not.

By: Dervla

Dervla — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 10:11:04 +0000

I think this is the biggest waste of money. Ever. Why do we need a Metro? Dublin streets have been dug up and Dublin neighbourhoods have been discommoded enough over the last few years between Luas and the Port Tunnel works. De-regulate Dublin Bus and make more bus lanes and re-route the money to far greater transport needs.