Dublin Metro given the go ahead

[johncrossley]

One thing I just noticed is that the fare system in the Dublin region has been made a lot more integrated in the recent fare change. Progress was made earlier with the 90 minute fare, but now they have scrapped the single mode daily caps and there is now just one daily cap within the city at 6.00 EUR. London and Manchester - take note!

The new zonal system now incorporates buses/coaches from towns surrounding the Dublin urban area. This fixed the previous anomaly where daily/weekly and longer period tickets were available on these longer bus routes but you needed to pay extra to use transport within Dublin.

 

[aron2smith]

I must be cheap, but always take the cheaper option when available.

Same. Maybe because I'm from London, but I have the same mentality. Cities are generally expensive so why not save money when we can? 2 euros for the bus and it's a hopper fare for 90 minutes with a 6 euro day cap for the whole city, no brainer. I thought the Swords Express at 3.80 was pretty good value though. Before my time, but I imagine the old Greenline routes around London charged a similar premium over regular routes.

I was surprised how poor the service was from Swords to the Airport despite the large number of staff who live there.
In Britain, an airport of Dublin's size with so many recent planning approvals would have had public transport as part of its planning approval (see Stansted or Gatwick for recent examples).

I think if anything that shows how road centric transport policy in a lot of countries was for a very long time, even in Britain, this is only really unravelling in recent times. Swords itself I believe gets 1 bus every 20 minutes on 102 to the airport and that's it, even Harlow and Bishop's Stortford to Stansted, the bus is every 10 minutes in a privatised setup with trains every 15 minutes (stopping alternately at Harlow or Bishop's Stortford), big difference. But even Heathrow took a long time in operation before it got any railways at all.

 

[johncrossley]

Swords itself I believe gets 1 bus every 20 minutes on 102 to the airport and that's it

Doesn't the 41 count?

 

[aron2smith]

One thing I just noticed is that the fare system in the Dublin region has been made a lot more integrated in the recent fare change. Progress was made earlier with the 90 minute fare, but now they have scrapped the single mode daily caps and there is now just one daily cap within the city at 6.00 EUR. London and Manchester - take note!

The new zonal system now incorporates buses/coaches from towns surrounding the Dublin urban area. This fixed the previous anomaly where daily/weekly and longer period tickets were available on these longer bus routes but you needed to pay extra to use transport within Dublin.

Yeah this was by far my favourite feature of travelling with the Leap Card in the wider Dublin area. It made London's fair systems seem a bit behind, surely a combined train/ tube with bus/ tram hopper fare would be possible in the future, may require London's zones to be redrawn though. Dublin's system makes most of England's public transport including the £3 bus cap seem incredibly primitive too!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Oct 2025 ==

Doesn't the 41 count?

My mistake, 2 routes then.

 

[TravelDream]

I think if anything that shows how road centric transport policy in a lot of countries was for a very long time, even in Britain, this is only really unravelling in recent times. Swords itself I believe gets 1 bus every 20 minutes on 102 to the airport and that's it, even Harlow and Bishop's Stortford to Stansted, the bus is every 10 minutes in a privatised setup with trains every 15 minutes (stopping alternately at Harlow or Bishop's Stortford), big difference. But even Heathrow took a long time in operation before it got any railways at all.

It's primarily about good planning policy IMO.

Stansted is a prime example of the planning system ensuring 24 hour buses on the airport as a condition of granting planning permission. Stansted Airport has multiple frequent 24 hour services subsidized by the airport itself. This subsidy a condition of receiving planning permission.
Their latest planning approval required additional funding of over £1 million pounds to be spent encouraging and subsidizing new routes and to help bus companies invest in low emission vehicles.

There's no reason why Dublin Airport couldn't have been forced to subisidise public transport routes as conditions of having its new runway built or terminal examples.
Instead expansion there has ensured more cars on the road and added to Dublin's troubling traffic issues.
When, in reality, there's no reason why Dublin couldn't have more than 50% of users use public transport to reach the airport like Stansted has.

That's not road centric as such, just a prime example of bad planning policy.

 

[Flying Snail]

It's primarily about good planning policy IMO.

Stansted is a prime example of the planning system ensuring 24 hour buses on the airport as a condition of granting planning permission. Stansted Airport has multiple frequent 24 hour services subsidized by the airport itself. This subsidy a condition of receiving planning permission.
Their latest planning approval required additional funding of over £1 million pounds to be spent encouraging and subsidizing new routes and to help bus companies invest in low emission vehicles.

There's no reason why Dublin Airport couldn't have been forced to subisidise public transport routes as conditions of having its new runway built or terminal examples.
Instead expansion there has ensured more cars on the road and added to Dublin's troubling traffic issues.
When, in reality, there's no reason why Dublin couldn't have more than 50% of users use public transport to reach the airport like Stansted has.

That's not road centric as such, just a prime example of bad planning policy.

Dublin Airport charges all operators hefty fees to serve it, not that you would know it with the dire provision of a few bus shelters for most routes. They auctioned off the prime spots outside the terminals which is why the expensive coaches are there with the public bus stuck behind the car park.

 

[berneyarms]

It's primarily about good planning policy IMO.

Stansted is a prime example of the planning system ensuring 24 hour buses on the airport as a condition of granting planning permission. Stansted Airport has multiple frequent 24 hour services subsidized by the airport itself. This subsidy a condition of receiving planning permission.
Their latest planning approval required additional funding of over £1 million pounds to be spent encouraging and subsidizing new routes and to help bus companies invest in low emission vehicles.

There's no reason why Dublin Airport couldn't have been forced to subisidise public transport routes as conditions of having its new runway built or terminal examples.
Instead expansion there has ensured more cars on the road and added to Dublin's troubling traffic issues.
When, in reality, there's no reason why Dublin couldn't have more than 50% of users use public transport to reach the airport like Stansted has.

That's not road centric as such, just a prime example of bad planning policy.

That is beginning to change - far more people are using public transport to get to/from Dublin Airport than ever before.

Also, the expansion of city bus routes serving the airport will continue over the next couple of years with enhanced services from North County Dublin plus another from Blanchardstown which will continue to Clongriffin DART station.

That expansion is taking far longer than expected due to ongoing difficulties in recruiting and retaining sufficient drivers & mechanics to operate them, coupled with a far slower than expected rollout of electrified depots.

Dublin Airport does have a 24 hour PSO bus route (the 41) and the newest additions have extended operating hours.

 

[aron2smith]

Stansted is a prime example of the planning system ensuring 24 hour buses on the airport as a condition of granting planning permission. Stansted Airport has multiple frequent 24 hour services subsidized by the airport itself. This subsidy a condition of receiving planning permission.
Their latest planning approval required additional funding of over £1 million pounds to be spent encouraging and subsidizing new routes and to help bus companies invest in low emission vehicles.

I'm hoping Stansted goes further and runs more bus routes or even makes the trains run 24 hours (more stops overnight, so it stops in places like Broxbourne and Cheshunt though). On the way back from Dublin, we got caught out by Ryanair being delayed by over 2 hours, so just missing the last trains on arrival, and it was £80 for a taxi! The annoying thing is buses run over night to Harlow and coaches to Stratford, so the bit in the middle also needs to be served overnight one way or another, just like how it works with Luton and Gatwick both getting 24 hour rail services.

 

[Railguy1]

Excellent news, Dublin Airport has, on the few occasions I've had reason to use it, felt a little isolated by being quite that far out of the city and only accessible by bus. The bus connection certainly works but having a rail linked access definitely makes an airport feel a bit more use friendly. At least to me! Plus it gives Swords a proper connection to Dublin city centre as well providing a Park & Ride for the M1 just to the north of Swords. Though that'll be a fairly long ride on a train into the city centre though hopefully it'll coax some people out of their cars!

Agreed. i took a coach a few months back and whilst I was fine, I still had a bit of bother figuring out where the stop was to head back to the airport. A metro service (with contactless) would be ideal.

 

[dubscottie]

An earlier plan involved continuing south from Charlemont along the Luas Green line, although I understand this was shelved following some protest. I'd be keen to see it push on instead in the direction of Harold's Cross and Kimmage, both unserved by rail, as terminating so close to the city centre seems a wasted opportunity.

THC

One area that could do with it. A house at the end of my road (Rathgar) couldn't be sold for years as it could potentially be subject to a compulsory purchase order for the Luas line to Terenure/Rathfarmham. That seems to have been shelved now.

 

[berneyarms]

The Metrolink railway order is now the subject of an application for judicial review.

Legal challenge to MetroLink to cause 'inevitable delay'

A judicial review of the planned MetroLink rail line for Dublin will result in an "inevitable delay" to the project, Transport Infrastructure Ireland has said, adding that it hopes that the matter will progress efficiently through the courts.

www.rte.ie

 

[ainsworth74]

The Metrolink railway order is now the subject of an application for judicial review.

Legal challenge to MetroLink to cause 'inevitable delay'

A judicial review of the planned MetroLink rail line for Dublin will result in an "inevitable delay" to the project, Transport Infrastructure Ireland has said, adding that it hopes that the matter will progress efficiently through the courts.

www.rte.ie

I can never tell if it's encouraging or maddening that Ireland seems to have the same struggles as we do over here in the UK with things like this... We're both stuck in it together I suppose if nothing else?

 

[geoffk]

I can never tell if it's encouraging or maddening that Ireland seems to have the same struggles as we do over here in the UK with things like this... We're both stuck in it together I suppose if nothing else?

It's not clear what they're opposed to. They have the LUAS tram already.

 

[berneyarms]

It's not clear what they're opposed to. They have the LUAS tram already.

We shall have to wait until the court hearing to find out.

 

[Brooke]

It’s basically about money (and arguably elitism). While it is likely to lead to increased property values, one leg of their argument is that they should be better compensated for damage to their properties while the construction goes on.

Some of my neighbours have been involved in the bus lane Judicial Review and that is much the same, with a combination of NIMBYism against public transport improvements and a search for a bigger pay-off.

 

[zwk500]

It's not clear what they're opposed to. They have the LUAS tram already.

The article notes many of the individuals named have already submitted objections to the Railway Order public consultation, so it will be interesting to see if they lodge the same objections and contend they were not considered sufficiently, or if they lodge new ones.

 

[berneyarms]

The Metrolink railway order is now the subject of an application for judicial review.

Legal challenge to MetroLink to cause 'inevitable delay'

A judicial review of the planned MetroLink rail line for Dublin will result in an "inevitable delay" to the project, Transport Infrastructure Ireland has said, adding that it hopes that the matter will progress efficiently through the courts.

www.rte.ie

Good news.

The judicial review has been withdrawn.

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2025/1223/1550368-metrolink/

 

[ainsworth74]

Good news.

The judicial review has been withdrawn.

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2025/1223/1550368-metrolink/

It's a Christmas miracle!

 

[Snow1964]

Not the Metro directly, but Dublin rail

An additional 100 EMU cars have been ordered from Alstom for Dublin DART services to replace the originals that were built for the Howth - Greystones electric services that started electric services in 1984 in Dublin.

Takes total ordered upto 285 vehicles (57 x 5car) trains

The Department of Transport has funded an order for a further 100 new energy-efficient DART carriages, which will fully replace the original fleet in service since the DART first opened in 1984. This follows two previous orders in recent years for new DART trains, and brings the total Government investment in new electric-powered DART trains to approximately €670 million.

This order for 100 carriages is an investment of €173.9 million, to replace the original DART carriages used on the largely coastal line from Greystones to Malahide/Howth. It complements two previous carriage orders, bringing the number of DART carriages ordered to 285, made up of 57 five-carriage trains. The first order was for 95 new DART carriages, which will enter service mainly on the busy line from Dublin to Drogheda from the first half of 2027. The second order of 90 DART carriages will enter service from 2028.

Iarnród Éireann News

Iarnród Éireann News

www.irishrail.ie