2026-02-26

91. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to issues affecting commuters using the new F1 bus route in Dublin South-West; if it is acceptable in his view that workers using the bus to travel to Dublin city centre in the morning have had an additional 20 to 30 minutes added to their commute; the reason the peak-time, high-frequency timetable only applies to the northern part of the route; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16147/26]

Is the Minister aware of the issues affecting commuters using the new F1 bus route in Dublin South-West? Does he believe it is acceptable that workers who were using the bus to travel into the city centre every morning have had an additional 20 to 30 minutes added to their commute as a result of the changes to this bus route? What is the reason the peak-time, high-frequency timetable only applies to the northern part of the route? l ask the Minister to make a statement on the matter.

I assure Deputy Ahern that the Department of Transport, the NTA and the public transport operators are working very closely to ensure optimised deployment of resources across the network to best meet passenger demand and reduce their journey times, where possible. The F1 route the Deputy refers to was introduced just last October. We have seen some issues with some routes, such as the Chapelizod route, and those issues need to be addressed. I would prefer if there were no issues at the start of the deployment of a route. That formed part of the BusConnects F-spine, which is the route the Deputy refers to. It operates every 15 minutes for most of the day between Tallaght and Ballymun, with additional peak-time journeys on the northern section to meet higher demand. That is the response I have. The reason is that there is a higher demand on that part of the route. Together, routes F1 and F3 provide a combined high-frequency service of around five minutes between Kimmage and the city centre, before continuing towards Glasnevin and other northside locations. Beyond Kimmage, the routes diverge to maintain good bus network coverage across the surrounding areas south of Kimmage. To be fair to the Deputy, I acknowledge that the recent network changes have had varying impacts on journey times for passengers and customers. I have said this to the NTA directly. When rolling out phases of the BusConnects network the NTA has committed to monitoring those new services, identifying issues and implementing fixes when and if they are needed. While some increases in journey times are expected as part of the balancing involved and the redesign of the network, both my Department and the NTA acknowledge that certain journey times on this route should be improved. That is being monitored right now. The Deputy's input is valued in that because it is the lived experience of constituents in the Deputy's area who are using this route. That will feed in and it is being reviewed and monitored. The F-spine is a good thing. There is really good frequency there but we need to make sure the focus is on reliability.

I have been very straight about my support for the BusConnects projects and the objective of the programme, which is to improve bus journey times, frequency, punctuality and reliability. That is off the bat. It is great obviously. The routes had to change because they have barely changed in the entire history of the city. When implementing any change to routes there will always be issues like this. Unfortunately, commuters coming from Tallaght, Knocklyon and Firhouse have not seen an improvement. The 49 bus route was a little more direct but the new service is bringing them down roads that do not have dedicated bus lanes and are clogged with traffic in the morning. We have seen issues with routes in some other parts of the city. We advocate that an additional route be implemented or that the 49 service be implemented alongside the F1 route, even during peak hours. People in Dublin South-West have not benefited from the increased frequency that people in other areas have.

I do not disagree. The frequency is there and is improving but the Deputy is right that the journey times on some of the services are longer because the route is more interconnected to take in more people. Having said that, we are working with Dublin City Council and other stakeholders to deliver additional bus priority measures within the city. A lot of it as we get into the city. On 18 March, the Ministers of State, Deputies Buttimer and Canney, and I will meet stakeholders to discuss congestion and see if there are more immediate short-term measures we can take. Some of that will be bus priority measures and some of it will be bus gates and those types of measures. In the medium term, passengers on the F1 route will also benefit from faster journey times due to the delivery of the planned core bus corridor between Kimmage and the city centre. That project received planning permission in May last year and it will be critical. We have started the first two quality bus corridors, namely, Liffey Valley to the city centre and Ballymun-Finglas to the city centre. Both of those contracts have been signed and the first one is under construction. That will be transformational. The quality bus corridor for the Deputy's constituents on the F1 route will make a big difference too. We are looking at interim measures.

That is exactly the point. It is about the interim measures. The roll-out of this programme is piecemeal, and I can understand why, but until we have all the infrastructure in place and all the routes perfectly link up, as per the overall plan, we are going to have issues like this. I ask again that the Minister talk to the NTA and suggest that it review this and maybe implement the 49 route again to run alongside the F1 route in the interim, while this is going on. We need measures like bus gates, priority traffic lights and all that kind of stuff. These are the technological measures we can take to give buses priority. In the meantime, however, an additional route to replicate the 49 route would be very helpful. The route change has left parts of the community isolated, where once there was a service. Older people in particular are having to walk 15 or 20 minutes to get to a bus stop, where they used to have one pretty close to them. There have also been issues with the reliability of buses. Because this is a cross-town route, people are getting caught in traffic coming from the northside and going to the southside. Some constituents have had to pay nearly €200 in taxis because buses are not showing up and have become increasingly unreliable, which is another problem. I ask again that the Minister talk to the NTA about it.

We will. When questions like this are tabled and they fall within the remit of the NTA, I meet the NTA. It is useful that these matters are raised when we meet. To be fair, the F1, F2 and F3 routes were only rolled out in October last year. I appreciate people's patience with this. I am committed to looking at what interim measures we can take. The frequency on the F1 route is every 15 minutes at most times between Tallaght and Ballymun, and the F2 and F3 routes give a joint service around every five minutes. That is a big improvement. We always need to improve things and look at the experience on the ground. What leads me to be confident about this is that people are responding. Last year, 363.5 million public transport passenger journeys were made, which was a record number. The Government will continue to invest in this area. We have to improve reliability and journey times, which will not be easy in all cases, particularly with regard to journey times in the city. I will have a meeting with stakeholders on 18 March, specifically looking at congestion within the city core and on the M50. I have a meeting with stakeholders on 18 March, specifically looking at congestion within the city core and on the M50.