2026-02-04

The No. 15 bus from Clongriffin to Ballycullen Road has served the people of the northside of Dublin for more than a decade. It is a great service and a crucial service going into the city for a lot of commuters and has become even more important as Clongriffin has continued to expand with LDA work and other projects there. Since the route went to 24-hours in 2019 it has also become a vital option for students, shift workers and others travelling late at night who still wish to rely on public transport and, in fact, it may be their only option in and out of the city. However, in recent months my Fine Gael colleague, Councillor Supriya Singh, and I have received a steady stream of complaints from local residents about the deterioration of that service. People are experiencing frequent no-shows, last-minute cancellations, long gaps between buses and, of course, the so-called ghost bus services that appear as due on the TFI Live app but never arrive. It is a particular problem at stop 6320 on the Hole in The Wall road where commuters travel towards the city centre. They can experience two or even three consecutive buses failing to show and wait times of 30-40 minutes, often in heavy rain and poor weather and without a structure at the stop to protect them. That makes it even harder. These delays are causing problems. People are missing work. They are missing educational opportunities. They are missing school. They are missing medical appointments and childcare commitments. It is made worse, as I mentioned, by the lack of that shelter. My colleague, Councillor Supriya Singh, whom I mentioned previously, has raised these issues on a few occasions with the NTA, but the responses, to be honest, have been unsatisfactory. We get these responses to many Deputies in this House - that congestion is causing buses to miss return journeys; there are driver shortages and operational issues such as breakdowns or incidents in service. We all want good services. We want to fight for good services for our constituents. A service like this is very important and it is frustrating as a public representative, representing our constituents, that there appears to be so little progress in addressing the underlying problems. We should not accept the level of service that people have come to tolerate on some of these routes. I do not accept the level of service. I want the NTA to improve and to up its game, to step up and play ball. It must do better. If we are serious about meeting climate targets and if we want to encourage people to make the famous modal shift whereby they get out of their car and onto a bus or a bike or they walk or take the train. We have to make sure that public transport is not only available but that it works for people. It must come on time, arrive when it says it will and when it is meant to, and leave on time so that we can go to work on it and come home on it. Public transport must be reliable and work. I would appreciate the Minister of State's views on this issue.

I thank Deputy Ó Muirí very much for raising this Topical Issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport. To clarify, the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding of public transport, but he does not have responsibility for or involvement in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. That rests with the National Transport Authority. The NTA, which the Deputy referenced in his contribution, works with the public transport operators, who deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters. That being said, I would like to reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. I appreciate that many customers in north Dublin, in the Deputy's constituency, have recently been experiencing some issues with regard to cancellations and reliability. As he predicted, the note I was handed today by the Minister speaks to traffic congestion, and a shortage of bus drivers and mechanics being part of the issue. From what I can see, it looks very much to be the case that traffic congestion is having a big impact on this bus route. Traffic conditions have been particularly challenging in recent months on that route. Traffic speeds have seen a decrease of 5%, while at the same time there has been a 5% increase in traffic volume. This has resulted in significantly higher lost kilometres for route 15 in quarter 4 than in quarters 1, 2 and 3 combined. That is heavily impacting both punctuality and reliability. They are the issues the Deputy has spoken about in regard to the constituents he mentioned who have missed work, school, appointments or other commitments. That is a direct result of the situation. Dublin Bus introduced two additional morning peak capacity trips on 2 November to alleviate the issues facing the route. I compliment Deputy Ó Muirí and Councillor Supriya Singh, whom I know he has worked with on this to make sure that this happened. While the additional services have provided some relief, passenger loadings remain very heavy during the morning peak. A further capacity and demand review is now scheduled for later this year. At present, it is planned that a revised schedule for route 15 will be introduced in September, aimed at improving reliability and better matching capacity to demand. In the short term, an additional evening peak trip from the city centre to Clongriffin will be implemented from 8 February. I know this is something the Deputy has campaigned hard on and I thank him for doing that.

I thank the Minister of State. It is good to hear about the revised schedule in terms of the additional peak trip and the morning peak capacity trips from 2 November. To be honest, I do not want to come in here and raise issues about specific bus services because it is a matter for the NTA, but in a situation whereby residents are finding that the service is deteriorating and the NTA is not responding, then I am obliged to do it here. Like the Minister of State or any other Member of this House, we are obliged to raise the issues that matter to our constituents. I am going to give two examples. The first is from 17 December. I will read an email verbatim: There are now so many cancellations of the 15 because Dublin Bus fear getting a fine from the NTA for being outside the timetable and allowed tolerance re:arriving late/arriving early, that you are lucky if you see two or three in an hour, a long way off the published timetable, which at this stage is but a work of fiction. From the 01st Jan to 30 Sep 2025 there were 2950 cancellations of the 15 route making it the 4th most cancelled bus route in the city. That is one example. I will give just one other from 30 January. This morning, I waited 50 minutes before a bus showed up (8am to 8.50am) – screen said 4 minutes for the duration of that time. My sister also travels this same route and this week alone experienced: Tuesday - 1 hour and 15 minutes wait; Wednesday – 30 minutes wait; Thursday – 20 minutes wait and a broken-down bus; Today – broken down bus again. As a fare-paying customer, I expect a basic level of punctuality and reliability that is currently not being met by this service. They are just two examples of the many contacts Councillor Singh and I have received. I welcome the response of the NTA in terms of additional capacity. I also welcome what it is talking about doing, but the NTA needs to up its game in this situation because the 15 above many other routes in the city, goes from Clongriffin, which is growing, all the way into the city centre. It is a vital route. It is a workhorse of a route for the area.

I thank the Deputy.

I ask again that this issue would go to the NTA and that it would pay close attention to it.

I thank the Deputy. He is right. He has to raise these issues on behalf of his constituents. At the end of the day, transport connectivity is massively important to people. It is important to people who are using it to get to work or to get to study. It is a part of day-to-day life. Public transport is something that should be able to be relied on. The Deputy spoke of published timetables being a work of fiction. That is not acceptable. We need to get to a point where published timetables are reliable. I am really encouraged to hear that Dublin Bus has introduced two additional morning peak capacity trips, as of November, to alleviate the issues facing the 15 route, and that it is now going to introduce evening peak trips from the city centre to Clongriffin from 8 February, which is this week. That is really good news for Deputy Ó Muirí's constituents. It is also really good to know that a revised schedule for route 15 is to be introduced in September. That is aimed at improving reliability and better matching capacity to demand. It is really important that the Deputy continues to work with the NTA and Dublin Bus, and with his colleagues both locally and nationally to make sure that the new route in September adequately services his constituents. I will take this feedback directly to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien.

I thank the Minister of State.