dublin bus route map

[Donal Quinn]

i used to have a copy of the DB route map which is basically an ordinace survey map with all the various bus routes drawn onto it

it's really useful if you are going to a part of the city you've never been to before and are tryng to work out your options.

i've lost the sodding thing and i was wondering if it is online anywhere - either from DB themselves (unlikely) or some nice soul who scanned theirs in, anyone?

[Nigel Fitzgricer]

That's a super map alright. Perhaps the best public transport map of any kind ever produced in this country. The only problem with it is that its printed on very poor quality paper and falls to bits easily. I have one, but it's seen better days. You could ask at BaC's offices on O'Connell Street.

A comprehensive and decent public transport map of the GDR would be a good commercial venture for any publishing company as there is nothing like this on the market. Surprised it hasn't been done already.

[James Shields]

I've noticed this sort of thing in other cities too - can anyone suggest any theories as to why urban railway systems all tend to follow the Henry Beck model of an abstract diagram, while buses seem to stick to geographical maps?

It could be argued that bus passengers need to know where their stop is, but the same is true of rail passengers.

[Nigel Fitzgricer]

I lived in Atlanta for a while and they had a huge bus system and the map was a schematic like a metro Map. Some other American cities have it as well.

It would be tricky to do in Dublin as in North American cites bus service tend operate on a grid system with easy interchange points.

What Dublin needs is a good Henry Beck style map showing only the most important bus routes and QBCs superimposed on top of the light and heavy rail routes. Especially bus routes in areas of the city with no rail service of any kind. So Tallaght would be on a Luas line on the map, while Rathfarham and Navan would be be indicated by the relevant BaC/BE/Independents bus line.

The only way Dublin would get such a map would be if a commercial publisher stepped in and filled the niche. CIE and the DoT are a waste of space when it comes to such logical customer-focussed needs, and if the DTA tried to make one the CIE unions would claim it was a step towards privatisation as they were not consulted and have their lapdog in Drumcondra make a call to Cullen to take the project off the DTA and bin it.

If I won the lotto I would start a company called TransitGO or something and publish all these little public transport user publications aimed at the Irish market. There really is a commercial oppertunity there for such products.

[Oisin88]

The independant directory and the Dublin street plan have all the bus routes. Not up to date, but as good as you need.

[Nigel Fitzgricer]

The independant directory and the Dublin street plan have all the bus routes. Not up to date, but as good as you need.

I am talking more along the lines of a small pocket map which tourists as well as commuters can get their hands on easily enough and which can be sold at news agents, transport centres, hotels, tourists office, college campus and so on.

There is a series called Transit *insert city* which is sold for a modest price in the USA and it is only brilliant. They are printed on hard glossy card on two sides and show inner and outer commuter routes. I have the San Francisco, Vienna and Munich versions. Sadly there is no Dublin version which I am aware of. If I get the chance I'll scan one of them in and post the image here.

[Colm Moore]

You can get local area map for free (in theory theres a 25c charge) from DB in O'Connell Street and from ticket agents. About 12 make up the whole city.

The only time I've seen the full city one (not generally available) was in GCD station foyer.

Belfast has a Henry Beck model for Metro buses, including a rainbow line.

[Donal Quinn]

hmmm
i went in to dublin bus on friday to ask for a route map and she said they didn't have it and hadn't printed any for 2 years. implied that they wouldn't be either

she didn't mention those area maps - must have a look.

---------------
to go further off topic does anyone commute through the city centre to clonskeagh?. i have a new job and i'm looking at my options. i know the 11 seems to get down pretty quick but the crawl down o'connellst and around trinity seems mental - any ideas?

[Colm Moore]

to go further off topic does anyone commute through the city centre to clonskeagh?. i have a new job and i'm looking at my options. i know the 11 seems to get down pretty quick but the crawl down o'connellst and around trinity seems mental - any ideas?Is the job in Beech Hill / Beechill. If so you could get any bus to Donnybrook Church and walk up.

44/A/B/C, 48A and Luas are only of use for Bird Avenue.

[dowlingm]

Dublin could use one of these (http://crazedmonkey.com/toronto-transit-map/). If only I had the time to work on one (and had a DB route map).

(Toronto has loads of transit fans dying to help out the TTC but unless you tender commercially to a specific requirement the bureaucracy doesn't want to know. The board chairman - imagine DB run solely by Dublin councillors - has invited bloggers to help redesign the dreadful ttc.ca, we'll see how that goes.)

[SickCert]

i used to have a copy of the DB route map which is basically an ordinace survey map with all the various bus routes drawn onto it

it's really useful if you are going to a part of the city you've never been to before and are tryng to work out your options.

i've lost the sodding thing and i was wondering if it is online anywhere - either from DB themselves (unlikely) or some nice soul who scanned theirs in, anyone?

Theres only one copy of this going around that i know and its wall mounted.
If anyone know Donnybrook garage, go to the upper offices and its on a notice board next to our Mellissa.

[Donal Quinn]

well as it happens i found my copy the other day
if i remember i'll scan it and pdf it and make it all nice!

[Donal Quinn]

ok i scanned it in and it was more awkward than i thought!

i stitched all the pieces together leaving me with a whopping great 7.8Mb jpg covering all of the bus routes in dublin!!!

it's not perfect because of the folds etc and gets a bit wonky down near terenure

it's too big to post up here but if anyone wants it send me a PM

[Thomas J Stamp]

gets a bit wonky down near terenure



Oh, we know, we know.

[undo]

When I moved to Dublin half a year ago, I was very surprised that DB published no official maps of the bus network... but then I found a city map at eason's which has all the bus routes in it. Sure, they may be slightly out of date, but it's better than nothing.

This is a bog-standard touristy map but right on the front says "complete with street index and bus routes".

The map has a big picture of the Dublin Spire on the front (with an an unnaturally blue sky in the background :), says "DUBLIN" in big red letters and at the top is labeled as "Ordinance Survey Ireland Street Map 18th Edition". The price tag is €8.30.

The only bad thing about this map is that some genius thought it would be a great idea to save paper by making it double-sided. So, when you're crossing the city in North-South direction, you have to flip the map in the middle of your journey :).

[constellation]

The only bad thing about this map is that some genius thought it would be a great idea to save paper by making it double-sided. So, when you're crossing the city in North-South direction, you have to flip the map in the middle of your journey :).

Perhaps it's a political statement...

[Donal Quinn]

me and packetswitch hae been working on getting my scanned map online
watch this space

[packetswitch]

Yup, well Donalq did the work and I provided the space. Here you go:

http://www.lexferenda.com/map/webpage/dublinbus.html

(this is a stable link for now, if we need to move it we'll post here again and set up a forward)

[dowlingm]

nice job!

[Donal Quinn]

nice one packetswitch

maybe it could be linked to from the platform11 site itself?
any suggestions for improvement are welcome

[Thomas J Stamp]

maybe it could be linked to from the platform11 site itself?


cough*copyright*cough

[Colm Moore]

cough*copyright*cough
It always amazes me how people claim copyright despite extended bureaucratic intransigence being the reason to copy it. Its like stopping people taking yesterday's newspaper from the bin.

It took 4 years to get the Rule of the Road on the internet and only then when the DoT waived copyright.

[losexpectation]

It always amazes me how people claim copyright despite extended bureaucratic intransigence being the reason to copy it. Its like stopping people taking yesterday's newspaper from the bin.

It took 4 years to get the Rule of the Road on the internet and only then when the DoT waived copyright.

well said victor!


something like this?

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/787116/an/0/page/0#787116

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/788731/an/0/page/0#788731

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/817821/Main/817821/#Post817821