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Unread 04-12-2015, 09:33   #60
berneyarms
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inniskeen View Post
So if the people of Greystones demand a half hourly service the people of Greystones get a half hourly service. The obvious way to serve Greystones is an hourly DART and an hourly Wexford service. And yes there is sufficient traffic south of Greystones if the service delivers a realistic journey time and frequency. This would also benefit Greystones as they would have an express service every hour which could run semi-fast leaving Bray just ahead of a DART. (15 minute interval DART from Bray).

Yes I have no doubt that this timetable will be pushed through irrespective of the impact on non DART patrons.

You make the argument that DART should take precedence over the Rosslare services because more people use the half hourly DART to Greystones. If you extend this argument, more people use Dublin Bus than LUAS, more people use LUAS than DART, more people use Bus Eireann than mainline rail and more people use roads than public transport - so why bother with public transport at all as only a small minority of people use it anyway.

Mind you if you go on revenue a Dundalk or Drogheda passenger is a more valuable commodity than a DART passenger. I think the average DART journey is something around 9 km so on a passenger-kilometer measure DART is a considerably less significant creature than a longer distance commuter train or mainline service.

Still it looks as if neither the NTA or Irish Rail have any real interest in longer distance Connolly commuters or main line rail travellers and I imagine that many of those currently using rail will have shifted to other modes by this time next year. Still the success story will be that DART capacity has been increased by so many percent even if the growth in passengers doesn't match the growth in service or much exceed numbers lost elsewhere.
Clearly the people in Greystones got political about it and demanded the level of service that they now have.

Realistically an hourly Wexford service isn't on the cards anytime soon and as I pointed about above the 10 minute DART aspect of this timetable is in my view going to happen, given that the NTA and the Minister have both associated themselves with it. Consequently, I think that looking at options under other DART frequencies isn't really realistic - the question really is what could be done alongside the 10 minute DART, and what infrastructural changes could help improve the longer distance services.

I make no apologies for stating that I do support the 10 minute DART service, as I think it will attract people back to the railway, but at the same time I think that the time is right to start actively lobbying for infrastructural changes to improve the lot of longer distance commuters.
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