Commuters living with unpredictability

It's the unpredictability that's the worst thing. So say regular passengers with Bus Éireann of the daily commute into Dublin city.

"Sometimes I get in in 40 minutes. Other times it's an hour-and-a-half," says Mr Simon Farrell, from Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.

"The biggest problem in terms of traffic is at the Fairyhouse Cross where it could be backed up for half an hour. There's roadworks planned for Dunshaughlin too, so that could hold us up further."

A daily commuter on the route for the past 10 years, he says journey times have increased significantly. However, he says, "the service itself is better. There was a stage where you had to go to Navan or Kells to get the bus. Now there's a stop in Dunshaughlin."

Frequency on the route has also increased, with buses running every 15 minutes.

Ms Laura Murphy, also from Dunshaughlin, agrees. "In general, the service is quite good. It has improved over the years.

"But you never know how lucky you'll be. There could be tailbacks on the road one day and none the next."

Mr Mark Mulvany, from Trim, Co Meath, to which Bus Éireann runs a separate service, says Phibsborough is the biggest Dublin bottleneck for buses arriving from the west. "Up to there it's fine. But from Phibsborough in it's diabolical, even with the new one-way system on O'Connell Street."

He says journey times were cut after the introduction of bus lanes on the Navan Road. But since then, "roadworks have slowed everything down".

There have been particularly bad delays recently as a result of works on a partial bypass of Trim. "It doesn't help that the routes are very overloaded. They are filling every seat and still have about 10 or 15 people standing."