DUBLIN’S FIRST bus rapid-transit route is being planned to link the Dart station at Sydney Parade with Sandyford Business Estate, running via St Vincent’s University Hospital, the RTÉ campus at Montrose and University College Dublin in Belfield.
The proposed “Blue Line”, which could be built at a cost of €33 million – a small fraction of the estimated €5 billion price-tag for Metro North – would offer “a high quality, high-frequency, high-capacity public transport service featuring all the benefits of a fixed-rail tram system”.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county manager Owen Keegan described it “a very exciting development in public transport in Dublin. It can deliver a quality service, which is very close to that of light rail in terms of journey time, operating hours, frequency, reliability and comfort.”
The proposed service would carry more than 1,000 passengers per hour each way, running every six minutes at peak times and operating 18 hours a day. It would have Nantes-style bus rapid-transit vehicles similar to Luas trams, giving users easy access from multiple doors.
There would be 10 intervening stations on the line, each with real-time passenger information displays, at St Vincent’s hospital, RTÉ, UCD main gate, “UCD Central”, Roebuck Road, Mount Anville, Goatstown, Kilmacud, Stillorgan and the Luas stop at Sandyford.
Each Blue Line station would have off-board ticket machines and shelters with “comfortable seats” and lighting. And with an overall journey time estimated at 18 minutes, the line would provide a “high-quality public transport link between the Dart, bus and Luas services”.
The project is being promoted by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in association with St Vincent’s hospital, RTÉ, UCD and Sandyford Business Estate for inclusion in the transportation strategy for Dublin being developed by the National Transport Authority.
Mr Keegan, a former director of traffic with Dublin City Council, said a detailed evaluation of the project by British transport planning consultants MVA in conjunction with Healy, Kelly, Turner & Townsend, had shown that it “offers excellent value for money” at €33 million.
Noting that it would be significantly cheaper than a Luas line, he said: “This makes it a very appropriate public investment in the current difficult economic climate”. And by offering “safe, quick and dependable journey times”, it would reduce car dependence in southeast Dublin.
It would serve the major employment centres of St Vincent’s hospital, RTÉ, UCD and Sandyford, offering “improved accessibility to work, education, retail, leisure, public facilities and other activities” as well as improving “connectivity between local communities in the area”.
According to Mr Keegan, “the appraisal undertaken to date indicates that the project is financially viable and will generate an excellent return on the investment required, with fare revenue forecasts exceeding operating costs” – unlike the rail service, for example.
He said no decision had been made about who should run the line. “Our preference is that the Railway Procurement Agency would take over the development of this technology as part of its brief – high-spec vehicles, like light rail on pneumatic wheels, to convey the right image.”
The promoters have arranged for public information centres to be located at the Dún Laoghaire and Dundrum council offices, Beacon South Quarter, UCD main campus, the reception area of St Vincent’s hospital, the main canteen of RTÉ and the Merrion Centre.
A website is also being developed to provide additional information on the project (www.blueline.ie).